Past and present Halton Hills Town Council members gathered at the Acton Arena on Tuesday to witness the renaming of the community hall room and honour former Mayor Rick Bonnette. Town Council unanimously approved the renaming as the Rick Bonnette Community Hall in March after Regional Councillor Clark Somerville brought forth a motion that was seconded by Mayor Anne Lawlor.
“We need to recognize long-time contributors to our community,” according to Somerville who cited a number of achievements during Bonnette's 19 years as Mayor of Halton Hills, including splash pads and skate parks. “Rick mentored me to look at both sides of an issue. At one point he was the arena funding co-chair.”
Mayor Lawlor spoke glowingly on the former mayor and freely mixed hockey metaphors into her presentation. Fittingly, most of the guests came wearing hockey jerseys to honour Bonnette, a former goalie and great supporter of youth hockey and other sports programs.
“Rick has hockey in his blood,” said Lawlor. “Rick was a real hockey aficionado, he was a goalie-mayor, deflecting those shots in Town and also in net. We have a community room in the Acton Arena that, in perpetuity, will be named after Rick Bonnette. This will be that lasting legacy and people will remember the huge contribution he's given to our community.”
Former Ward 1 Councillor Norm Elliott was also at the renaming. “Rick was instrumental in raising funds for this [arena]. It is very appropriate and I was very happy to see it come about,”he said.
Bonnette was humble and thankful when he reacted to the dedication. “I think that you have 40 years of public life recognized by your peers and community...that's a huge honour.” he said. “I'm proud that I survived 40 years in politics. I”m proud to come from Acton and to be the first Mayor from Acton. We got a lot of things done.”
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