Hillsburgh man running for Mayor of Erin

ERIN – There is now a mayoral race in Erin as a Hillsburgh man is taking another crack at the head of council. 

Michael Dehn filed his nomination papers on Friday morning, making him the second candidate to run for the mayor’s seat along with incumbent councillor Rob Smith.

In a phone interview, Dehn said he ran in the last election at the last minute due to the encouragement of neighbours and friends of his parents who noted they were struggling to pay taxes due to the rise in property taxes.

“It was a close race, I think for you know, I did all the campaigning myself and paid for the whole thing myself to get my name out there and ask the right questions,” Dehn said. 

It was a close race for mayor in Erin in 2018. Of three candidates Dehn finished second behind current mayor Allan Alls by a 210 vote margin.

It took a bit more arm twisting this time, Dehn said, but he decided his experience through his day-job of running public mining companies can translate well to leading council.

“Companies are like the town where you have employees, you’ve got a board of directors and you’ve got a management team. You’ve got to know how to interact with everyone but you also have to have a little background in the different areas that the business is operating,” Dehn said. 

The 53-year-old said he’s lived on and off in Erin for 40 years, with a period of living in Oakville before moving back to the family farm in Hillsburgh where they have alpacas, horses, llamas, goats, sheep, chickens, ducks and pigs. 

These strong roots are what Dehn said is driving him to try to make Erin a better community for residents. He noted he felt the wastewater plant was “fast-tracked” and feels residents aren’t being informed about the true size of the plant. 

He acknowledged they can’t stop the growth that is coming but felt there are measures to handle it better. 

“If we can’t continue a good quality of life and have a sustainable system of water, sewage waste, roads, everything, what is development doing for us? We have to do it so it’s sustainable,” Dehn said.

The deadling to submit nomination papers to run for municipal council ends on Friday at 2 p.m.