Scott McFadden
The Man Behind The Mayor
by Karen Irvine Editor
You know him as the Mayor of Cavan Monaghan, but how well do you actually know him? I had the chance to sit down with Scott McFadden in an honest, refreshing discussion. Mayor McFadden’s ancestry goes way back in Cavan-Monaghan. “My great great grandparents settled back in early 1800’s on Larmer Line and Zion Line.” In 1984, Scott’s parents built on a one-acre lot severed from Zion Line and it was where he grew up. He went to South Monaghan School and then on the Crestwood High School. On the other side of the family, Scott’s dad ‘s ancestors settled in Lakefield in the 1800’s. Scott went to Queen’s University for Electrical Engineering. After graduating, he worked building the billing system for the 407 Highway in Ottawa. “It was the first highway in the world for being completely autonomous license plate billing. I really enjoyed it, but with the workload, it led to burnout.” After that project was complete in the late 90’s, he moved to Durham, New Hampshire in the US where he says the lifestyle better suited his young family - two of Scott’s children were born in the US. “I attribute that part of my life as living in adult daycare,” he laughs. “It was a really fun environment, and they were very supportive of family.” Scott and his family came back to Canada in 2003. Scott and his family came back to Canada in 2003. Before going to the States, he started a business with his brothers doing web design and putting newspapers online starting with Peterborough This Week. Their web design business morphed into real estate websites across Canada. It was a true family business, including having his mom work there. He no longer owns it, but sold to family members. Does Scott run his office here in the same fun environment as the New Hampshire office? “At the township office, it’s more difficult because I didn’t have the support for it - they didn’t under44
stand the concept. My political career from 2010 - 2014 left me asking ‘do I really want to do this?’, because I didn’t enjoy it. It was a really rough four years at the Municipality. It was demoralizing, and that was reflective in the staff and how they felt about their work. But we’ve changed it around and it’s come a long way. People enjoy their jobs, there’s not much turnover because people are happy. It’s been really productive since 2016.“ Why run for council? Scott felt it was important to focus on recreation and youth. He ran for Deputy Reeve and won in 2010. He was also coaching minor hockey for his son’s team and was on the Millbrook minor hockey Executive. His focus was on a new community centre and arena, but couldn’t get enough support during that first four years. The Council of 2014 supported it, and in March 2018 voted it in. A year and a half later, the community centre was built. Scott included members of the community in the design and planning. To get their input, he rented buses and invited residents to look at
