Would you support a tax freeze or rollback if it meant reduced staff or services?
Yes; I support a tax freeze but it can be accomplished without reducing staff or services by reducing spending and increasing assessment.
Would you support an OPP costing study?
Yes; provided the study is at no cost to the taxpayers of Chatham-Kent. I already supported a motion to do a costing.
Would you support examining a volunteer-only fire service if the provincial arbitration system isn’t overhauled?
Yes; there is no harm in examining different ways of providing service, but examining means without prejudging the outcome.
Do you believe we should continue our ongoing efforts to attract economic investment from China?
Yes; In China, Germany, Korea, India, The United States and in Canada; all in tandem with assisting our local employers to grow and prosper.
Would you support contracting municipal services to the private sector if those services can be delivered more efficiently?
Yes; this is already done in our garbage services. The real test is what services can really be done more efficiently over the long term.
Would you support investigating amalgamation of fire/ambulance/police services to reduce costs?
Yes
Would you support a municipal tree-cutting bylaw if it contained incentives for woodlot owners to retain/increase tree cover?
Yes, provided that other Municipal taxpayers like home and business owners aren’t paying for the incentives. There’s too much subsidizing now.
Do you believe we need a municipal ombudsman or ethics commissioner such as London and Windsor have added?
No; I don’t see a need for another expensive employee. A good experienced Councillor is the taxpayer’s best ombudsman.
Would you consider developing a usage benchmark for municipal offices, arena and libraries and closing those that don’t meet the standards?
Yes, unless the taxpayers in the areas that have underused facilities want to pay an additional levy to keep the inefficient facility open; it is not fair to ask others to subsidize an inefficient underused facility. These facilities can be “area rated”.
Do you support development of a community-wide multipurpose recreation centre?
No, the YMCA, and St. Clair College Healthplex fulfill this need. Each received over One Million tax dollars from Chatham-Kent. We don’t need to get into any more mega-million’s capital projects for the next four years.
Do you support an adopt-a-park program in which service or volunteer groups assume some maintenance (grass cutting) of some municipal facilities?
Yes, Volunteers and service clubs are the heart and soul of our community. For years the Rotary Club I belong to adopted a strip of highway.
Do you support investigating a reduction in the number of municipal councilors?
Yes, I can envision a plan to reduce the number of Councillors to eleven immediately, by focusing on “Communities of Interest” rather than wards and using a true democratic approach, being “Representation by population.”
