By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer
A century before Marceil Saddy launched his annual Mayor’s Honour List, George Leys was recognizing the achievements of outstanding Sarnians.
Just days after being sworn in as Sarnia’s 13th Chief Magistrate in 1880, Mayor Leys held a reception at his 171 Lochiel Street home to honour local sailors involved in rescuing shipwreck victims on Lake Huron.
Leys, a Division Court Clerk and insurance salesman, also headed the Council that passed bylaws regulating public morals.
Before long, Council had a bylaw in place that made it illegal to “profanely swear or utter any obscene or blasphemous or grossly insulting language”. Council also banned swimming unless bathers were wearing “suitable bathing dress”.
Mayor Leys presided over a badly fractured Council. At his first meeting he called on Councillors to be “kindly and decorous” towards one another. But before the session had adjourned for the night three Councillors had served notice that they weren’t happy with his leadership.
Specifically, they accused the Mayor of attempting to keep them off important Council Committees. He had, they said, held a secret meeting the week before in which he plotted to appoint political allies to various Council committees. His conduct, they said in a motion, violated “common decency”.
Council soon became so bogged down that it was seldom able to complete its agenda. One Observer headline referred to a Council meeting as “Another Night of Nonsense”.
Mayor Leys was eventually able to get control of the situation by ramming through tough new rules of order. During his two years in office Council helped stimulate the economy be eliminating fees for farmers setting goods downtown and by lowering licence charges for hotel keepers and grocers from $150.00 a year to just $120.00.
Council was less generous on other fronts, refusing a request for $500.00 to help fend off starvation in Ireland.
Mayor Leys, who was absent due to illness when the request was rejected, donated $20.00 of his own money to the lrish Relief Fund.
He died at age 80 on December 2, 1910 and is buried in Lakeview Cemetery.