I’m running for municipal council because I think that we can do better to ensure that Chatham-Kent can meet our current and future needs. Our current reactive responses have not served us well and a proactive approach to delivering services, maintaining infrastructure, and adapting to demographic shifts within the community is needed.
I have the drive and energy to work for and on behalf of residents to keep Chatham-Kent moving in a positive direction, and a passion to work with residents to ensure council’s decisions begin with you. I believe that sound policy begins with listening to residents and true fiscal responsibility requires an understanding of where we are over-delivering, and underperforming on our services.
I pledge to work hard for you and towards a CK that can provide for our seniors, has a transportation system that works for residents, and is a safe and healthy community for raising children.
- Do you support increasing funding for infrastructure given the fact several culverts and bridges – including the Third Street Bridge – have had emergency issues and closures recently?
Yes I support increasing funding for infrastructure. The municipality needs to take a proactive approach to the management of its infrastructure. The current emergency issues and closures demonstrate that our current assessment criteria does not give us a clear picture on the condition of our infrastructure. We need to re-evaluate the criteria we use to determine the state of our infrastructure and include usage as a main component of future assessments. The largest factor affecting the lifecycle of our infrastructure assets is usage and I think that current assessments do not take this into account enough.
- Would you support a tax freeze or rollback if it meant reduced staff and/or services?
No This is a complex question. A tax freeze would prevent the municipality from being able to adapt to future issues that may arise, whereas a rollback would provide relief to residents in the present while still allowing the municipality the ability to adapt to unforeseen circumstances. I would support a rollback but not a freeze. As well, I do think that we can eliminate duplication within our municipal services while increasing the delivery and efficiency of those services. This would require us to examine in detail our service capabilities and to eliminate duplicate positions and processes that are unnecessary.
- Would you support shifting some services to the private sector if those services could be done more efficiently that way?
Yes I do think that some services can be shifted to the private sector. The benefit to the citizens who use those services must be demonstrated though. If it can be shown that the quality of the services will improve, and that this is what is meant by delivering those services more efficiently, then I would fully support the shift of those services to the private sector. However, if the quality of service deteriorates then I would not support the shift and instead focus on improving the efficiency in house.
- Do you believe we need a municipal ombudsman or ethics commissioner?
No I do not believe we need a municipal ombudsman or ethics commissioner. This would create a duplication of services with the Ontario ombudsman. I think as a municipality, we can work on our complaints procedure, but if citizens continue to face difficulties with the municipality the Ontario ombudsman is empowered to address these concerns. This would also be a more effective way for citizens to address municipal issues that arise from a lack of funding from the Provincial government and cannot be resolved at the municipal level.
- Do you support investigating a reduction in the number of council members?
Yes I do support investigating a reduction in the current number of council members. We should be clear though that a reduction should be related to the quality of representation and quality of policy. If there is no benefit other than reducing the number of councillors then I would support maintaining the current number until it can be demonstrated that a change will improve representation and/or the quality of policy.
- Should the municipality try to land an Ontario Cannabis Store as soon as possible?
No I do not think the municipality should try to land an Ontario Cannabis Store as soon as possible. We do not know what the overall impact on the community will be, nor do we know what the market will look like. If we want to be better in our decision-making, I think we should take a more cautious approach and not be one of the experimental groups. A case could be made that jumping into something before fully understanding what impact it might have on our residents has already been seen with the wind turbines and water wells.
- Should council be more proactive in terms of working with landowners with contaminated wells?
Yes Council should always be pushing to be more proactive, whether through enhancing our collection of data or working with community members on solutions to known problems. I believe council should be working with community landowners to engage the province on finding both short and long term solutions to the current contaminated well situation. I also think that we should be working more closely with our sitting MPP to ensure that future decisions at Queen’s Park are not made in a way that ignores the local impact in CK of provincial legislation.
- Some critics say the municipal building department is an impediment to development in C-K. Do you agree?
Yes I do think that the municipal building department is currently an impediment to development in CK. However, I think this is mainly because the department does not help to assist applicants with understanding why permits have been denied, especially when these denials are the result of provincial regulations. Building permits are there to protect the interests of both individuals and the community as a whole. I think the municipality and its departments need to do a better job of working with residents, and engaging with provincial partners to work on finding solutions.
- Do you believe Chatham needs a new twin-pad arena?
No I do not believe Chatham needs a new twin pad arena. However, Chatham does need a new facility as the current ones are at the end of their lifecycle and the cost effectiveness of continuing to repair them has already passed a reasonable rate. I think that a new facility should be multi-purpose and the proposal needs to be tailored to what current demand can sustain. If a new facility is built that prices out our residents, then it will not be maintained and we will end up back in our current situation. Ideally, build proposals would be able to accommodate future expansion and be tailored to current community needs.
- Should the municipality cut back on its expenditures for overseas economic development efforts?
No I think that the decision to cut back on current expenditures should be put into perspective, which may or may not necessitate cuts. Growth in local business and the support of entrepreneurs is an essential part of a strong economy, and these can coincide with foreign investment. As well, Chatham-Kent is a major agricultural centre and finding markets for our products will require facilitating growth through exporting to foreign markets. Working towards gaining foreign investment is one aspect of overseas efforts, the other is finding markets for our exports. We need to be clear on goals and achievements of our efforts.
- Should municipal councillors ever be forced to go the Freedom of Information route when seeking municipal information?
No I do not think that municipal councillors should be forced to go the Freedom of Information route when seeking municipal information. The important part is that this is only in regards to municipal information. However, in order to ensure that the request is truly for municipal information and not a matter of privacy, the municipality should develop clear procedures that ensure all municipal activity and information regarding municipal activities is recorded, kept, and easily attainable. This would reduce the need to go the FOI route to determine whether the information sought after is private rather than public information.
- Should members of the public have more access to municipal information without having to resort to an FOI?
Yes, members of the public should have more access to municipal information without having to resort to FOIs. The municipality should take a proactive approach to the recording and storing of municipal information to make it more accessible. To improve transparency and reduce the need to go the FOI route, the municipality should develop better procedures so that the distinction between public and private information is clearer.
