FERGUS - Three Elora Public School students requested council honour local paralympian Patrick Anderson by putting two highway signs at the north and south end of Fergus.
At Monday’s virtual meeting, Elora Public School Grade 7, Lily Brown, Helena Kogen and Mya Hunt, presented their request to council, explaining that they want to honour the Paralympian for his accolades.
“Can you name someone in the community that is best at something? Well, I can’t,” said Kogen during her presentation.
“In September, Patrick Anderson took the time to talk to Elora Public School virtually. As a member of the community, we were upset that we didn’t know about Pat, his story and his accomplishments.”
The three students proposed to create a “Home of Patrick Anderson” sign at both the north end and south end of Fergus. Each sign costs $197 plus tax. The signs will be completed by Fergus Printing.
In their presentation, they pointed out that Centre Wellington will be the first community in Canada to honour a parasport athlete.
Coun. Kirk McElwain wondered what the next steps would be to make the sign happen and how large will the signs be.
“The signs will be as big as a population sign and a little bit smaller with the idea that the signs will go underneath those population signs. So, approximately the same length and possibly narrower,” explained Andy Speers, the girls’ teacher.
Mayor Kelly Linton informed council and the students that township staff will look into some of the requirements needed to put up signs underneath the population signs.
“The Highway 6 is a provincial highway, so it has to be okayed by the Ministry of Transportation, so our staff will commit to council to get the next steps pulled together so we can look into this further,” said Linton.
Council will further discuss the proposal request at a future meeting once township staff gather requirement information from the MTO.
