{"id":9876,"date":"2015-02-19T07:42:08","date_gmt":"2015-02-19T12:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=9876"},"modified":"2015-04-01T17:45:11","modified_gmt":"2015-04-01T21:45:11","slug":"front-porch-perspective-jeff-thom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/front-porch-perspective-jeff-thom\/","title":{"rendered":"FRONT PORCH PERSPECTIVE: Jeff Thom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meet Rookie Councillor Jeff Thom
\nBy Stephen Somerville<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the first in an ongoing series of short profiles on the new members of the Aurora Town Council.
\nRookie Jeff Thom surprised a lot of folks in our community when he finished fourth in the municipal Council balloting last November. Included in that category was himself.
\n\u201cI was shocked and honored that I finished fourth. I was very fortunate to have a great campaign team.\u201d
\nAnything shock you over your first couple of months in office?
\n\u201cNo, I knew that the workload would be heavy, but I was prepared for it. You also get asked to attend a number of community events and store\/business openings, which I enjoy, as I love meeting people.\u201d
\nI believe that you are the youngest member of Council. Is that true?
\n\u201cYes, but only by a couple of months. Paul Pirri and I attended high school together. He just celebrated his birthday in January and I will turn 28 in April.\u201d
\nGetting used to your fellow Councillors?
\n(Laughs) \u201cYes, a very good group of people from different backgrounds and priorities but so far we are working collaboratively together.\u201d
\nWhat made you run for Council?
\n\u201cI have had a life-long interest in politics and I always thought that I would throw my hat into the ring at some point.\u201d
\nWhat are the Town\u2019s biggest two challenges or opportunities?
\n\u201cThe Town\u2019s biggest two challenges or opportunities over the next four years will be to prudently manage our Town\u2019s finances and to balance the needs of growth with protecting our heritage, environment and quality of life.
\n\u201cI want to see us promote our Town\u2019s heritage. Also, the province\u2019s Oak Ridges Moraine legislation comes up for discussion this year which is a very important issue for our community. I want to see the current protections remain in place.\u201d
\nYou seem very interested in heritage and culture \u2013 tell me more.
\n\u201cIt shocks me that so many people don\u2019t know Canada\u2019s history, such as the date of Confederation or the name of our first Prime Minister. I really take an interest in local history and culture. Aurora has a fascinating history which is well worth telling and I want to work to promote Aurora\u2019s history.\u201d
\nHow long have you lived in Aurora?
\n\u201cI was born and raised in Aurora. Apart from going away to university, I have lived here my whole life in Aurora.\u201d
\nAny family?
\n\u201cI have a girlfriend, Kaelyn.\u201d
\nWhat is your educational background?
\n\u201cI received my Bachelor of Arts degree in history and political science from Brock University.\u201d
\nWhat did you do for a living before seeking public office?
\n\u201cI have been working in the family business \u2013 Thom Partners Inc. \u2013 a sports marketing company – since I graduated from University five years ago. The company purchases advertising on behalf of clients for various sports events across the country.
\n\u201cI really enjoy what I do and I get an opportunity to work with my dad (Dave), mom (Dale) and my sister Heather. We are a very close knit family.\u201d
\nWhat kinds of things do you like to do outside of Council?
\n\u201cI enjoy playing recreational adult hockey and I really like playing squash. If time permits, I try to play squash three or four times per week. I also like to attend concerts.\u201d
\nWhat Council Committees are you part of?
\n\u201cWe haven\u2019t finalized our Committees yet, but we will likely know in the next week or so.\u201d
\nI play pick up hockey and also on an \u201cold timers\u201d hockey team with Jeff\u2019s dad, Dave. At the end of the interview I wished Jeff well and told him that he needs to come out and play again in one of our Sunday afternoon hockey outings so that he can ensure that his dad arrives on time for a change!
\n
\nStephen can be contacted at stephengsomerville@yahoo.com<\/em><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meet Rookie Councillor Jeff Thom By Stephen Somerville This is the first in an ongoing series of short profiles on the new members of the Aurora Town Council. Rookie Jeff Thom surprised a lot of folks in our community when he finished fourth in the municipal Council balloting last November. Included in that category was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-2zi","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-04 08:29:39","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9876\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}