Minto candidates tackle housing, growth, infrastructure

PALMERSTON – Residents of Minto gathered in Palmerston on Sept. 17 for the town’s first all-candidates meeting.

Hosted by The Carry-On Women’s Institute, the event took place from 6 to 8pm at the James Street United Church.

Candidates in attendance at the event were Martè Pronk, Jean Anderson, Louise Howe, Jennifer Gibson, Mike Roesch, Susan Thurston, Ron Elliot, Paul Zimmerman, Shawn McDonald, Judy Dirksen, Joe Park and Patrick Raftis. Absent were Joe Andrade and Debra Dennison. Mayor Dave Turton and county councillor David Anderson have both been acclaimed and therefore were not part of the panel.  

Each candidate answered a random question drawn from a basket. 

Jean Anderson 

Anderson, a resident of Harriston for the past 43 years, has served on Minto council for the past 12 years – first as a councillor, then as deputy mayor, the position she is again seeking this election. 

Anderson’s question stated Minto “lags behind in carbon footprint reduction” and asked “what specific timeline or capital investment plan will you support to establish a municipal solar farm with energy storage” in the town?

Anderson replied Minto is “probably on par with most of the local rural communities around” when it comes to  carbon footprint reduction. She called solar energy “a fascinating prospect” said she would personally like to “get off the grid.”

“However, when they came up with the idea of electric cars driving all over, everywhere in Canada, I brought out my background as a nurse ... Batteries become a piece of garbage that is not safe to dispose of,” she said.

Anderson added, “We may currently have lots of hydro, but if everybody is operating an electrically charged vehicle, we will not have enough energy. 

“Every highway in Ontario will have to be lined with charging stations in order to keep the trucks and the cars moving that bring people to the cities and products to the country, so the reality of solar energy as a sole source, I don’t think it’s realistic.”

Martè Pronk

Also vying for the role of deputy mayor, Pronk has been operating his organic dairy farm outside of Harriston for over 20 years. He pulled the question; “What do you feel that you can bring to council that is currently missing?”

“I’ve been a business owner for 20 years, I’ve [had] various roles on committees, including chair, and one of them included a school board. And that’s where you have to take finances that are provided by the membership, do your job to be frugal, get their money’s worth, employ staff, provide education and capital expenditures from this tuition to make it work,” said Pronk.

“I’ve also been on a board with farmers. You try to work with 150 farmers … and try to come up with a solution. Pretty difficult, but I have the experience, and I’ve had board training and governance up to my eyeballs. So, I can say that I’m pretty well versed in that.”

Louise Howe

Howe, one of 12 people running for five councillor roles, received the question, “How would you work to preserve farmland as our communities grow.” 

“Farmland is our economy and our heritage. I support directing growth into our existing settlement areas,” said Howe. “Before we expand onto prime agricultural land, that means in-fill, gentle density and servicing empty lots first … I would look for properties like that.”

She added, “We do need growth, and we will grow. How fast and how slow? That all depends on what we could bring to our communities, whether it’s Clifford or whether it’s Palmerston or whether it’s Harriston. And we need to work with the county on strong official plans and policies that protect class one-to-three soils.”

Jennifer Gibson

Gibson, a 27-year-old lifelong Minto resident with experience facilitating events such as Halloween Harvest and the Clifford Carnival, was asked, “What is the single biggest issue facing Minto over the next four years?”

“I think there’s going to be a lot of change,” said Gibson. “I think that change is needed, and change is not always a bad thing, it’s a positive thing, as well as growth. I know that there’s a lot of subdivisions that have been approved across our communities, and I think that us expanding is also goingto be a big change for a lot of people.

 “I think we should be growing at a pace that we can handle, a pace that our infrastructure services and our infrastructure can handle.”

Mike Roesch

Roesch lives in Clifford with his wife and two sons. He has experience facilitating events as a member of the Clifford Connects Committee. He was asked about “current municipal expenditures that you feel should be reduced, changed or eliminated.”

“That’s a loaded question. We do have a lot of expenditures, but most of them are necessary. We have our infrastructure, we have our wastewater, we have our roads, everything like that,” said Roesch.

“I haven’t seen any of the books or anything. I couldn’t tell you where the fat needs trimmed from, but what you’d have to do is look down and what needs taken off of where. Where are we spending extra money? Are we paying somebody twice? 

“Are we giving the contracts, where they should be going, are we going for the lowest bids? Just being more efficient would be the way I would do it.”

Susan Thurston

Thurston’s question stated, “Many taxpayers of the Town of Minto have observed local municipal employees commuting between work sites using full-size pickup trucks. If elected, what specific steps would you take to audit the use of our municipal fleet to ensure dollars are not wasted on oversized vehicles for routine transit?”

“I’m always a believer to having the right tool with the right job, and anybody that works in a shop will tell you that,” said Thurston.

He added, “we need to assess whether those are the right tools, and that includes trucks or whatever they have on hand. And you have to assess to see if it’s right for the job. And so that’s one of the things that I would certainly be looking for in this for sure.”

 Ron Elliot

Elliot, a former mayor of Minto and Palmerston, is hoping to maintain his spot as one of Minto’s five councillors. He was asked about what motivated him to run and about his “primary goal.” 

“I’m running because Minto is my home and I believe my experience can be useful,” said Elliot.

“I care about the decisions that affect people’s everyday lives. My main goal is to help Minto grow carefully in homes people can afford and services they can rely on.

“I will keep listening, asking a couple questions and working with council and staff and residents.”

Paul Zimmerman

Zimmerman, also a current Minto councillor, received the question, “How would you make sure that taxpayers in Clifford, Harriston, Palmerston and the rural areas are all getting fair consideration?”

“Fairness does not always mean identical spending every year,” said Zimmerman.

“It means constant evidence, community needs access, disclosed cost and benefits and a balanced long-term project or program across urban, rural and industrial Minto.

“We have to plan properly, and I believe we do a pretty good job of that.”

Shawn McDonald

McDonald, a local business owner and lifelong Minto resident of Minto, was asked about the need for “low-income housing,” about low wages and what can be done to “help the person willing to stay and work in Minto?”

“Low-income housing is obviously a big topic today, and I think that the town is doing their best to attract companies to come build apartment buildings here or refurbish buildings in the area,” said McDonald. “There’s one going up in Palmerston right now, the WT, and I believe they have a section that is part of the low-income housing.”

“I believe there’s other buildings in the community that are looking at being refurbished, so that is a huge asset ... we can hopefully take these old buildings, refurbish them and make them affordable for people.”

When it comes to wages, McDonald said he sympathizes with working people in Minto, but economics of business are what prevent higher wages.

“As far as the wages with inflation, that’s a really hard question, especially as a business owner. It’s as simple as, if you’re not bringing in as much as you can, you can’t pay more out of it,” said McDonald.

Judy Dirksen

A lifelong Minto resident, Dirksen has been a municipal councillor for 21 years, including four as deputy mayor.

Dirksen was asked about the effect of inflation on municipal costs and “what specific municipal department or processes” she would “target for an independent efficiency audit to find savings” instead of raising taxes.

“Our largest tax allocation goes to public works, so it probably makes sense to do a deep dive into that department,” said Dirksen. “An independent efficiency audit sounds like a very expensive proposition to me, so I wonder if there might be a way to work with other local municipalities to maybe gain some intel.”

She added, “One of the challenges with public works is the unpredictability of the work before them. They can start the day with a plan. But somewhere on the gravel or paved roads in the country or on the streets in the urban areas, something goes wrong, and so it may need immediate attention.

“Things change pretty quickly in that department.”

Joe Park

Park has lived in Minto for much of his life, including  Palmerston, Clifford, Harriston and Drew, and spent 15 years working in humanitarian aid around the world. 

Park was asked if Minto should “adopt limits to its housing and industrial growth? We see other rural communities becoming small cities, do we want that for Minto?”

“I don’t think we want to put limits on growth because growth generates revenue in our community,” said Park.

“But I also believe that we have to make sure that we’re taking care of the rural areas and making sure that we’re utilizing the space that we have in the communities before we expand.

“It is good to make sure that the businesses and the houses that are coming into a community fit well into the community.”

Patrick Raftis

Raftis, a Minto native who spent four decades working as a journalist in and around Minto, including at the Community News, was asked about his top three priorities if elected.  

“One of the first things is we’ve got to keep working on economic and community development. I’d support policies that are aimed at creating a thriving business community and industrial base to ensure we have goods and services available locally, and local employment is an option for residents,” said Raftis. 

“We need special events and programming for youth, families, seniors, revitalizing our downtowns and creating welcoming community spaces.”

Raftis also listed affordable housing and infrastructure as his top priorities.

“As a small community, the provincial growth targets are a challenge for the Town of Minto ... I would support policies aimed at creating a diverse mix of housing options, both ownership and rental,” said Raftis.

“We need to make sure we’re planning ahead so that we aren’t playing an expensive game of catch-up later. Sometimes it’s better to spend dollars now than spend future dollars.”

Business attraction, retention

Due to a few missing candidates on the panel, those present were afforded an opportunity to answer three remaining questions. The first was about attracting and retaining business and getting taxpayers to shop local.

“As far as attracting businesses to Harrison, we have an unparalleled program,” said Anderson, citing grants, training and other business initiatives. 

“We have some really interesting businesses in town. Some of them are a little unusual, and I think that’s good to get to people. We’re trying to get to all mixes of people, the little boutiques, May’s Cafe, and we certainly want to keep our dollars at home and encourage those people to stay here,” she continued.

Pronk said he has “talked to a couple of business owners here that are present or working in this municipality and also others, and some of them [say] that there’s certain roadblocks here that make it less attractive than other municipalities.” He added Minto should see what is working elsewhere.

Current council performance

The second question was about the performance of the current town council “and what are areas for improvement, and how will you accomplish that?”

Howe praised council’s ability to create and approve a budget but noted she would like to see councillors “watch their spending.”

Elliot said, “I think one thing we’re doing well is planning for long-term needs ... We have published plans for infrastructure, water finances and energy use, those help us look beyond the next repair or budget.”

Thurston and Zimmerman expressed a need for better communication from the town, with suggestions such as a newsletter and more town hall meetings. 

Staff titles, salaries

The final question suggested council provide a list of municipal employees, their titles and salaries.

“As someone who’s worked in the media ... I do understand that sometimes there could be more transparency,” said Raftis. “This particular issue, it’s already public information. It’s all in the budget, which is online.”

He noted the number of Minto employees by department can be found via a “quick Google search.” 

“As citizens, we have to take an onus too, and you have to read the paper,” he continued. “You have to check the council agenda and see if there’s something on there that [might affect you], and then follow it up.” 

Residents have another chance to interact with candidates on Sept. 28 at  6:30pm at the Clifford arena.