An all candidates meeting at Kenilworth Public School on Oct. 9 garnered a sizable crowd that remained decidedly silent when given the chance to pose questions to prospective representatives.
Lasting barely an hour, the meeting featured a mere five questions. Of these, topics included rural garbage pick up, possible roundabout construction and the sale of Wellington North Power.
Prior to the question period, candidates introduced themselves.
MAYOR
Ray Tout
Tout emphasized debt reduction during the last four years, citing a decrease from $12.9 to $9 million while still contributing to reserves.
“I’m promoting the municipality wherever I go,” he said. “I also supported Kenilworth Public School and keeping it open full time. This school closing will only diminish the identity of Kenilworth and our central community.”
Andy Lennox
Lennox said he has the experience necessary to be a leader in the township. He said his priorities centre around maintaining the small-town atmosphere.
“Crumbling infrastructure is today’s reality. We have roads that are overdue for repair or upgrading,” he said. “I will not stand aside and let the legacy I leave my children be one of gradual decay. I want to address the challenges of today without burdening future generations.”
WARD 1
Dan Yake
During difficult and uncertain economic times, Yake says the importance of having experienced leadership and council stability becomes even more important.
“Taxes are important. It hits us hard and you want to be assured that your money is looked after and spent properly. It’s not always easy but I’m willing to put my neck on the line,” he said.
Shawn McLeod
McLeod is the president of the Mount Forest Chamber of Commerce and says he wants to continue to bring businesses and volunteers together.
“It’s time to take stock of what we have, identify what we need and bring everyone to the table. The county and township should be part of the conversation,” he says. “We are stronger when we work together.”
WARD 2
Sherry Burke
Burke said she is proud of the achievements during the last four years, including two new playgrounds and saving Kenilworth Public School. She said she will “invest in the community and its people by giving your concerns a voice and providing stable governance.”
Brett McHugh
McHugh said though he doesn’t have any previous experience, he will fight for the protection of community schools and farmland and only spend tax payer dollars on projects that are “absolutely necessary.”
“There is a lack of protection of farmland – especially class 1 prime agriculture. I will … table a motion for a moratorium on commercial enterprises such as wind turbines and gravel pits on agricultural land.”
Bob Mason
Mason said debt reduction and increased reserves are the result of letting infrastructure fall into disrepair.
“The challenge request from Louise Marshall Hospital needs to be resolved and the lack of sewage capacity in Arthur has to be resolved,” he said.
WARD 3
Mark Goetz
Goetz says agriculture plays a big role in his life and he wants to be a voice for that sector while developing a more concrete plan going forward.
“We need no change to the five-year development charge by-law and the commitment to the new budget process five-year operational and 20-year capital plan,” he said. “This will allow us to prioritize projects going forward.”
Ross Chaulk
Chaulk says the municipality should be run like a business and claims the number of tax dollars saved could be exponentially higher with the absence of legal woes.
“Taxpayers want open and honest leadership, not secret meetings,” he says. “Council needs to take ownership for its actions. The amount spent on outside consultants to hire new employees, OMB hearings, legal fees, severance pay for terminated employees and development charges not collected or forgiven is estimated to approach half a million dollars.”
Jens Dam
Dam says that he hopes to bring common sense to council.
“Our local municipality has a big impact on our daily lives. Municipal government is governed by provincial legislation that our local administration is bound to follow,” he says.
“Ignorance of the law is no excuse. As present administration found out it only takes one ratepayer to upset the apple cart and the whole content spills out.”
WARD 4
John Matusinec
Matusinec says his knowledge of wastewater treatment will help facilitate a timely solution to the sewage capacity issues in Arthur. He also said he would fight property tax increases as they hurt the township’s aging demographic.
“Seniors on fixed incomes have expressed that they are hardly getting by and in a lot of cases they’re paying high property taxes. We must band together to fight constant downloading of property tax increases and return to a fair taxation principal of pay-by-income rather than property assessment,” he said.
Steve McCabe
McCabe’s bottom line is “growth pays for growth” and he says action needs to be taken in Arthur to ensure it continues to move forward.
“Arthur has been poised for growth for too long. We need to work on the sewage water treatment plant. It has to be done,” he says. “We need to commit to this project – not in four years, we need to do it today.”
COUNTY WARD 4
Lynda White
White says she has the experience needed to make tough decisions when it comes to tax dollars. She says if elected, she will continue to be a voice for local hospitals.
“I was the advocate for the county to contribute to the three hospitals in Wellington. We had to show the province that each of these communities stand behind their hospitals,” she says. “There is only one tax payer and that is you and that is me.”
Stephen O’Neill
A mortgage agent, O’Neill says he sees the effect high property taxes have on the public. He wants to ensure taxes are funneled toward projects that benefit Wellington North.
“When I sit down with people their big concern after their mortgage payment is property taxes. They don’t know what they get for their taxes but they know it’s a big burden every month,” he says.
COUNTY WARD 3
Gary Williamson
Acclaimed in the Ward 3 position, Williamson says he is ready to make the difficult decisions.
“Provincial downloading, reduced funding and our aging demographic are just a few of the challenges we face moving forward. Both county, and your local councillors are going to have to make some very tough and difficult decisions,” he said.
SCHOOL BOARD
Bruce Schieck
Acclaimed as the UGDSB representative for Minto, Mapleton and Wellington North, Schieck is looking forward to another four years of serving the community.
“My philosophy is, I believe our children are our community’s greatest resource,” he said.
Questions
The first question was about the controversial development charge bylaw and whether any of the money paid out in disbursements and rebates had been recovered.
Tout said the funds had not made it back.
“No they were not … there was an agreement made and there was some misguided information given to us at the time, but council has decided that we made a gentleman’s agreement for some of the ones that had pre-paid for development charges and had got their building permits,” he said.
“For those ones, we decided we were going to stand up to the plate and honour the agreement we made with those prospective people.”
Lennox spoke in a similar vein. “There was an arrangement or an agreement made by council that any money that was paid to development charges under the situation that was in error, was done in good faith and we in council wanted to honour that good faith. We have since reviewed the development charges bylaw again with the intent of making sure the development charges pay for development.”
The next question was about rural garbage pick up – similar to the programs in Erin and Guelph-Eramosa.
Chaulk felt the township should look at it with a new council and see if it would be cost-effective. “If we can pull it off without putting us in a major debt load and if the demand is there, we should seriously consider it,” he said.
Dam said the issue has been a touchy subject in the past and residents should remember it could affect their taxes.
“It would be nice to have it, but there’s a cost involved,” he said. “It will affect everyone’s taxes to have garbage pick-up in the countryside.”
The amount of action they could take at the municipal level is limited, Goetz responded, suggesting the issue be posed to county council.
O’Neill said this type of question proves that residents aren’t aware which level of government handles which services and said communication needs to be improved. “It’s certainly something that would have to come to the table once again.”
White emphasized that because a garbage pick-up pilot project initiated in Minto was unsuccessful, the chances of it working in Wellington North are also relatively low.
“Guelph-Eramosa and Erin answered very well to the project, but in Minto they didn’t want it,” she said. “We need to take a look at the waste management issue across the whole county – look at the transfer stations and where we are with our pick-up.”
Williamson reiterated White’s statement. “We’re going to take a look at the long range planning for waste management,” he said.
White also suggested residents visit the county website if they have questions about services, to avoid confusion.
Mayoral candidates were asked if they supported the sale of Wellington North power.
Lennox said any rumours to sell the company are untrue.
“I believe Wellington North power brings a competitive advantage to our community. I think it would be foolish for us to sell such an asset that does bring valuable services to our residents,” he said.
“I am interested in selling types of facilities that do not bring any services and cost money, such as the former Sacred Heart School.”
Tout agreed.
“I’m absolutely not in favour of selling Wellington North Power … [it] is now in a profitable position and currently we are retailing at about $0.18 per kilowatt hour,” he said.
“Should we sell to a competitor for the sake of a one-time cheque, it will go to a $0.32 per kilowatt hour charge to the consumer.”
After comments in the opening speeches indicated Wellington North has increased their reserves to a more-than-comfortable position, audience members wanted to know when they would start seeing that money applied to projects.
Mason said saving $5 million leaves a comfortable $1.6 million to work with.
McHugh thought it should be used soon for “infrastructure such as roads and the Arthur sewage treatment plant.”
Burke said although they have more than enough, it is important to save for the future.
“There isn’t a set number, you need to spend appropriate funds and maintain infrastructure … it’s a balancing act,” she said. “You wouldn’t spend all your money in the bank, you need to save some because we have big projects coming like the sewage treatment plant.”
The final question addressed rumours of new roundabouts in Teviotdale and on White’s Road near Palmerston.
White responded that although she hasn’t heard any plans to that effect, residents should accept roundabouts are the way of the future. However, she agrees that they have no business in areas with large amounts of pedestrians – such as Frederick Street in Arthur.
Williamson said White’s Road may be in preliminary talks but he hadn’t heard anything about a roundabout in Teviotdale.
O’Neill said he has heard about a possible roundabout near Belwood on Wellington Roads 18 and 26 but is hesitant about implementing them in general.
“I’m leery about roundabouts in a pedestrian place,” said O’Neill.
“Out in the country I don’t see a problem. There’s lots of them in Waterloo region, but in Arthur I don’t see it.”
