Councillor Aaron Hall, one of nine new members on the 2018 term of Chatham-Kent Council.

With Chatham-Kent’s new mayor and council sworn in and ready to get down to work, the head of municipal administration is feeling optimistic.

CAO Don Shropshire says that even though half of the council members are new to the Civic Centre, they don’t come without some valuable experience.

“I don’t think it’s as big of a learning curve as most people would imagine,” Shropshire explains. “As an example, Karen Kirkwood-Whyte was on the (former) Tilbury council, John Wright was on the Orford Town Council, there’s a number of people that have served previously so they bring a lot of experience.”

Shropshire say the new council has gone through a handful of training sessions on municipal bylaws and procedures, and should be ready to tackle their first official meeting next week.

In terms of the upcoming budget deliberations, a base review will be held in the coming weeks to get everyone acclimated to the process.