Council

Who decides, and how you can hold them to account

Southwest Middlesex is run by an elected council of 8 people. They set the budget, approve big purchases and hire the senior staff who run the town day to day.

Current council

• MayorAllan Mayhewamayhew@southwestmiddlesex.ca
• Deputy MayorMike Sholdicemsholdice@southwestmiddlesex.ca
• Councillor, Ward 1Don McCallumdmccallum@southwestmiddlesex.ca
• Councillor, Ward 1Mark McGillmmcgill@southwestmiddlesex.ca
• Councillor, Ward 2Joel Haggithjhaggith@southwestmiddlesex.ca
• Councillor, Ward 2Ed Myersemyers@southwestmiddlesex.ca
• Councillor, Ward 3Martin Vinkmvink@southwestmiddlesex.ca
• Councillor, Ward 3Marjorie Emerymemery@southwestmiddlesex.ca

Names and official email addresses from the town's council page. None of the members lists a public social media account there.

Top number: pay. Second number: benefits and expenses together, such as health cover, mileage, conferences and training. Exactly what goes in it differs a little from town to town; the note below says what this town’s statement includes. Some members take the town’s health plan and some do not, so a higher second number is not a problem by itself. The statements give only totals; the receipts behind them can be requested from the clerk.

Each year links to the town's statement. From the yearly statements the treasurer gives council under the Municipal Act, 2001, s. 284: FIN-2025-09 (2024) and the 2023 report. We read the text layer with pdftotext -raw, where every row carries the member's name and all of their figures on one line, and the columns add up (council/committee total + registrations + convention total = the "TOTAL ALL" column, within a cent). "Pay" is the "Council/Committee Meetings" amount plus the "Honourarium", added by us. "Other" is everything else in "TOTAL ALL": mileage and expenses, conference registrations, per diems and conference expenses, worked out by us as TOTAL ALL less pay. The 2024 report also has a "General expenses" row ($2,066.84), not a member, left out. Amy Choi appears in the 2023 and 2024 reports and in the January 15, 2025 minutes, and is not on the Municipality's current council page. Wards are from the current council page; the reports do not give them. The 2025 statement was not on the council page when we read it.

• Partly
  Budgets posted online

  The budget page links a "2025 Budget By-law" page that returned "Page not found" when we opened it, and a 2025 tax levy page. The 2026 budget page holds the adopted budget by-law as a scanned image with no text we could read, and prints an approval date of February 28, 2026, while the February 18, 2026 minutes list the by-law as adopted that night. We did not find the 2026 budget presentation (FIN-2026-04) or the amended proposed budget (FIN-2026-05). We took no figure from the scanned by-law. Source

• Yes
  Audited financial statements

  Statements for 2017 to 2024 are listed. The 2024 statements carry a clean opinion ("present fairly") from Graham Scott Enns LLP dated October 15, 2025. The 2023 file is a whole year-end package: the statements are text, but its correspondence and audit letters are scanned images and were not read. Source

• Yes
  Agendas and minutes

  Minutes of regular and special meetings are posted as PDFs for 2025 and 2026. The page says "agendas, minutes and reports are available", but the staff reports named in the minutes (for example FIN-2025-22, CAO-2025-64, FIN-2026-17) were not attached to the files we read. Source

• Partly
  Council pay statements (s. 284)

  Statements are posted for 2019 to 2024. The 2025 statement was not on the council page when we read it on October 7, 2026. Source

• Yes
  Closed sessions

  Minutes name the section of the Municipal Act for each closed item and record a report back in open session. Of the 21 regular meetings of 2025 whose minutes are posted, 18 included a closed session (worked out by us); the three without were March 19, May 7 and June 18. Source

• Yes
  Procurement results

  Tender awards are recorded in open minutes with the winner and the amount, for example the Limerick landfill closure tender on January 15, 2025. Source

• Unknown
  2022 election candidate finances

  We did not look for these.

• Southwest Middlesex on YouTube

  The Municipality links this YouTube channel from its agendas and minutes page and says meetings can be watched live or later. Minutes record that the November 5, 2025 recording has no sound, and that the February 11, 2026 budget meeting stream "was interrupted and stopped at 12:07 p.m." We did not check how many videos are kept.

1. Send the request in writing to the town clerk (the freedom of information coordinator), on the town’s form or in a letter, with the $5 application fee.
2. Describe the records, not the answer you want. Dates, departments and the kind of record (a list, invoices, emails) make a request quicker and cheaper.
3. The town has 45 business days to answer (the law changed in 2026; older guides say 30 days). It can charge for search time and copies, but must send an estimate first if the fees will be over $25.
4. Some parts can be held back, such as legal advice or personal information about other people. The town must say which part of the law it relied on.
5. If you are refused, or the fees seem too high, you can appeal to the Information and Privacy Commissioner within 30 business days of the town’s decision.

The town's request form (on its Forms page) · The law · Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario

• The 2024 Financial Statement Review and the Financial Review Findings report

  Council received FIN-2025-22 on November 20, 2025 and CAO-2025-64 on December 3, 2025, and changed its 2026 budget timetable in response. Neither report was attached to the minutes. Related question: Why was the 2024 audit signed two months later than the 2023 audit, and what did the "Financial Review Findings" say?.

  Show the request wordingHide the wording

  Under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, I request a copy of report FIN-2025-22 (2024 Financial Statement Review, Special Council Meeting of November 20, 2025) and report CAO-2025-64 (Updated 2026 Budget Timeline and Process in Response to Financial Review Findings, Regular Council Meeting of December 3, 2025), with their attachments.

  Copy the wording

• Reserve balances lent to other uses at December 31, 2024

  The statements list $6,279,579 in reserves and a bank overdraft of $344,332. Council asked on October 15, 2025 for a report on "our internal financing program". Related question: Why did the Municipality go from $1,727,251 in the bank to a bank overdraft of $344,332 in 2024, while its books show $6,279,579 in reserves?.

  Show the request wordingHide the wording

  Under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, I request the report on fiscal management and the internal financing program requested by Council on October 15, 2025 (motion 2025-287), and a schedule showing, for each reserve at December 31, 2024, the amount that had been used to fund other spending and the planned repayment date.

  Copy the wording

The wording is a starting point, not legal advice. Narrow the dates if the town says a request is too broad or too costly.

1. Integrity Commissioner

   The Municipality says Council re-appointed Aird & Berlis LLP as its Integrity Commissioner in February 2025. Minutes of January 15 and February 5, 2025 give the term as March 31, 2025 to December 31, 2027. We did not find any Integrity Commissioner reports on the pages we read.

2. Closed meeting investigator: Ontario Ombudsman

   The Municipality says the Ombudsman of Ontario is its closed meeting investigator, and links the Ombudsman's complaint page. We did not find reports about the Municipality.

3. Conflict of Interest Registry

   The Municipality posts yearly files of declarations (2018 to 2025) on its council page. We did not read them.