We moved to a farm in Sydenham in 2003 from years of urban living in Toronto, Etobicoke and Durham Region. I am a professional engineer and am involved in consultant engineering on miscellaneous energy projects.
In 2006-7 I sat on an environmental services public advisory committee for Meaford and attended a few council meetings during this time. It soon became apparent to me that Council was very urban-centric and that rural concerns were usually played down.
Being a relative newcomer, it took several meetings before I caught on as to what the priorities of the Meaford political establishment and senior staff were.
Unfortunately, long-windedness and political correctness and buying in to a flavour of the month agenda dominated most meetings and meant that very little could be accomplished in a two or three hour meeting.
So, if elected, I would definitely do my best to represent the tax payers of rural Meaford!!!
Priority #1 is Meaford’s fiscal health. All existing templates need to be questioned in order to reduce costs. The three largest expenditures in Meaford’s budget are Public Works, Protective Services and Administrative Services. In 2009, their budgets were, respectively: $2,307,700., $2,406,250. and $2,817,500. A fourth big ticket item would be Capital Expenditures. If savings are to be achieved it must be by finding ways of reducing these budgets.
My position is that there should not be a tax rise for the next election cycle and that savings must be found in order to meet budgets and service debt. I would definitely freeze all new hiring. The long term goal should be to reduce the number of municipal employees and contract as may services as possible . Reduce numbers by attrition .
I notice that a new vac-truck is still on the wish list of capital equipment at an estimate of close to $400,000. Now this type of service should be contracted out. Not only do you purchase equipment as this truck but you need to train operators, maintain it, insure it, house it etc.
The budget for policing is excessive, we should reduce budget 5% per year and review at the end of this election cycle. Fire protection and EMS services budgets are likely realistic for the size of Meaford but should still be scrutinized.
Meaford Hall is a white elephant and somehow the municipality needs to cut its losses. Perhaps it can be privatized. Any idea of funding a new library is folly. It may be time to admit that a Meaford sized municipality cannot afford the library it wants. If , indeed, a future Council approves a new library then use some of the extra space in Meaford Hall.
Rural Meaford is not interested in what the cultural elites deem as necessary . We are more interested in roads, bridges, garbage collection and firefighting/EMS all funded with realistic tax rates that do not have to rise because of HST, cost of living indices and unrealistic urban expectations
I attended as much of the Meaford Economic Development Strategy report presentation and thought I was attending a love-in for the Green party. Four strategic sectors were discussed. Agri-business, Tourism, Retail, and Green Business. Now 80% of the region’s economy is the Agri-business sector and yet 80% of the time was spent on the other 3 sectors. I left when the moderator said that the region needs to emphasize “high tech green activities” since we don’t want an automotive plant built here!
Excuse me , but under the right circumstances and conditions why would we rule out an auto plant? The region needs to diversify the tax base and encourage industries to locate here. The MEDS report comes across as anti industrial.
Council needs to more open minded about diversifying the commercial/industrial base of Meaford . The green agenda will not get you there .
I do not know any of the specifics of the beach access dispute at Georgian Beach but I do think that there is no greater waste of money than to spend it on lawyers. There was a widely held opinion at one time that one could not own the shoreline.
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