I am a married father of three children and a lifelong resident of Thamesville. I presently run my own business that consists of a sign shop; an automotive repair shop and a coin-operated car wash.
I have served East Kent on Chatham-Kent council for the past two terms. During that time I have sat on the Public Utilities Commission, Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority, library board, as well as the Thamesville Community Credit Union board (past president).
I have served my community as a volunteer firefighter for the past 23 years and have been a Legion member for the past 30 years. I am dedicated and committed to the position of representing my constituents.
If elected, I plan to continue to promote fiscal responsibility and get our infrastructure shortfall back on track by lobbying provincial government to help with the mess they downloaded to us.
I will promote growing our small business sector, our agriculture industry, youth retention, protecting the amenities in the small communities and promoting Chatham-Kent as a destination with our lakes and cultural assets.
Would you support a tax freeze or rollback if it meant reduced staff or services?
Yes. I believe we can do this without reducing services
Would you support an OPP costing study?
Yes. I have already supported getting a costing from the OPP
Would you support examining a volunteer-only fire service if the provincial arbitration system isn’t overhauled?
N/A – I am a volunteer firefighter and that would be a direct conflict of interest
Do you believe we should continue our ongoing efforts to attract economic investment from China?
Yes, and any other country that is interested in investing
Would you support contracting municipal services to the private sector if those services can be delivered more efficiently?
Yes. We do that now with garbage pickup and recently horticultural plants
Would you support investigating amalgamation of fire/ambulance/police services to reduce costs?
Yes as long as due diligence is performed
Would you support a municipal tree-cutting bylaw if it contained incentives for woodlot owners to retain/increase tree cover?
No. We just spent an enormous amount of time getting all stakeholders involved to come up with a policy and we need to give it time to work
Do you believe we need a municipal ombudsman or ethics commissioner such as London and Windsor have added?
No, it is another expense to the taxpayer and it’s not needed at this time
Would you consider developing a usage benchmark for municipal offices, arena and libraries and closing those that don’t meet the standards?
No Libraries and arenas are extremely important to the rural communities. The municipal centers are the rural community’s link to the civic centre.
Do you support development of a community-wide multipurpose recreation centre?
No, it is another pie in the sky project we don’t have the ability to pay for
Do you support an adopt-a-park program in which service or volunteer groups assume some maintenance (grass cutting) of some municipal facilities?
Yes, service groups are doing this to some degree now
Do you support investigating a reduction in the number of municipal councillors?
No, the rural voice will be lost when you streamline the council table.
