Rotarian Adam Zegouras introduced Mayor Taso Christopher and remembers looking for hockey equipment as a young kid and getting treated well through Taso's business at the time. Taso was elected as Mayor of Belleville in October 2014 after serving two terms on Council.  He was born and raised in Belleville and has been a resident of River Road in Corbyville for the past 20 years along with his wife, Betty, and three daughters. Taso graduated from Quinte Secondary School and Humber College and has been an owner/partner of the local sporting goods retailer Four Seasons Sports for more than 35 years.  He served our community as a Councillor from 2006-2014 and has an in-depth knowledge of how the City of Belleville operates as a municipality. He has first-hand knowledge of the challenges that face our community and the people who live here.   In addition to his role on City Council, Taso has been the chair of the Police Services Board, co-chaired the Belleville Waterfront and Ethnic Festival and been a Member of the City of Belleville Planning Committee, City of Belleville Audit Committee and the Library Board. Taso has also been a Member of the Greek Community Board of Directors, Chairman of the QHC Cancer Gala and President of the Quinte Ethnic Festival Council.
 
Taso has proven that he is always willing to ask the tough questions and takes a common sense approach to making decisions to improve the quality of life in the City of Belleville. Taso has been an important part of Belleville’s progress in the past decade including these important projects
  • Quinte Sports & Wellness Centre
  • Integrated Court House Building
  • Doctor Recruitment Program
  • Build Belleville Infrastructure Deficit Program
  • Veteran’s Memorial Bridge
  • Belleville Senators Hockey Club
Mayor Christopher said 2016 has been the busiest construction year and the City has much to celebrate in having completed a number of capital projects, including a new snow disposal program, upgrade of the Corby Rose Garden, 95% completion of the Bay Bridge, expanded Christmas Light display, opening of the new Archive Center at the Library, upgrading of playground equipment in the City.  Definitely a year of implementation.  The City hosted the U19 World Girls soccer competition with 400 athletes coming together, the first time to Ontario and outside of Europe.  The City has completed Phase 2 of the downtown re-vitalization and will be moving forward to Phase 3.
 
An exciting time for the City is welcoming the Belleville Senators Hockey Club.  Mark Fleuer is a large part of the successful results and will be managing the facility upgrade, on time and on budget.  The opening of Shorelines Casino, providing 220 full-time jobs in the area, brings gaming to our community.  The investments council has made in tourism is attracting different organizations and families to the area.  The City of Belleville is leading the province as far as levels of service for a municipality of our size.  Overall our economic development has experienced huge growth with newly developed land for sale, industrial expansion of Proctor and Gamble, a low unemployment rate of 4.9 compared to historical average of 6.7, more doctors.  The Mayor credited service clubs such as the Rotary Club of Belleville along with churches, the YMCA, foodbanks, all have contributed countless hours to make the City a safe place to work and play.
 
There are many projects still in the works, the new police facility, upgrades to the arena, Phase 3 of downtown vitalization, a recycling facility, new fire station in Plainfield, renovations to City Hall reception/entrance and the Mayor was excited to talk about plans to help the City celebrate their 200th anniversary in 2017.  Mayor Christopher gave credit to the community for welcoming Syrian refugees, proving that we are a community with a big heart and wide arms.
 
Past President Len Kennedy thanked the Mayor for his presentation, a fitting way to start the year and a reminder of the achievements and developments still to come.