Mail-In Voting is very important for our Township, since 75% of our voters are seasonal residents - in fact we achieved 50% turnout in the last election with Mail-In Voting. The rejected ballots are likely spread across supporters for all candidates, and I am assuming that the final result will not be affected. Our Returning Officer is very experienced and is consulting other townships with similar voting situations. I am confident that she will make appropriate decisions throughout the election process.   more »

What questions do you have for me?  Leave them in the comments section at the bottom.

Questions so far :

- What will you change to improve the garbage and recycle pickup and reduce cost?

- As a representative of Chandos Ward, do you make decisions which are appropriate for the township as a whole?

- Why did you vote against the new Municipal Building?

See below for questions/answers so far

Q: What changes would you make to the garbage/recycle pickup system?

A:  Many private road residents cannot make use of the garbage or recycle pickup, since they are usually here on weekends.  Also, recycle pickup at the common collection areas is less convenient than driveway pickup and there is often a mess.

When we rebid the garbage/recycle contract (it expires in July 2007), I will ask that the quote be separated between public and private roads.  I predict that the quotes will show a huge increase in private road garbage pickup costs, due to higher fuel cost and  longer time to actually do the work.

To improve service and save at least $200K/yr, I propose the following:

-Continue garbage/recycle pickup from residents on public roads, where it can be done well and efficiently

-provide longer hours and 7 day operation at our transfer sites, to fit with seasonal residents' use patterns

-arrange for seasonal residents to use transfer sites in neighbouring townships where our sites are not convenient to their travel routes home

-pressure Ministry of Environment to permit innovative transfer sites which are small and inexpensive to set up and run

 

Q: As Chandos Ward Councillor, did you make decisions based on what was good for Chandos, or good for the Township as a whole?

A: My oath was to serve the taxpayers of the whole Township, and I always followed that requirement. 

When the Fire Department review showed that closing two fire halls in Chandos Ward would benefit the whole Township, I agreed with that.  It meant that I had to explain my position to the residents who lived nearby, and show them how they would benefit. Those benefits were, in short:

A higher rating for the overall Fire Department, which would mean reduced insurance premiums for all residents.

More expertise at all Fire Stations, and better equipment for the new layout of 3 well-spaced Fire Stations.

As Deputy Reeve, I will continue to see my responsibility as to the North Kawartha Township overall.

Q: Why did you vote against the new Municipal Building?

I felt that a new Municipal Building was needed, but that we were proceeding without any community input at all, and that there were good alternative features which should be included.

I identified the following possibilities:

- Provide for a full basement, since it could be done at low cost......(this was later incorporated into the plan when the contractor realized the added cost of $20K was very inexpensive)

-Allow for future Library expansion into the basement.....Our Library is less than half that of a typical small town Library, and we are very limited in what we can do.

-Analyse other possible locations....some people felt that this location might be too far out of the centre of Apsley.

-Guarantee that Peterborough City/County would rebuild the Ambulance Base in Apsley....there was considerable pressure to build the base in Buckhorn, (with ours gone), but the need to provide backup to Hastings County eventually made the decision to rebuild in Apsley.

-Build very high energy efficiency into the building, perhaps solar heating.....this would save money in the future, but could also serve as a demonstration project for the rest of the township.

-Use the Provincial Infrastructure funding for other Capital projects (roads, fire equipment) which we were doing anyway using township funds, create a reserve for the Municipal Building, and then determine which was the best use of the Provincial funding.......this would allow us to "use" provincial funding, and still have reserves to build a new building