Position

The following briefly describe my stance on a few random topics.

Site 41 Landfill Site
Against - Given that there's questions around the validity of the Modflow input data which has not had wide review, possible water contamination cannot be ignored. From an economic, let alone environmental, standpoint it just doesn't make sense. Given that Penetanguishene depends on ground water wells for its water supply and has no water filtration capabilities it would be foolish to jeopardize the ground water supply. I certainly don't want to fund an advanced and very expensive water treatment filtration facility with my tax dollars. Most of us have heard from residents of another North Simcoe municipality that don't like paying for the high costs of theirs.

Georgian Village
For - Construction and operation of the facility will bring some local jobs to the town. I do worry about the Town's reliance on public sector health care and institutional jobs, though. Many, many of those positions aren't even filled by residents of Penetanguishene. The Town needs more varied employment so that it can retain its youthful workforce and return to being a prosperous economic area.

Town Employee Morale
Concerned - I am concerned about the morale of the employees of the Public Works department. On-going labour relations issues need to be resolved. Morale issues are counter productive and lead to declining levels of service.

Ward System
For - Some residents would like to see the Councillor Ward system abolished. I believe that the Ward system is an important part of our local democracy. While it doesn't force candidates to run in a particular Ward (anyone can run in any ward they want), most of the time candidates run in the ward they live in. This ensures that residents have equal representation and representation that reflects the localized issues residents face.

Business Development
Concerned - Over the last decade I've heard lots and lots of complaints from business owners that getting developments or improvements approved in Penetanguishene is too frustrating, if at all possible. As I work for another local municipality, I've seen a good bit to both sides of such development issues. I think the Town needs to work harder to better educate people about development processes and to work with, rather than against, prospective developers and business owners.

Town Dock
Disappointed - Rather than refurbishing the existing harbour pier, it will be demolished and replaced by floating docks. Staff have made comments that refurbishing the existing pier would cost just as much as building new floating docs. In the interest of the historic value and uniqueness of the existing pier, I would have opted to refurbish it rather than demolish and replace it. I can't imagine floating docks being anywhere nearly as impressive as the current pier, nor have the capability of hosting large events that attract tourism to Town. The Town has known of the impending divestiture of the docks to the Town for a long time. Plans should have been in place and publicised long ago so that the public could have had meaningful input.

Fire Hall
Mixed - I disagree with the order of events. If the old Fire Hall was to be vacated it could have been used to house the Municipal Office Expansion, or a large part of it. Now, instead, we've got a garage on a main street that might be used for the Parks Dept.

- I agree with the general location of the new Fire Hall, but not the specific property. The new Fire Hall is located in nearly the exact geographic centre of the Town of Penetanguishene. Over a decade after obtaining Tay Point, I think many residents still think Penetanguishene ends at Fuller Avenue, or simply forget there's anyone beyond Fuller. The area East of Fuller comprises almost half of the Town of Penetanguishene. Additionally, the Fire Chief (who oversaw and brought the Fire Hall in on budget) believes that the location of the new Fire Hall will actually reduce response times for most residents.

- Need: No one I know had an issue with the old Fire Hall being in the geographic centre of the Town's old boundaries. With the new boundaries, though, over half of the Town was poorly served by its location. Response time to the far North or East of Town starting from the bottom of a huge hill, especially in the winter, was suboptimal. Being located at the top of the hill, near many of the Volunteer Fire Fighter's homes, near major arterial routes makes sense to me. Do I particularly like paying for it? Not really. Is it worth the, on average, less than $230 per resident for the new Fire Hall (that will last 35+ years)? I can't honestly complain, especially given that many new developments do, or will, depend on it.