A familiar name is looking to be a representative for Ridgetown on Chatham-Kent's (CK) next municipal council.
Matt Lamarche is hoping to be one of two Ward 2 councillors. He ran in Ward 3 in 2022, when Ridgetown was part of the Ward, placing fourth out of five candidates.
He told CK News Today his decision to run is the same as before, as he continues to be frustrated with the lack of communication from elected officials.
"We had an issue, people got together, they looked to their elected officials at the time for answers... and they couldn't even get that," explained Lamarche.
If elected, Lamarche would like to try to lower property taxes. He believes the municipality should start from zero and have departments explain the need for potential increases, rather than starting at a high rate and having council try to cut it down.
He would also like to curb what he sees as wasteful spending.
"Fix stuff in Chatham-Kent that needs to be fixed, use that money to do that before splurging on nice-to-haves. You need to fix the needs-to-have before you spend money on the nice-to-haves," added Lamarche.
When asked why he believes he's the best person for the job, Lamarche explained that he can't make many promises, but one he can make is that he'll never ignore a constituent.
"I might not have all the answers at the time, but I can tell you one thing: if you ask me a question and I don't have the answer, I'll find out the answer," he added.
CK's election will be on October 26, 2026.
