AYLMER VOTES: JACK COUCKUYT FOR MAYOR (Incumbent Jack Couckuyt is running for Mayor of Aylmer and provides this overview:) – “I have been on Aylmer Council 8 years, 4 as Councillor and 4 as Mayor. I am currently also Chair of the Elgin St.-Thomas Public Health Board. I was in a management position (Principal and Vice-Principal) of several large secondary schools for 17 years, 13 of which were at East Elgin Secondary School. My experience and knowledge of budgets, long-term planning, resource management and working with people have been very useful in serving as Mayor. When you look at the record, Aylmer taxes have climbed substantially from 2000 to 2010. In the last four years, however, they have been held below the level of inflation. We have been fiscally responsible in sustaining services while reducing the debt to the lowest level ever. I am determined to keep Aylmer taxes benchmarked to below the rate of inflation. I have decided to run again because there is much to plan for and do for the future of Aylmer. We have been examining the finances of the Complex now for over 3 years and have done so in a careful deliberate way. Public meetings on the Complex wanted us to look at a business plan and we await the results of a “Business Plan” for the Operational Review recommendations. We also need to look at developing another Industrial Park. We only have about 12 acres left in the current one. We must look to promoting those things we do well: great services, safe community, inclusive culture, compact downtown rather than just pointing at high taxes. I have certainly been a passionate supporter of a new library. The largest library in Elgin County is in Dutton, the second largest in Port Stanley. Aylmer has more than twice the circulation of either, yet we are not even close in size. It must not be at the Complex; the proposed new building is dead; a larger library must be tied to the existing library in some manner so as to accommodate future theatre use; the video store location is still a solid option. Take a look at our past record. Note that we have built a new bathhouse, a splashpad, renewed infrastructure and much more. My approach is a steady stable sustainability.”
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 19:55:10 +0000
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