STURGIS - Dean Harris has lived in Sturgis for the last eight years and offers a new fresh face with new ideas. Harris has been elected as the new Mayor of Sturgis. He was voted in by acclamation on Feb. 9 after a byelection was called after former Mayor Don Olson stepped down. Harris will be taking the oath to office at the Town of Sturgis regular meeting on Feb. 26.
鈥淭he decision to put my name down for the Mayor position was not a simple decision,鈥 said Harris. 鈥淚 feel the town of Sturgis is not in a healthy place with a decline in popularity.
鈥淥rganizations are experiencing a lack of community volunteers and without volunteers stepping up our community will greatly suffer. We all need to start putting differences aside and work together for the community鈥檚 benefit.
"I would like to encourage more younger individuals to step up and start getting involved in order to help the town grow, their predecessors are wearing out and the future of the town lies with the younger generations.
"We need to work on rebuilding trust in each other in both the town and surrounding rural areas and put things that happened in the past to rest and it is important to be held accountable to taxpayers and move forward."
He has been a business owner for 35 years and has been working at Paul鈥檚 Drugs Store in Preeceville for the past five years as a pharmacist. He is involved in the Sturgis Regional Park as a board member and has some experience as a councillor as he sat on the Town of Rosetown council for a several years.