Local Government
The New Tecumseth municipal council needs to be accessible, transparent and accountable. You want a councillor who will reply to your emails or phone calls and follow-up on issues that you are facing.
Attendance at council and committee meetings is an ongoing issue as there are many councillors who are on committees that they never attend. You will find that I have a great track record for attending and participating in all my Committee meetings.
Why is it not recorded who voted which way on issues? Because a councillor would need to make a motion for votes to be recorded. I would like to change this and other policies so that you can look at your councillors record on how they voted. Not everyone has the time to attend meetings, but you still have the right to know how your councillor stands on issues that affect you.
How impartial is your representative? Do they do business with the town of New Tecumseth? Do they accept money or favours from developers? I am impartial and will never accept money from developers as I see this as compromising ones impartiality.
Taxes
Holding taxes down and identifying efficiencies to ease residents’ burden needs to be our plan of action. We need controlled spending and creative problem solving. Let’s put creativity before capital!
Roads
There must a traffic study done for south New Tecumseth. We have studies for Tottenham, Beeton and Alliston but there is no study which encompasses the whole community and specifically there is no study for the south end of the town or Ward 7. There is a tremendous burden on our roads from truck traffic, dump trucks and commuters from all over the ward and beyond and this traffic is only going to get worse. We need a plan to deal with the impact of the new developments in Tottenham, Beeton and Alliston. Other municipalities are planning for the future with innovative measures to deal with traffic and we need to follow suit.
The rural taxes should be spent on the rural roads. I would support a larger percentage of rural taxes going to rural roads. We also need to ensure our roads are safe. This means that roads with heavy truck traffic from pits or development need enforcement on a regular basis. People need to feel safe to turn into their driveway, wait for their child’s bus and walk the dog. We also need our roads ploughed in the early morning so we can drive to work. Our north-south roads are heavily used by all residents and should be a priority.
As this area has so many commuters we should have connections via Go Transit to Bradford and Bolton. As a municipality we can lobby Go Transit for this.
Development
Council must work with developers and builders to create diverse, sustainable and attractive residences, services and businesses which contribute to the long term health and prosperity of the community. We must support the viability of farm operations, protect water resources and preserve natural areas for future generations.
Airpark and Fill
We need to update our Fill and Site-Alteration by-laws to protect residents’ health and property. The by-laws of Georgina, Bradford and West Gwillumbury protect their residents with provisions such as: a security deposits, the choice of three environment testing companies (the municipality chooses), a fee per load ($15-$20) which can help pay for oversight and many more details. We can also add a statement that any change in the site-alteration plan or change of ownership would allow the municipality to enforce their most recent by-laws. These are just some of the exciting ways we can help protect ourselves from contaminated fill. The residents of Ward 7, especially those near Highway 9, are concerned about the dumping of fill at the Tottenham/Volk Airport on Highway 9. There are issues of noise, dust, dangerous driving and potential impact on water quality. I’m prepared to try to resolve this issue by looking again at the town Solicitors report to see if there’s anything that was missed. New Tecumseth needs to make sure that the MTO keeps Highway 9 safe. The neighbours around the site have the right to live unmolested by industrial noise. They also have a right to safe water. I support the testing of drinking water on a regular basis. This will take a co-ordinated effort with all three levels of the government.