Mulmur CAO retires after four decades at the helm

On June 14, Terry Horner will retire after 41 years as Mulmur’s chief administrator. 

With a municipal election on the horizon, Horner said he thought it was a good time to go. 

Horner started working for the municipality in 1977, after being hired by then-Reeve John Newton. He has since worked for five heads of council and has seen the municipality’s staff grow and responsibilities expand. 

At the beginning of his career, Horner worked solo out of an office in the public works shop, where council also met at that time. 

He was the clerk and treasurer and one of his main duties was to collect tax payments but when he was away from the office people would just slip their money through the door, or sometimes a member of the roads crew would accept it. In the early 1980s, the township hired a part time summer student to help out and staff the office while Horner was on vacation but it wasn’t until the late 1980s that a full-time administrative assistant was hired. Planning was handled through a consultant.

Things were gradually changing and as planning standards became more strict, and activity was increasing, there was a need to hire an in-house planner. 

Whereas most Mulmur land was once packaged into 100-acre farms owned by long-time farming families, severances created new lots for new builds, and weekenders began building and renovating. Horner said the opening of the Honda plant also had an impact on Mulmur, with people looking for homes nearby to the New Tecumseth manufacturing plant. 

In 1990, a new administrative centre was built adjacent to the public works yard in Terra Nova, where there is now a staff of four full-time and two part-time administrative employees. 

In his retirement Horner said he plans to continue farming – he has some cash crops that he works with his brothers – and plans to make some time to travel with his wife Linda. They have trips planned to Ireland and Newfoundland. 

Horner said he has enjoyed seeing the township gradually progress over the years, improving roads along the way. It’s no secret that Mulmur council has had its ups and downs but Horner said he is glad to be ending on a high note.