Simonett

Jeff Green | Mar 30, 2006

Back toHome

Simonett returns to SharbotLake

byJeffGreen

Simonett is from Kingston originally, but he is the son of former Sharbot Lake native Clayton Simonett. Clayton worked for many years with his brother, car dealer and entrepreneur AJ Simonett.

A method actor, Simonett is always on the lookout for authentic experiences. So when he was approached to play a small town mayor in an upcoming independent Canadian movie, “The Perils of Petawawa”, he decided to approach Central Frontenac Mayor Bill MacDonald with a proposition. Ted Simonett would replace Bill MacDonald at official functions for a week, and the overworked MacDonald could have a week’s vacation in Toronto .

Since both MacDonald and Simonett sport grey beards, and wear glasses, they thought the scheme might come off.

And it did.

Simonett observed MacDonald’s speech habits for an afternoon, and he was ready. The big test came at a council meeting on Tuesday.

“I never noticed that it wasn’t actually Bill conducting the meeting,” admitted Clerk Administrator Heather Fox, who sat next to Simonett throughout the two hour meeting, “since I was caught up in the debate Council had over Sunday gun hunting.”

“I guess Bill MacDonald has been the mayor for so long we don’t really look at him anymore,” said Deputy Mayor Frances Smith, who sat on the other side of Simonett.

For his part, Ted Simonett found the Council meeting interesting, although he had trouble following the Sunday hunting debate.

“We never did any commercials about guns or hunting gear while I was at Canadian Tire, but we did do a segment about fishing gadgets once,” he said.

Mayor Bill MacDonald could not be reached for comment.

Heather Fox said she would have to consult the Municipal Act to determine if the motions passed at the meeting are legally binding on the township.

.