Mayoral candidates square off in 2026 Essex Municipal Election Debate Night
by Sylene Argent Local Journalism Initiative
Being at the helm of municipal decision-making certainly comes with its challenges. It often means responding to resident complaints or concerns at all hours of the day, working with administration on issues that sometimes require navigating challenges in unique ways, and finding solutions to matters that require out-of-the-box thinking.
There are two individuals currently battling for the Mayoral position on Essex Council, incumbent Sherry Bondy and challenger Trevor Menard, during the 2026 Municipal Election.
Both candidates sat in the hot seat on the evening of Tuesday, September 29, as the Essex Free Press hosted the 2026 Essex Municipal Election Debate Night inside the Essex Center Sports Complex.
The idea of the event was to provide candidates who are vying for positions as a Councillor for Ward 1, Ward 2, and for Mayor to answer questions the Essex Free Press put together, with help from community submissions, share a little bit about themselves, provide their platform priorities, and explain why it is they would be the best person to hold the position.
First elected to municipal office as the Ward 4 – Harrow rep in 2010, Bondy served in this position for three consecutive terms. During that time, she said she spent a lot of time studying files and learning all about the entire municipality. One of the things upon which she prides herself is being fiscally responsible and making sure taxpayers' dollars are used wisely.
In 2022, she ran and was successful in earning the Mayoral position.
Over the past term, Bondy considered herself a full-time Mayor, considering committee work, expected reading and preparation for meetings, and keeping up to date with County Council initiatives. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor of each of the seven municipalities in the County of Essex make up this upper tier municipal Council.
She has been active at both County and Essex Council.
"I think the duty of the Mayor is to provide stable leadership," and she believes the last four-years have been excellent.
She is hoping to have four more years as the Essex Mayor, because she absolutely loves serving the community.
Menard has lived in Ward 1 – Essex Center for 37-years, and has been married for 24-years. He has two adult children. He is also a member of Holy Name Church, a member of Essex Fire & Rescue for 31-years, and was an auxiliary OPP member for a decade, which he said demonstrates service above self.
For three-and-a-half decades, Menard has worked at TRQSS. Within his work, he noted there are a lot of Japanese ideologies, including those for cost savings, budgetary items, and working as a team,
He also demonstrated his leadership in terms of being on the local Fire Department at scenes, leading and also being led on calls as a team player.
"I'm excited to take on this role and help guide this wonderful community ahead and move forward," Menard said.
In answering whether or not Essex should consider moving to a biweekly garbage pick-up system, since a decision was made at the county level to bring Essex into the organics pick-up program this past term, Menard said it seems to be leaning that way. With less food waste being put into the garbage, there is no need for weekly pick-up. Food waste, he added, should be picked up at least weekly. Some homes will have more food waste if it sits longer, and then there are issues with smell. There is also a desire to keep away rodents and other pests. Organic waste should remain as a once-a-week pick-up. Regular garbage could probably move to once every two-weeks.
Bondy spoke of how at one point during this term it was discussed whether or not garbage should be uploaded to the County to oversee. The majority of local municipalities voted not to upload it. As a result, Essex still has control over its garbage. A decision as to whether or not to move to a bi-weekly garbage pick-up will land completely with the residents of Essex. She is hearing a 50/50 split on what should be done at this point. She'd rather take more time for public consultation. Cost savings, she relayed, would be somewhere between $30 and $50 per household.
In responding to how Essex should accommodate its portion of anticipated growth that the County of Essex is projecting to 2051, which is anticipating the population to grow from around 199,000 individuals to somewhere between 268,000 and 315,000, Bondy spoke of how the Town of Essex is currently updating its Official Plan, which is a road map outlining how planning will go over the next 30-years, and has pressed pause and adopting it because of flooding concerns. It will be picked up by the new Term of Council. One thing the Town needs to look at is where growth should be. The County Official Plan did not provide the Town of Essex expansion lands, meaning it cannot expand onto farmland. Essex has to infill and grow upwards. That is why the Town is working on apartments.
Menard said growth is a big factor. He said there is a desire to keep taxes low, and the only way to do that is to have growth. That growth has to be responsible and staged. It can't just be rushed. The Town does have a lot of infrastructure problems, such as the lagoons and wastewater management in Colchester and Harrow. He said there is capacity in Essex Center. There does need to be more housing development to keep the tax base lower. There needs to be a responsible approach. Subdivisions can't just be built. He does believe smaller apartments are needed to take on some of the higher density in a smaller location. Growth, Menard added, brings in more people, which brings in more diversity as well.
As to whether the current model of policing is working and where improvements could be applied, Menard said the commitment from the OPP has been good. He would say he's a little biased as a former auxiliary member. He noted those members are 100% dedicated to the community. The model may need to be tweaked slightly. The cost of policing goes up with every contract year, so some of the alternative or other avenues the OPP can share do need to be looked at in order for the service to be improved.
Bondy said another Police service can't be afforded. The OPP has a mandate to provide adequate and safe policing, and it is doing that. What residents expect is to look out the door and see the cruiser go by. That won't happen every day. When they are called, however, they have the tactical unit and the resources to come in when there is a major event. There was an OPP satisfaction survey at the beginning of this past term, so areas to improve are known. In this past Essex Municipal budget, there was a 1.75% increase due to OPP contract costs. Essex spends around $3.8M for police, LaSalle spends around $10M on its own service.
In speaking to how Council remuneration should be dealt with, and if council members should be provided a pension and benefits, Bondy noted remuneration is handled by consultants. They use market reviews to determine the level of responsibility, time commitment, and what others are paid in the same job. At County Council, she noted that market review was done and it was determined that this Term of County Council was 137% underpaid compared to other elected officials doing the exact same work. Hence the increase that was made.
Menard noted volunteers are going to do the work for free. So, Council has to be paid. That is never going to go away. It's the trend of the times. He did not agree with the 137% increase when it happened after COVID. He said everyone is still feeling the pinch from those days. In terms of benefits and pension plans, he said they absolutely should not be provided to Council members.
In responding to how they would handle respecting each community's needs while still bringing them all together in unity, Menard noted there are four great hamlets in this municipality. Each has its own unique traits and benefits. All the communities need to be brought together to improve and grow and make the whole community as one.
"We are all one. We are all one tax base. And we all need to work together and support each other."
Bondy doesn't think about amalgamation as much anymore. But there are individuals in the community who still feel very passionate about it. That can be noticed by the new Harrow Fair Board archway, where the community felt like their identity was being lost. It's about being knowledgeable about residents and acting quickly. She has that from being on Municipal Council for nearly 16-years.
The County of Essex is spending up to $150,000 for the completion of a County-specific study on the framework for artificial intelligence and high-density data centers. The candidates were asked what their position would be once the County's study on AI and high-density data centres is received, and whether or not they believe there is an area in the municipality of Essex or the County of Essex that could house them, or if they would try to prevent them from being built locally.
Bondy said she had pretty strong opinions about AI data centers in Essex County. There is a lot of unique natural heritage here. There are already a lot of greenhouses. There are also a fair share of turbines. So, adding data centers in this unique environment is something she is not comfortable with at this point. That is why, after the County voted on getting the study, she raised a motion at Essex Council to look at getting a report as to what needs to be done in terms of zoning. While the County is having the study done, the local municipalities have to implement items in their zoning by-law to prevent data centers. Proper protocols have to be followed, as well.
Menard agreed with Bondy to a point. Data centers do need to be held off, as there does need to be more study. He said he read an article recently about a data center that was going to be self-contained. It was supposed to be more of an arena setup to be contained with the glycol cooling. He didn't think that would be a bad thing. He believes there is absolutely land in the municipality that could be used for AI data centers. He pointed to the landfill that is located within the Town of Essex. Houses will not be built right next to it. He said it is contaminated land, so that could be an area studied for data centres.
"We all have cell phones. Everything in the cloud is coming from a data center, so why would we turn that away?" Menard asked.
The candidates were asked additional questions. The link to the live stream a resident filmed of the debate can be found at essexfreepress.com.
