The Town of Cobourg will have a part-time mayor this summer.
Mayor Lucas Cleveland announced on Friday (May 25) that he will be returning to work part-time at his downtown fresh produce store The Market & Smør.
“This week, my business partner at The Market & Smør announced that she will be moving on to new work opportunities,” Cleveland says in a statement. “I will therefore be returning to the Market part-time for the next few months to manage the transition until a new team structure is up and running.”
Cleveland’s partner is Montana DesJardins, who announced on social media that her last day at The Market & Smør will be May 31.
Cleveland and DesJardins launched their “zero food waste” green grocer business at 39 King Street East after the couple moved in 2016 to Cobourg from Alberta, where Cleveland had spent more than 10 years in the oil and gas industry. The business saw exponential growth, hiring more than 30 staff within three years.
“Over the coming months, you will see a sharing of duties and mayoral tasks amongst council as I split my time between the role as mayor and local business owner,” Cleveland says. “While I am committed to keeping my open office hours on Tuesdays, the deputy mayor and members of council will be taking meetings in the mayor’s office the rest of the week.”
Cleveland, who was elected mayor in October 2022 with no previous political experience, says the business community has “achieved great progress” in the 19 months since he was elected.
“In 2023 we celebrated 22 grand openings in Downtown Cobourg,” he says. “We are seeing stronger occupancy rates downtown than we have in the last five and 10 years.”
Cleveland adds he has “set a goal this summer to work on securing recreational funding to address our aging Centennial Pool and growing request for additional pickleball facilities.”
“I look forward to spending the next several months serving both my community as mayor and as a local businessperson,” he says.
