Minto voters had a chance to get up close and personal with municipal election candidates at a meeting here on Oct. 10.
The Drew Community Hall was close to capacity with 15 politicians and about 40 citizens packing the intimate venue for the town’s second all-candidates meeting.
Moderator Brian Darroch got the question period underway by challenging politicians to pay more attention to the rural segment of the municipality.
Noting that a Sept. 22 candidates meeting in Clifford focused on economic development, Darroch quipped, “Everything I heard was about Palmerston, Harriston and Clifford – there was nothing about Drew.”
Turning serious, Darroch stated, “Minto is an agricultural place to be. The agriculture community in this town is a lot larger than what those three communities comprise.”
Noting a small broiler farm typically generates revenues over $600,000 annually, Darroch said that exceeds the cash flow of most small businesses. He also said there are about 15 businesses – “some of them fairly large” – outside the three urban centres in Minto.
“And yet all I hear about is revitalizing our downtowns,” Darroch stated.
“Downtown beautician – is that part of my tax dollars going into that? I get the road graded – and I had to ask for that this spring … and it’s plowed in the wintertime and that’s about it.”
Minto resident Charles Weber, a director of the Wellington Federation of Agriculture, asked candidates about their priority for agricultural land use.
Incumbent county councillor Mark MacKenzie said there is currently a discussion at the county level regarding “offshore people buying our farms and bringing their labour in here.
“If I get a vote on this, I’ll vote against it,” MacKenzie stated.
County council candidate David Anderson said “one of the things the county has been very active about, and also the town, is promoting the farmers and what they are growing.”
Anderson cited the towns’ Savour the Flavours of Minto event and town-operated farmers’ markets as an example of promoting local agriculture and said the county has been heavily promoting local farmers through buy local, eat local campaigns.
County council candidate Steve Hardie said, “A lot of times provincial governments look at Toronto alone and forget about rural Ontario.”
Hardie said the province’s “Greenbelt” policies have “extended pressure for development beyond the Greenbelt – expanding into our area over time. So I think all councils need to be aware of that. There’s only so much farmland and we need to maintain that and protect it.”
Mayor George Bridge noted he chairs the county’s economic development committee and stated, “Agriculture is a big part of Wellington County and I’m telling you we take it very seriously.”
Bridge said he was surprised to learn – during deliberations about a solar farm proposed in the Drew area on farmland designated as Class 4 – that the province’s system for rating farmland hasn’t been updated to reflect new farming methods that allowed better utilization of land.
“We’ve got to get those ratings updated. There’s farms that are Class 4 farmland and we’re using them as Class 2. Were losing prime farmland because the rating system hasn’t been updated in 40 years,” said Bridge.
Mayoral candidate Terry Fisk, Minto’s current deputy mayor, used the solar farm issue, on which council withdrew approval for the project after visiting the site and receiving further information from area residents, as an example of council responding to the agricultural community.
Darroch turned up the heat in the room with a statement about local fire protection.
Calling a recent incident that saw three Minto fire departments responding to a chimney fire in Clifford “overkill,” Darroch suggested it’s an area council could look to find savings.
“My personal opinion is we have way too much fire protection because by the time you get to my place it’s going to be gone,” said Darroch.
The remark had firefighters in the audience spontaneously responding before the politicians had a chance.
Clifford firefighter Blair Wightman pointed out the Clifford chimney fire was reported as a “structure fire” and it is standard practice to dispatch firefighters from at least two stations for such calls.
Firefighter Kurt Dykstra pointed out volunteer fire departments struggle to ensure adequate manpower is available for calls, particularly in the daytime.
“We never know who’s going to be there and, if we get 30 guys, that’s too bad,” said Dykstra. “But I’m pretty sure that if it’s your house on fire or your wife in the accident on the road you’ll be glad we’re there.”
Councillor candidate Geoff Gunson, who is also a Minto firefighter, pointed out firefighters can’t wait to determine the seriousness of a call before dispatching equipment and manpower.
He said a fire last spring in a downtown Harriston building could have been disastrous with a reduced response.
“If it was a [major] fire and we only had the Harriston fire station – if we had waited another 10 minutes for Palmerston or Clifford that downtown could be gone,” said Gunson.
Councillor Dave Turton said “that’s likely one of the biggest single issues for our chief, having the biggest number of people turn out when you need them … It’s tough.”
Anderson noted he was “very proud” of the local volunteer fire department for their response to a fire on his property about a year ago. “I would never vote to reduce fire protection,” he stated.
The issue of “shopping local” was raised when a questioner asked why a contractor from St. Thomas was working on local sidewalks and catch basins.
“When we send out a tender we can’t show preference to local contractors or we would never get any tenders,” explained councillor Mary Lou Colwell, who pointed out tenders are advertised through the town’s website and in area Newspapers so local contractors should be aware of opportunities.
Bridge said one local contractor was approached about doing some cement work for the town and indicated he was too busy.
However, with actual tender jobs, Bridge said, “We can’t individually send them out to anybody – if you’re a local contractor you should hear about it.”
Councillor Ron Elliott pointed out another municipality decided to give a job to a local company over the low bidder when the local company’s bid was “within 10 per cent.” The municipality was sued by the low bidder and “not only had to pay the company that did the job, they also had to pay the other company their profit, so they had to pay twice,” said Elliott.
Fisk said, “We tendered for some trucks earlier on in our term – there was some discussion on buying local … we decided to go with the local bid and I heard a lot of people say your job is to get the best deal you can get,” he said. Nonetheless, Fisk stated he felt council “could do a better job” of spending money locally.
One questioner raised the issue of ever-rising taxes.
“As an individual I don’t get a two per cent raise every year … thinking outside the box when are taxes going to come down?” he asked.
Bridge pointed out some tax bills in Minto “would have come down this year – based on assessment.” Bridge noted people tend to focus disproportionately on their property tax bill, compared to other forms of taxation.
“You pay taxes to a lot of different sources – the property tax you pay is actually one of your smaller sources,” he said.
Turton made the point that while many blame staff wages for rising taxes, “we’ve got a great group of local employees, home grown and it’s great. We spend a pile of money on training – we try and give employees a little money, a percentage or two to keep them … if we don’t keep our wages up a little bit, they leave.”
MacKenzie noted the county kept its increase last year at around two per cent. “A lot of it is based on wants instead of needs – at the county level I am always voting for needs not wants,” he said.
Council candidate Nicola McEwan said Minto should ensure it capitalizes on available grant money from upper tiers.
“I am very interested in trying to get our hands on some of that grant money from those other governments. That is our money, they just got it in a different way,” said McEwan.
Colwell said she “can’t see taxes actually going down.
“If you do that, the next year there’s a 10% increase. Does that help anyone?” she asked.
Fisk noted a provincially-mandated asset management plan for the town was done in-house by Minto treasurer Gordon Duff and staff.
“We’re one of a few municipalities that did it in-house. Others hired consultants and we all know consultants cost money. Taxes would go up far more if we were paying consultants to do all of the work our staff does.”
Elliott, who sits on the board of Ontario Small Urban Municipalities, said Minto is “way ahead of the curve,” among municipalities in terms of asset management planning.
“Some haven’t even got it done yet,” he said.
Prior to the question period, candidates were given a few minutes for opening remarks.
Council candidate Jean Anderson addressed the issue of taxation during her opening remarks, noting Minto taxes are considered high compared to many neighbouring municipalities.
“We need to keep taxes down while maintaining the same level of services,” she said.
Council candidate Don Senek commented on the challenges facing amalgamated municipalities.
“I’ve seen over the years that amalgamation can be good. But fair is not always equal. You can’t please all of the people all of the time,” said Senek, who noted that while there’s still some animosity between the three former municipalities that make up his former hometown of Cambridge, “I think we’ve blended pretty well here.”
Council candidates Judy Dirksen stressed, “being prepared for council meetings is very important to me.
“A lot of people count on council’s good decision making and councillors owe it to them to be well prepared and informed,” she said.
Dirksen noted, “Continuous improvement is a mantra these days, and I’d like to see that type of efficiency brought to Minto in every department.”
Council candidate Ed Bodnar did not attend the meeting.
No relation
The mayoral candidates injected some only-in-a-small-town style humour into the proceedings when Fisk lamented he’s often asked when campaigning door to door “why I’m running against my relative.
“Mayor Bridge isn’t my relative. My brother is married to his sister, so whatever relation that is? Even if we were related I want this job very badly,” said Fisk.
“We don’t even look alike,” quipped Bridge.
