1. As your Mayor, I will be using my 14 years of experience as a Councillor, to provide strong leadership to:
• Ensure full value for our tax dollars.
• Improve the financial management of the Township.
• Encourage development through smart planning.
• Promote a quality environment for our families.
• Make those tough decisions necessary to move forward.
2. The role of Mayor is to set the agenda and to ensure that the direction that Council has decided to embark on is followed.
3. As Councillor my community involvement has centered around the activity of Council. From flipping hamburgers at fairs, to participating in charity golf events. In my own home community I am involved with The Riverview Club and the WDRA. Recently I participated in the first annual Beachburg Relay For Life.
4. I am completing fourteen years as Councillor. Additionally, I was Chairman of the School Board for five years which gave me experience leading a Board of Directors. I managed the Roads Department for the former Westmeath Township which gave me hands on experience with the day to day operation of the Municipality.
5. As Mayor my top priority will be roads, roads, roads…and chasing down grants and any other opportunities to ensure that the roads needs of the community will be met.
6. As Mayor I would like to see Council develop a plan using whatever resources are available which would include our own staff, county staff, and any help from the Province to attract industry, commerce, and jobs to Whitewater Region.
7. As Mayor I believe we should look carefully at how we do things now and look to other Municipalities to see if they have found a better way to do them and borrow any ideas that would work well for us. Now that we have a Needs Assessment Study I would, as Mayor, follow it as closely as possible to prioritize the road work that has to be done so that we are not jumping all over the place trying to please everyone and not completing any job properly.
8. Farming is the most important industry in our Municipality and it goes without saying that the industry has changed and will continue to change. Milk is now picked up by transport trucks and large farm equipment work hundreds of acres at a time. As a Municipality we must try to accommodate this equipment on our roads where we can. It would be unreasonable to rebuild all our roads. However, we can ensure that the roadside brush does not interfere with the equipment. We can make sure that there is proper line-of-sight at all intersections. Road signs should be positioned accordingly and when doing new construction, entrance ways can be made larger.
9. As Mayor I believe that the consultation process should be used for various stakeholders including the farming community.
10. Agriculture is our number one industry and should be our number one priority. As your Mayor, I would welcome any input from the agriculture community with respect to any development plans or decisions affecting agriculture in Whitewater Region.
11. As the Municipality develops new initiatives such as Taste of the Valley, they should be representative of the whole community. That doesn’t mean however, that we shouldn’t support and encourage traditional Village pride in such events as the annual fairs.
12. It saddens me to see Council having to make these regressive decisions. As Mayor, I will challenge Council to find ways to maintain and improve our road system.
13. “Need” or “Want”? Laurentian Valley, our neighbouring municipality, which has similar geography and population, has one fire hall, not centrally located. They see no “need” for any more fire halls to provide fire services. When we next review the fire services plan this difficult topic will be part of the discussion.
14. Muskrat Lake is a jewel in our Municipality. As Mayor, my goal will be to have the Provincial Government recognize that the farmers in the Muskrat Lake watershed be eligible for grants to pay for upgrades and new manure storage facilities as they do for other high risk lakes in Ontario.
15. Fortunately, the Municipality has in place the regulations necessary with respect to setbacks, septic system design, and erosion control which, if followed, will preserve the water quality of our lakes and rivers.
16. The Municipality should support the efforts of the County of Renfrew with respect to the purchase of the abandoned rail corridors and as Mayor I will pursue any opportunities for their use.
17. It is not a question of either or, or giving something up. We must petition the Provincial Government to ensure that we have affordable police services in our community and as Mayor this will be a priority for me.
18. It may be time to introduce in our Municipality development fees in order to offset these costs.
19. I have been a Councillor for fourteen years and while the job hasn’t always been an easy one I can say, looking back, that I’ve loved every bit of it. It is normal in this job to sometimes feel frustrated, angry, and disappointed but that’s not what I remember. I remember the challenges, and the many achievements that I have been proud to be part of over the last fourteen years. As your Mayor, I pledge to tackle head on, in an open, and honest way the challenges that we all know are coming our way.
