Acclaimed Kingsville mayor talks grow-ops and being editor of town paper

While Kingsville's 15 council candidates are fighting for five seats, mayor Nelson Santos can sit back and watch the race at ease.

Santos has been acclaimed, meaning he will serve a fourth term as Kingsville's mayor.He was first elected to town council in 1997 when he was 27.

One of the issues that first moved him to run were events surrounding a strategic plan to protect places such asLakeside Park.

"Within six months of that plan [being]introduced and then approved, there was an initiative that came forward to sell a part of Lakeside Park to a developer for profit," said Santos.

Growing weed

One issue Santos said he's working on with the town now is addressing marijuana growth.

The greenhouse operations in Kingsville have been applyingfor zoning changes so they can start growing marijuana.

There have been 16 applications so far. Nine have beenapproved. However, the town isn't accepting any more until it figure out how to handle such operations.

"We're actually trying to get a grasp of a little bit more information," said Santos.

Town newspaper editor

Before Santos was mayor, he was the town council beat reporter. Even now, he hasn't given up his journalistic career and is the editor of the Kingsville Reporter, a weekly newspaper.

Santos reassures people the conflict of interest is acknowledged and addressed.

"We've hired a freelance writer for our newspaper that's specifically covering municipal business," he said. "That writer reports to a different editor."

He said he's open to being criticized as mayor, despite being an editor of the newspaper.

"I certainly encourage them to write as they see things, because it's very important having been on the other side."

The municipal election is on Oct. 22. Gord Queen has also been acclaimed as deputy mayor.