It’s time to find your next Council.

It’s one thing to point out concerns regarding process, poor spending decisions, favours for friends, etc…

Unless people prepare to enter politics, the wasteful ways and unnecessary tax increases will just continue. So, I encourage people who have an interest in helping our community grow, but with reasonable decisions that benefit the entire community, to start paying attention.

Reach out to your Council members. Ask them to describe their experiences in the positions. Then seek out past council members and ask their advice. You will probably find a very diverse collection of experiences.

There is all kinds of literature that explain the responsibilities of a Council prepared by the province and other organizations such as the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.

Municipal politics does not pay a lot. Because of this, municipal councils in small towns have traditionally had a variety of retired people, people with good full time jobs or people who operate a business in town. The one thing they typically have in common is concern for reasonable taxes or a desire to move a particular project(s) forward.

Another type of person who chooses to get involved is a person who hopes to reward others with lucrative contracts or job offers. These people are generally from wealthy backgrounds and they certainly don’t need the money. These are people who always have ulterior motives, but they surround themselves with dedicated staff who enjoy the rewards that protecting the individual will earn them.

But I personally like to think the majority of people choose to get involved because they care.

So, how does one decide to get involved? For people in that second group, it’s easy. Throw enough money at a campaign and you will win an election. All you need to do if you are that kind of person is to present what you think the voter wants, regardless of who you really are. Then when you get the job, you can appear to actually care, but live whatever life you want quietly.

For people in the first group, it’s often a genuine concern for the direction of a community. They typically have deep roots in the community or may have recently moved here. What they have in common is a desire to not only do what’s right, but they care enough about their reputation to want to be seen to do what’s right as well.

I’m thinking it is high time to get a third group involved. Our youth are our future. I have met some very smart, dedicated young people who I think would make FANTASTIC politicians. “Young” is a word that has different perspectives. I know people in their 20’s, 30’s, 40’s and 50’s that I consider young and many of them would make great politicians.

But what should the primary role of a Council member be? My humble opinion is that they need to balance the needs of a community (roads, water, sewer,etc.) with the wants of members of that community (programs, entertainment, activities) and they need to do this in a way that demonstrates a concern for reasonable taxation.

For a community paused in growth, these issues are pretty straight forward. For a community experiencing rapid growth, your council has the additional responsibility of shaping our future. They do this by managing the growth and directing our resources.

Over the next few weeks let’s focus on thinking about honest, concerned neighbours who truly care about our community.

That’s actually an important aspect of encouraging your next candidates, they should be our neighbours. Legally, they do not have to be. They could live anywhere as long as they (or their partner) own property in town. Personally, I think that aspect of our Provincial rules should change. Our Mayor lives in a different community, spends all kinds of time in Florida and appears to modify municipal schedules to fit his lifestyle.

Some people (undoubtedly our Council members) might ask why now? Why do we need to address this now when there is still a couple of years left?

The answer is simple. I am writing a letter to all seven Council members tonight. In it, I plan to ask why they never questioned the report our council received that claimed a $106,000.00 profit from the grand opening week of our TPAL. Several people who follow these discussions have sent messages of concern asking why many of the lines in the cheque registers don’t seem to add up to show the limited expenses portrayed. The numbers don’t make sense and the seven people who are tasked to care, seem less interested than the frustrated tax-payers sending ME messages.

The urgency in making this public now is that these numbers are now being used to justify a half million dollar investment. In the report asking for that corporation, many expenses were discussed to justify the need of $427,000.00 a year in staffing costs. Those expenses were for many things that make sense as potential costs but nobody recalls seeing these costs in the grand opening summary report. Still… no questions from the seven.

Please think about this and add your concerns below about the type of person you think we should seek to represent us.

I don’t want all of these discussion points to just be an echo of the many messages I read daily. They are certainly that, but it would be great if those people felt comfortable speaking out on their own. They can do so here, but it is a SHAME they don’t. Please… feel free to post your opinions… they matter now and they will matter even more in 2026.