Question: What’s your vision for Georgian Bay? How would you help the area move forward to a thriving economic community?
Answer: For the last decade there has been an expectation of development in the Port Severn Area, which is the gateway to the Township from the South. There are many reasons for such an expectation. The Township is advantageously situated close to the GTA, and Hwy 400 is a quality high speed access route to the Township. It has a beautiful topography of lakes and rivers, typical of the general Muskoka landscape, as well as the unique topography of the 30,000 Islands Archipelago stretching north along the eastern shore of Georgian Bay.
Development in the Township has been inhibited somewhat by the delay over the widening of Hwy 400 to Parry Sound. Coincident with this four lane route being completed, developers discovered Port Severn and there is now considerable activity in this area. We are moving towards a thriving economic community. About two years ago we finished a Master Site Plan for Port Severn. An implementation plan was developed, and this coincided with the world economic downturn accompanied by considerable Federal and Provincial grant support for infra-structure development in our Township. We have made huge progress in the build-out of the Port Severn core. We have now conducted similar studies for our other two urban areas, MacTier and Honey Harbour. We have retained an Economic Development Officer, and I believe we are in a strong position to manage future change.
Question: Do you feel Georgian Bays’ share of the District debt is fair?
Answer: Debt is a significant problem within the District. I must admit that I do not know the exact specifics of debt accumulation in Muskoka but it would make an interesting study. Responsibility for paying the debt is significantly related to market value assessment. It is my understanding that the rural municipalities carry 60% of the cost of operating Muskoka while drawing far less in services than the urban municipalities. I really believe that this whole area requires special study because there is insufficient taxation room at the First Tier level for rural municipalities to manage their own local obligations. This is an interesting question – it merits study.
Question: In your opinion which essential service needs the most attention in Georgian Bay?
Answer: I believe the most urgent requirements are in the areas of economic development, recreation, and community services – but, I believe community services are the greatest need. Community services covers a wide scope such as services for pre-schoolers , teenagers and seniors, medical services, educational services, affordable housing, housing for seniors and general welfare. In the past our Township has not dedicated sufficient staff to manage this area of responsibility. With growth in the area comes increased need and we have recently hired a coordinator to manage this function.
Question: What is your opinion of the last council? What would you like to see done differently? What did the last council do well? What did they not do?
Answer: I could be accused of bias but I believe the current Council did an admirable job in managing required change. There was urgent need for reform in Council. It is not yet complete but reform has been advanced considerably. When there is change there are divergent views. The more rapid the change the more polarized Council can become. It should be no surprise that Council was split into a majority and a minority, but, after all, that is what happens in both the Federal and Provincial legislatures and most municipal Councils. – after all, this is a fundamental basis of democracy. I believe that this positive change will in time - hopefully in this next term – produce a more harmonious political climate.
Question: What do you see as Georgian Bays’ biggest challenge in the next 4 years?
Answer: I believe our biggest challenge will be maintenance of the momentum of change while managing the tax base. Maintenance of momentum, however, is not solely related to taxation. A more equitable financial arrangement within the District, a more equitable Federal and Provincial grant support system and public/private partnerships are but some of the means by which this challenge can be met. I am an optimist, and I believe that Georgian Bay Township has a great future in store for it.
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The following is a letter I recently wrote to a young constituent in MacTier who has taken an interest in the election campaign. She had some questions about the library in MacTier, what a “master site plan” involves, and was also curious about some of my campaign literature that I had personally delivered to her parent's door.
Dear ... ,
Thank you for your questions. First, on the matter of the library - in my view, libraries are an essential anchor of a society. Your library in MacTier does not just serve your town. It serves a large area around the town such as 12 Mile Bay, Moose Deer Point, Go Home Lake, areas of the Township of Muskoka Lakes and other Townships to your north. It, therefore, helps a larger community to bind together. The library was formerly housed in a small and old portable classroom type of building. This was a temporary facility and the people of MacTier had been waiting for a proper facility for decades. They had raised a lot of money - over $100,000 - but this was not enough money to build a library. An opportunity arose to apply for Federal Grant support and we were fortunate enough to recieve a $500,000 grant. The community continued to raise money, the Township donated the land and an additional $125,000, and together we built your library. A project like this involves many people. I was very enthusiastic about the project but without the support of the whole of Council, the Library Board, the Friends of MacTier organization and many, many other people who donated time and money, it could not have been done. It was an outstanding community project.
I like to campaign door-to-door. It is a great opportunity to hear from the people of MacTier and it helps to form my views.
The Master Site plan is, like the library, a community-based study assisted by a team of consultants. It will be a blueprint for what the town of MacTier should look like in the future and what facilities it should have such as parks, sports fields and trails. It will outline where stores and institutions, such as a railway museum, might be located. It will also detail where sidewalks and parking lots might be located. The plan is in its final stages of completion and, after being commented on by the MacTier community, will finally be approved by Council. The phase beyond the study will involve developing capital plans to make it happen. This will not be immediate, but it is my hope that it start very soon and all these changes be completed over the next five to ten years. Just like the library, we will be trying to secure Federal and Provincial financial support. The plan will make a big difference in the quality of life in MacTier and will help MacTier improve its economy.
In reference to “pillar 4”, it is my belief that we can bring affordable housing projects to MacTier as well as to other parts of the Township. Certainly housing for seniors will be an integral part of this.
In regard to leadership, you cannot lead if you have no vision for the future. You cannot lead if you are not positive and cannot envision change. Change will come whether we want it or not. It is the job of the Mayor and Council to see that this change is managed to our benefit. I believe that, in moving forward, we must preserve what is special about our Township and its beautiful clean natural environment. I believe in MacTier - it is part of me. My goal is to have MacTier become all that it can be, and to remain a vibrant part of our northern area.
Thank you for your interest and I hope this has been of some help to you.
Regards,
Jim Walden
Mayor
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Question:
Who is running in the 2010 Georgian Bay Township municipal elections?
Answer:
List of Candidates Running (in alphabetical order):
Mayor:
- Larry Braid
- Jim Walden
Area Councillor:
Ward 1
- Louise Rivett (acclaimed)
- Pat Edwards (acclaimed)
- Suzy Burtenshaw
- Bruce Hanson
- Mike James
- Kurt Woll
Area & District Councillor:
Wards 1 & 2 (combined)
- Eleanor Pettit
- Paul Wiancko
- Geoffrey Greasely
- Nick Hodson
- Mike Kennedy
- Greg Sutcliffe
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Georgian Bay Vote 2010 - Questions and Answers
(The following is a set of written responses I submitted to the community group called Georgian Bay Vote 2010 established to help gather information to assist voters in making their decision for the upcoming election)
1. General
Question: What is the main reason (or reasons) for your wanting to be on Council?
Jim Walden's Answer: My reasons for wanting to be on Council are consistent with my goals when I initially ran in 2006. I want to manage and lead Council in promoting a sustainable Township which respects quiet enjoyment of one’s property, pro-actively developing respective communities, furthering infrastructure, artistic, social and recreational development, creating a vibrant economy, maintaining our natural environment and promoting a healthy lifestyle.
Question: Based on your direct experience on Council (or observations of Council for those of you who have not served on Council) what do you feel have been the major successes over the past term of Council and what have been the shortcomings?
Jim Walden's Answer: The major successes have been the adoption of new Procedure and Committee By- laws, the management of development activities in the Port Severn area, master site plan studies for the Port Severn, Honey Harbour and MacTier areas, extensive infrastructure projects in the MacTier and Port Severn areas, promotion of community plans, the signing of a protocol to promote sustainability planning in the wider Severn Sound Environmental Association area, completion of the Development Charges Study, commencement of the Strategic Plan Review, celebration of the MacTier Centennial and the general stewardship of our natural environment. I do not believe that Council had any significant shortcomings in spite of a minority of difficult personalities on Council.
Question: How do you think Council and the Township should be run to overcome these shortcomings?
Jim Walden's Answer: This is a highly subjective question. The dynamics of Council will depend on who the electorate chooses to represent them. The basic characteristics of Council members should be objectivity and open-mindedness, the capability for strategic thought, community spirit, desire to serve and basic civility.
Question: How do you propose to represent all of the constituencies in the area for which you seek office (i.e. the whole Township for Mayor; the whole Ward for Councillors)?
Jim Walden's Answer: Travel a lot, listen a lot, make assessments, develop plans and implement the same.
2. Administration
Question: What roll should Council as a whole, the Mayor, or individual Councillors play in the supervision of the Township's employees? To what degree do you think they should be involved in the hiring or releasing of staff?
Jim Walden's Answer: The role of Council, the Mayor, individual Councillors and the staff are defined in the Municipal Act. They do not vary significantly from similar positions in the Federal and Provincial governments and corporations in general. Council, of course, has a general supervisory role over the senior staff and has a significant role in the hiring and releasing of the senior staff.
Question: How would you safeguard against possible abuse of public trust by members of Council or staff?
Jim Walden's Answer: This question discusses two different types of people. Staff is in an employer/employee relationship within the Township. Council is not in such a relationship and the terms of service are largely governed by the Municipal Act and court precedents. Methods of dealing with breaches of trust are therefore different depending on what type of person we are talking about (i.e. Council or staff), rank, seniority, severity, etc. To safeguard against such breaches one must establish checks and balances such as comprehensive policies and procedures, strong supervisory relationships, fiscal accounting and comprehensive audit procedures.
Question: What do you see as the optimal level of staffing for the Township? (be specific)
Jim Walden's Answer: I see the optimal level of staffing as that which Council has already approved. There may have to yet be some fine tuning or tweaking. It is essential that the organization be structured to provide depth and redundancy and to ensure continuity and sustainability.
Question: The past year or two have seen many incidents of poor decision-making by staff and various committees. Inquiries made by the public go unanswered, and a general malaise has invaded the township staff’s attitudes. The customer service delivered by the Township staff, which exists to serve its public, is at an all-time low. What, if elected, will you do to correct these problems?
Jim Walden's Answer: This is not so much a question as an opinion. I do not believe this opinion to be accurate. We receive continuous compliments about the level of staff service and exceptionally few comments to the contrary; in fact, most compliments are related to comparisons with the term of the previous Council. Staff is inculcated with the understanding that they are servants of the electorate but at times they must deliver bad news. I do trust, however, that in those cases the message was passed in a courteous and respectful manner.
3. Township finances
Question: Immediate past practice of Council was to invest tax surpluses in infrastructure projects. Do you agree with this practice? If not, how would you handle future tax surpluses?
Jim Walden's Answer: Expenditures of the Township are broken down into three categories: operations, maintenance and capital. Tax surpluses are required to be expended for the budget requirements of the following year. I do not remember any policy which required surpluses to be invested in a special category titled “infrastructure”. This term has generally been applied to programmes under the Build Canada Plan and the economic stimulus programmes. Regardless, in this sense, infrastructure is generally a capital expenditure. Any expenditure of surpluses is a decision of Council considering all the factors that pertain at budget time.
Question: The annual budget is of interest to taxpayers. How would you ensure more public understanding of and input to the budget?
Jim Walden's Answer: Budget meetings are generally special meetings which are posted on the Township website and in the Gazette. In spite of this, there are few observers at these meetings. The budget is posted on the Township website and I am personally unaware of a single inquiry. In short, preparing a budget is not an exciting exercise. I suppose council could call an additional public meeting to answer any questions about the budget. I am, however, somewhat sceptical that this would generate significant public interest.
4. Planning
Question: Community plans that reflect the specific characteristics of each community are important to taxpayers. The current Manager of the Planning Department has apparently questioned the ‘relevance’ of community plans in this township. How would you protect the integrity of existing and future community plans?
Jim Walden's Answer: First, I must state that I have never heard the Manager of the Planning Department make such a statement. What taxpayers should know is that an Official Plan Review is mandated by the Planning Act at specific intervals. A consultant has been retained to guide the process. It will involve considerable public input and consultation. The community plans were approved by Council because they were considered to have merit. I have every reason to believe that the same situation will prevail.
Question: As a potential member of the Committee of Adjustment, please describe your ideas on the rights of the individual property owner, and the rights of the community as a whole to protect their community ‘for the greater good’. How will you handle a situation where the two sets of rights are diametrically opposed?
Jim Walden's Answer: The Committee of Adjustment comprises all members of Council, and the decision is that of Council. The decision is made based on the facts that are presented and the input of those who attend the meeting to voice support or opposition to the application. No two properties or situations are alike. In spite of this, it is my observation that the Committee has done an admirable job of sorting out these two sets of conflicting rights.
Question: What is your understanding of the zoning category called “Open Space”? How does it differ from Residential zoning, and what is allowed to be constructed on Open Space property and what is not allowed?
Jim Walden's Answer: I am not prepared to answer the question at this time because there is such a matter before the Court. It would be imprudent for me to make a comment.
Question: Many permanent residents in this township are looking for economic development, ways to bring additional year-round residents and businesses into the area. Growth and development are seen as positive and beneficial. In contrast, many seasonal residents view themselves as stewards of a very unique natural area and believe that overdevelopment has the potential to destroy it. How do you see balancing the planning needs of the permanent communities with those of seasonal/recreation communities?
Jim Walden's Answer: I do not see this as a significant problem. Port Severn is a case in point. On the Georgian Bay Township side there is the potential for approximately 1200 – 1400 residences. With an average of 2.6 individuals per residence this equates to an ultimate size of approximately 4000 people many years down the line. This affects a very small piece of real estate compared to the huge acreage of relatively virgin territory in the Township. Township of Muskoka Lakes has urban areas such as Port Carling and Bala. The Municipalities of Gravenhurst and Bracebridge have the urban areas of the Towns of Gravenhurst and Bracebridge in addition to their large rural areas. These are beautiful areas with large natural vistas. I do not believe many would suggest that the limited urbanization of these areas scars their unique natural areas to an exceptional degree. I do not believe that the increased urbanization of Port Severn will unduly compromise the unique natural characteristic of Georgian Bay Township.
Question: Boat access only properties are dependent on marinas. What would you do to ensure ongoing marina access for these taxpayers?
Jim Walden's Answer: Like the Committee of Adjustment question above, each specific marina is a unique case. Three marinas have or are in the process of being closed on the Trent Severn Waterway. Each one has found a unique solution to resolve the issues of the water-access cottagers. If a case arises there must be a unique solution found to resolve the issues. It is inconceivable that Council would or could abandon the concerns of hundreds of water-access cottagers because of a threatened marina closure.
Question: Our Township is blessed with considerable forests and wetlands that are home to a large number of endangered species. What actions do you think the Township should take to protect these forests and wetlands and the species therein?
Jim Walden's Answer: I believe that most of the habitable areas in Georgian Bay Township have already been identified. There are hundreds upon hundreds of square kilometres of forests and wetlands which have little potential for development. I believe that Georgian Bay Township will continue to be just what it is today, a huge nature reserve.
Question: Other rural Townships use their web site to post notice of all proposed amendments to the Township’s Official Plan and provide mailed notice to all neighbouring property owners within 1 kilometre of the subject property. Do you believe that this approach should be adopted by our Township? Please explain why you would or wouldn’t support this.
Jim Walden's Answer: I believe that notices of amendments to the Official Plan are already provided. If the question is one of the required distance of notification this is different. I am sure this is an issue for the Official Plan Review and can be addressed during the public consultation stages of this review.
5. Water quality
Question: Water quality is of paramount importance to waterfront property owners. How would you ensure the protection of the water assets in the Township?
Jim Walden's Answer: I do not think there is anyone who does not appreciate the need to ensure the protection of water assets in the Township. This includes not only testing of water but also pro-active measures to guard against the pollution of our water. Improved septic tanks and re-inspection programmes, remediation of grey water, nutrient enrichment problems, invasive species and naturalization of shore lines are but some of the critical issues to be addressed. I believe that our Township may eventually require a dedicated staff member for water quality matters.
6. Emergency response
Question: For non road access property owners how would you help them with emergency response?
Jim Walden's Answer: Some measures already in place are the placement of fire pumps and a maintenance programme to ensure serviceability, and the purchase during this term of a fire boat to enhance response on inland lakes. This is in addition to the fireboat on Georgian Bay. Admittedly, these measures are of value only in the temperate part of the year. We are fortunate to have very pro-active ski-do and ATV clubs which could be utilized to support emergency responders in more inhospitable times of the year.
7. Council performance
Question: The current Council is perceived by many to be dysfunctional and not entirely transparent in their activities. What do you propose to do to change this perception?
Jim Walden's Answer: I do not believe this to be a widely held “perception”. This Council has been exceptionally productive. There has been a majority and a minority on some issues but that is pretty much par for the course. All legislatures and most Councils have this situation. That does not make them dysfunctional. Similarly, Council has been as transparent as possible. It has spent significantly less time in closed session than the previous Council. Council will have to work diligently to allay this perception.
Question: Do you think that using public advisory committees would be helpful? If so, which areas should these committees should focus on and how would you structure these committees?
Jim Walden's Answer: I believe that public advisory committees could be helpful but recruiting volunteers may be difficult. On many occasions such as the study on the future of the Trent Severn Waterway volunteers have been sought to join such bodies. It is a very difficult task to find volunteers. People are busy on many different pursuits and may not be particularly interested in government matters. The fact seems to be that Council is elected and most of the electors expect and trust them to do the job. I just do not see hordes of people coming out to Council meetings.
Question: In the past the COA was comprised of citizens who would meet to review applications for minor variances. Do you believe a COA consisting of selected members of the public can effectively manage the challenges faced within the Township and if so would you support such a change?
Jim Walden's Answer: I do not know because I have never experienced it. I know of one Township which does this but anecdotal information indicates it is less than satisfactory. I could support it in principle but it will take some consultation and a survey of surrounding communities to determine if a change is recommended.
Question: Would you consider allowing a period of up to say 15 minutes before each Council meeting for the tax payers to have access to Council as a whole, without the formality of a deputation?
Jim Walden's Answer: I would welcome such a proposal.
Question: Should our Township Council consider hosting an annual meeting, in the summer time, of the "Executive" of various organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, Community associations and Cottagers’ associations, to hear first hand their ideas or concerns?
Jim Walden's Answer: Again, I believe this to require some study. I go to a large number of cottage association AGM’s and turnouts for these meetings are generally very limited; i.e. 35 people to represent a membership of hundreds. I have some doubt as to the success of such a venture in the summer. Where does the commonality come from between these diverse groups?
8. Garbage
Question: What do you propose to do to ensure convenient access to garbage and recycling bins for those taxpayers who don’t have curb side pickup?
Jim Walden's Answer: This is a subject that was studied for a good part of this term by this Council. I am pleased at the outcome of this study and its implementation. Issues continue to be studied in specific areas but these are unique to those particular areas. It is a significant cost issue and it will continue to evolve; but this situation is not a case of “one size fits all.”
