I am a young professional who was born and raised in Chatham. I received a Bachelor of Commerce – Public Management degree with honours from the University of Guelph.
After spending three years in the financial sector, I joined Tessonics Inc. as their business development manager. In this position I have gained international business experience throughout the United States, United Kingdom, China, Thailand and South Africa.
I am running because Chatham-Kent has much to offer but unfortunately has remained stagnant over much of the past decade. We must stop making excuses and start producing results. We are consistently told how we must work to keep our young professionals in the community, but a voice from this generation on council still eludes us.
We need generational representation on council that better reflects our overall population and speaks for the future.
Would you support a tax freeze or rollback if it meant reduced staff or services?
Yes. Property taxes have inflated to unacceptable amounts. Council must spend taxpayer money much more efficiently so we can obtain a tax freeze for an extended period of time.
Would you support an OPP costing study?
Yes. Quality of service would have to remain the same for implementation, but I would support an initial costing study.
Would you support examining a volunteer-only fire service if the provincial arbitration system isn’t overhauled?
Yes. Again, I would never support a reduction in the quality of service we receive. I would only support this if we can obtain the same quality of service at a lower cost.
Do you believe we should continue our ongoing efforts to attract economic investment from China?
Yes. Attracting economic investment should be city council’s top priority, but ideally I would like to see more local economic investment from within Ontario and North America.
Would you support contracting municipal services to the private sector if those services can be delivered more efficiently?
Yes. It’s beneficial to the citizens in the community anytime we can obtain the same level of service at a reduced cost.
Would you support investigating amalgamation of fire/ambulance/police services to reduce costs?
Yes. Again, I would support investigating this, but would never support implementation if it would result in a lower quality of service. Due diligence would obviously have to be done to weigh the pros and cons.
Would you support a municipal tree-cutting bylaw if it contained incentives for woodlot owners to retain/increase tree cover?
Yes. This would all depend on the incentives. Canada is a global leader in deforestation and Chatham-Kent as a community has to do its part to stop this.
Do you believe we need a municipal ombudsman or ethics commissioner such as London and Windsor have added?
No. The municipality needs to reduce its expenses and if the right individuals are elected into council, they should not have any issue putting the public’s interests before their own.
Would you consider developing a usage benchmark for municipal offices, arena and libraries and closing those that don’t meet the standards?
Yes. However, depending on what these benchmarks are measuring, it would be better to manage these items based on need and usage as opposed to closing them altogether.
Do you support development of a community-wide multipurpose recreation centre?
Yes. This is one of my main objectives as mentioned earlier.
Do you support an adopt-a-park program in which service or volunteer groups assume some maintenance (grass cutting) of some municipal facilities?
No. I do not think we can have the same quality of service to our parks and municipal facilities this way.
Do you support investigating a reduction in the number of municipal councilors?
Yes. Ward 6 should be broken up into 3 or 4 different wards and there should be one elected councilor for each ward. This would hold each councilor directly responsible for the citizens in their ward, which would increase accountability.
Platform
My platform includes a focus on 5 major aspects of the Chatham-Kent area; 1. The need for citizens to be informed, 2. Improved access to the downtown core, 3. The encouragement of economic growth through the construction of recreational facilities, 4. Supporting the growth of local businesses that are already experiencing success and 5. The encouragement of economic growth through the recruitment of young entrepreneurs to this area.
Chatham-Kent residents need to be better informed on how their hard earned money is being spent. I will motivate council to be more transparent and keep the public informed through social media and a website that is much easier to navigate through when researching municipal programs.
We need a more direct route to our downtown core and 401 access at Charing Cross Road would accomplish this. It will help bring people from the 401 into the community, which will then strengthen local businesses. It will also expand the city towards the 401 and help attract new corporate investment. I will work to encourage council to investigate infrastructure improvements such as this.
I would fully support a community-wide multipurpose recreation centre that has a twin ice-pad within it. This is long overdue and has been brought forward numerous times with nothing being accomplished. This facility would help attract visitors through tournaments that would directly benefit hotels, restaurants, and other local retail stores. Also, youth sports in general help teach children in this community integrity, how to live active, healthier lifestyles and help develop friendships that will last a lifetime. These help promote ideals that are part of our Canadian heritage.
Job creation and investment attraction should be city council’s top priority. As a member of council, while aiming to attract new investment into the community, I also will support initiatives that work to grow the already successful local businesses in the area.
Finally, council should strive to keep our young professionals in the community, while attracting new young entrepreneurs. In order to accomplish this we need some of these specific individuals, like myself, on council. Many younger people who have left the community have done so because council has failed to address their needs. As a councilor, I will advocate for an environment that encourages young entrepreneurial activity.
By making these changes we can soon be as upbeat and prosperous community as any other on the 401 corridor. We must stop making excuses and start producing changes that generate results.
here is a young candidate putting his views out there in writing. I suspect many of us have the same views. Come on Chatham! Get out and vote for a young man wanting to try to do those things we would like to see happen, but so many are comfortable with the status quo. Do not be complacent and remember that no one can complain about what we have if you do not at least vote for a candidate .