My first term on Council was an important and essential learning process. In my second term that learning was, I believe, put to good use. I believe myself to be an effective and hard working Councillor for both ward (in my case Ward 3) and for the County at large – understanding the needs and wants of the community and local businesses, understanding the Municipal Act and other key provincial legislation, experienced in many of our local boards, a good relationship with City Council members, and very familiar now with the procedural practices of conducting and participating in Council and Standing Committee meetings. I now feel much more qualified and can be even more effective in a third term, which will be my last term, if elected.
4 issues have been the source of most input and concern to me:
- actively promoting the development and bringing into use a Long Term Financial Plan (LTFP) to underpin the financial management and planning for the County. https://pub-brant.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=73088
- The merger of Brant County Health Unit and Haldimand Norfolk Health Unit to form Grand Erie Public Health Unit – creating a larger, more effective and efficient unit. http://www.geph.ca
- upgrading the Downtown Paris Master Plan and supporting the initial steps in what is a multi year program to rejuvenate and revitalize downtown. https://www.brant.ca/media/4yxprxbz/downtown-paris-master-plan-progress-update-and-next-steps-pdf.pdf
- The completion, approval and adoption of our new Official Plan
Together with the other Paris Councillors I have been a strong advocate of moderation of the pace of development and in my first term we introduced measures to both effect the pace of development and to ensure our infrastructure is keeping pace. I have the strongest voting record of all Councillors in pushing to limit or moderate pace of development and pushing back on developers who seek an increasing number of variances to our Zoning By Laws. In many cases, our efforts are, however, met with developers stepping over Council and appealing to the Ontario Land Tribunal.
I have been vocal in supporting a strong , definitive new Official Plan that meets targets set by the Province for population and employment but does not go beyond. This brought the Council into conflict with developers who desire to build in Paris to levels which exceed provincial targets. Our new Official Plan sensibly directs new industrial and commercial developments to the 403 corridor. The Provincial Government finally approved our OP in 2024.
Traffic volumes, congestion and road safety are a perennial issue. The improvements to Rest Acres Road and King Edward Street are essentially complete and provide sufficient capacity and control to support the developments in the south west of Paris. Two roundabouts were constructed in Falkland to prepare for a future Bishopsgate Road junction at the 403. Work in downtown Paris and on the Dundas St East/Paris Road have created congestion and traffic movement issues that County staff have done their best to mitigate. Work at the 403 junction, led by the Provincial Ministry of Transportation, has further complicated traffic movements around Paris.
Brant Safe Streets Strategy continues to deliver results – around the County you will see speed digital monitors to alert drivers to their speed, we have reduced speed limits in critical areas (e.g. around schools) and added many other traffic control measures including speed humps. We introduced ASE (Automatic Speed Enforcement) in 2 locations and speeding was significantly reduced – unfortunately the Provincial Government mandated the removal of all ASE installations across the Province – a decision I firmly oppose. We have added 2 dedicated OPP traffic officers and we, together with OPP, have directed them to priority areas as identified by the Community.
Other important infrastructure projects supported by Paris Councillors include the urbanization of Cedar Street, and the upgrading of Dundas Street West, Main Street, Dumfries, Street, Hillside And Race Street. We also supported the replacement of the Paris Lawn Bowling Clubhouse which will provide a new home for the Paris Seniors Club – it is now known as the Wilkins Paris Community Centre.
I have been personally involved in the development of the Cowan Community Health Hub in Paris. The vision of a one stop shop, integrated, state of the art healthcare facility for our County was brought to realization. And it was done without any impact to property tax rates and in timely manner given the covid pandemic impact on the construction business.
Together with other Council colleagues, and through the Joint Social Services Committee, I pushed for more affordable housing. The new 49 unit Trillium Way addition was completed and came into service in 2025. The challenge of providing more affordable housing falls to the municipal and not for profit sectors – our role in County Council is vital. Much more to do!
I pushed for a shift in the balance of fixed and variable charges in our water bills. I had some success which will benefit lower volume users. And at the same time I supported the expansion of the the water treatment plant in Paris to provide sufficient capacity for current and future developments.
In this term I believe Council has managed budgets effectively – the average annual increase in Property taxes has been ca. 6%. This needs to be seen against a background of inflation in Ontario averaging over 4% annually in this term and a number of discrete increases (accounting for the balance) coming from increased contributions to the joint Social Services budget, increases in the costs of Emergency Services, and a Council decision to build a reserve to meet the future funding contribution to a new Brant/Branford hospital. On a positive note, growth in our County has had the impact of increasing associated tax revenues offsetting the growth in tax levy. Playing a role in managing the County budgeting and financial management processes is a key role of a County Councillor and one I both enjoy and feel skilled and experienced enough to make a significant contribution.