Originally written for Port Rowan Good News during Noel Haydt’s 2014–2018 term as Ward 1 Councillor. Published here from the original archived document; spelling and wording have been preserved.
While it is said that being in politics is a thankless job, I have to disagree. I have received an overwhelming amount of phone calls, emails, hand written letters, cards and personal thank you’s for all of the work that I have done over the last four years. It really feels god that people have appreciated the job that I have done.
There are a few things on my wish list that I would have liked to have finished but will not be able to in the remaining time frame. Number 1 on my list would be to continue to expand the high speed internet offerings through out Norfolk County. The Telecommunications Committee is well positioned to take over this project and I’m appreciative of their efforts. While the SWIFT (South Western Integrated Fibre Technology) is still struggling to get off the ground there are still steps that council can address to keep rolling out infrastructure. Those efforts should be directed into funding the expansion of internet towers in under serviced areas. Underserviced area’s in Norfolk will be the last to receive fibre optic services and simply should not have to wait until 2040 for functional internet. Wireless technology could provide an immediate solution. There are several service providers in Norfolk County that provide wifi internet now and by partnering with them, it makes their business case that much better. Similar to the fibre optic build from Delhi to Port Rowan whereby Norfolk contributed approximately $685k for the $2.2 million project. County has the ability to waive the permit fees for towers as well as a direct financial contribution. These towers could be connected via existing fibre and satellite towers would then feedback to the mains as well as to provide service to farm operations and rural housing.
Since most of Norfolk’s infrastructure requires are debt funded a model could be produced where the service provider pays a fee which then covers the original costs of the roll out.
Another initiative that I had been working on was a property tax relief program for low income owners. Many municipalities have such a program. Typically this program provides a tax rebate of around $400 per year. This could also be extended for the water and waste water bills to an extent especially considering Norfolk has one of the highest rates in the province. I do belief that staff will bring this forward in the future. One of the toughest conversations that I had as a new councilor was when a senior lady approached me and asked me to try to keep your tax rate increase to a minimum. She was a widow and her and her late husband had bought and paid off their home but because she was a stay at home mom received a very meager pension. She told me that she couldn’t afford much more of a tax increase because her electricity costs were so high that she could barely afford food to eat. She wanted to live out her life in her home. I remember driving by in the evening and there would never be any lights on. About a year later, there was a for sale sign on the lawn and I’ve always wondering what happened and I will never forget that conversation. Seniors should be able to stay in their homes and not be forced out by the high cost of living.
Over the past four years there have been many victories as well as defeats. As part of the learning experience that this has been for me, taking the good with the bad has been a lesson that will stick with me. I’ve almost always had my own business and because of that I don’t have to get people onside with my goals. This experience has definitely helped with my ability to debate and to make collective decisions as a whole.
Leading up to this election, I’ve heard many people say that there is not a collective vision at council for Norfolk County and I have to agree. While there is a strategic plan laid out for the County it was rarely touched upon and most of what we deal with on council is reactive. So much time is spent in this regard it prevents you from moving the business ahead. While there is no doubt that there will always be reactive issues to deal with council as a whole needs to be unified and given as much information as possible ahead of time. Many times during my tenure, some on council would have been given more information about a topic and others would find out on the spot. The inability to obtain information that was required to make an informed decision was so frustrating at times. I even had to use the freedom of information act on occasion to obtain it. In my opinion, there were far too many times we were blocked from receiving vital information. This boils down to transparency and accountability. Accountability is driven by transparency and while governments love to use these words providing the tax payers open information is hard to come by. We on council always hear from the public that staff ‘are running the show’ and when there is information being withheld it’s hard to take back control.
The lack of accountability also affects the ability to get things done. A simple example of one is the stone retaining wall on Wolven Street in Port Rowan. The owner came to council to ask that staff add an additional row of stones to make her lawn even. There was an incredible amount of push back from staff and while council approved it, I’m sorry to say it is still not completed after 2 years. We are talking about 10-15 stones. If council doesn’t have the power to get jobs completed where does one turn to actually get it done? I know that I spent more time on this issue than it would have taken for me to actually just do the job myself.
The next council will soon find out for themselves the current financial situation Norfolk County is in. Council hasn’t had a surplus since 2013 and the last four years have likely been the largest deficit positions ever. By my totals the first 3 years deficit amounts to over $9 million with the 2018 over run to still be accounted for. During this time the tax base rose to almost $11 million and took on over $53 million in debt. There is only $1.5 million in the reserve account that acts as a buffer for these over runs. We recently have been told that the overage for last year’s snow plowing costs could be as high as $1.2 million. Municipalities must fund any deficits that cannot be covered by these reserve funds and there isn’t much of a buffer left.
Norfolk County also has a total of 310 outstanding capital projects amounting to $149.3 million in the works right now. It is unable to gain on these projects and as we all know it costs more later down the road than it will today. Another issue to be faced in 2020 is how to restructure the current debt load. On average Norfolk repays around $5.5 million each year. Since Norfolk has taken on large amounts of debt that payment will balloon to over $14 million in 2020. That figure is unaffordable and will need to be refinanced which of course will add to the cost of the original projects. Our finance staff know of the looming issues and will address them but council will need to make tough decisions.
I want to thank everyone for allowing me to represent them at council over these past four years. I’ve received a ton of support over this time from the community and it has been my pleasure serving you. While I will not rule out returning to politics in the future, I was not able to commit to another term this time around. As I previously mentioned, when council moved the start time of the meetings sooner in the day, I wasn’t able to do my business work in a timely fashion. There was also talk about moving council meeting to 9am and I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to run for the position and then have to leave because I couldn’t do a day time meeting. I don’t thing councils shouldn’t change the timing of the meetings during a period that was already agreed upon
I also want to thank my family and friends for all of their support. Their dedication and support made it possible and I’m looking forward to spending more time with them in the future. I’m also looking forward to having more recreational time as I haven’t been able to get out fishing much the past few years and I’m looking forward to adding some more stamps in my passport as I visit other Countries.
I’ve very much enjoyed my time representing the most beautiful ward in Norfolk County and thank you once again.