Jonnathan Brownlees answers to our questions for September 29 Jonathan is running for City Council. **************************************************** Hi Paul, Here are the answers to this week’s questions: 1. Woodstock Hydro: This topic is a hot issue in the minds of the citizens of Woodstock. When important issues like the sale of Woodstock Hydro occur should there be a referendum? What other way could council have involved the citizens of Woodstock? Referendums shouldn’t be necessary when major issues such as the sale of Woodstock Hydro are communicated effectively to the public and any concerns are addressed. We still have yet to hear a detailed explanation as to WHY Council thought it was in the public’s best interest, or at minimum an apology for the lack of dialog. I believe even an acknowledgement of the communication breakdown would have been a sign of good faith. It is important to note that Council went into exclusive talks, not through a tendering process, for the sale and as such the exclusivity required confidentiality agreements. Council should have appropriately communicated the need to sell and all supporting information prior to ANY negotiations. If there was a need to sell such a large asset, there should have been an opportunity for competitors to bid to ensure we received equitable payment. With there being a lack of communication a lot is up for interpretation, but from the outside it appears to be a form of reverse-mortgage to address short-term needs. Once the money is spent it will be the rate-payers who carry any burdens to come. I do not believe an Annuity will subsidize the lost revenue generated by Woodstock Hydro as suggested by current council. Council needs to start taking a proactive vs. a reactive approach in regards community engagement. Realistically not everyone reads the newspaper anymore, and there are new ways through technology to effectively communicate issues as well as tools to track the reach and engagement through insights. Yes Council is elected to make decisions in the best interest of the public, but when you aren’t effectively engaging the people you represent, a lot can be up for interpretation and THAT is a slippery slope. ————————————————————— 2. Police Station: Do you think an expansion of the present location is good? Should there be an additional location? Should police and fire be house in one facility? The current Police department is designed to expand upwards (a second floor). From what I have been told, it was initially designed with a 25 year expectancy and has far surpassed that. Currently in the 2015 Capital Budget there is 4-5 million dollars earmarked for the Police Dept expansion, and I believe it will be in the best interest of the citizens that the new Council look into all possible options. I am aware of drafts that were made for a joint facility combining Fire and Police services in years past, but ultimately we need to analyze what the needs of our Emergency Services are, and look to best address them while being mindful of spending the limited monies we have. I have arranged a meeting with Bill Renton who is soon to be the new Chief of Police by the end of the year to look into this further. As I stated in my last set of answers, Police and Fire services compromise approximately 46% of all municipal expenditures. As such, the relationship City Council has with Emergency Services has to be handled with the utmost priority to ensure effective use of tax-payers’ dollars. Contracts end in December of this year and it will be a shame if we cannot reach amicable terms and jump quickly to arbitration without constructive dialog. It burned us before, I cannot stress how important this relationship is. ————————————————————— 3. Do you support tendering for the outsourcing of jobs for our city? An example is, our present tree service is based in Halton, with tendering you must accept the lowest bid. In the case of an emerency like a snow or ice storm what kind of service would we receive? Is there another method that could be used to outsource for jobs in Woodstock ? The tendering process does not necessarily ensure the lowest or any bid gets accepted. Council reserves the right to reject any or all bids, or to award the contract to another bidder that is not the lowest bid. The basis of award is based on unit price, past performance with the City of Woodstock, satisfactory references, and the Pre Bid Health and Safety Checklist (All this information is public information on the City’s website). This is clearly outlined in a Tender request (look at a bid on the City’s website for Bidding instructions), and it really does protect the City from being forced to accept any bid that is not in the City’s best interest. While it is noble to give preference to local businesses and it could be beneficial for the local economy, there are purchasing by-law rules in place that govern this process and we need to remain equitable without compromising quality. That being said, I believe the vetting process needs to be used more rigorously as there have been times where we did not exercise our right to explore options outside the lowest bidder and it has had negative outcomes. I believe in security standards, but given my technological background, I know for certain we could have designed a City of Woodstock website for far cheaper than 90k while maintaining Municipal Standards. Our skatepark cost nearly 500k and there was a lot of controversy surrounding how the initial contracting was handled. Some of this can be avoided by exercising our right as Council to perform the necessary background checks to ensure the optimum quality. ————————————————————— 4. Changing zoning has brought some businesses to Woodstock. There was a business, a crematorium that was denied a zone change. Why should some businesses be allowed a zone change and others not allowed? While I am not familiar with this specific instance, I believe it is in the best interest of Council and the City to limit any impedance when it comes to growth. There may have been a justified reason in this example, but Council will need to work in tandem with our Bi-law/Zoning dept to ensure minimal resistance. It has been my experience that our teams are well equipped and willing to work with developers to field these requests as efficiently as possible. ————————————————————— 5. What do you think about increasing the powers of the Ontario Ombudsman so that he has more investigative authority with municipal level of government? Transparency really has been a buzz word in these elections. I believe that accountability and transparency should be a pre-requisite, not a platform. I think the best way to quantify transparency accurately would be to support the proposed Transparency Act outlined in Bill 8 and I have since the beginning of my campaign. We’ve all seen too many instances of abused/mishandled power in Municipal governments (Fontana- London, Ford - Toronto). In my opinion, anyone who doesn’t fully support accountability and investigative powers from governing authorities has something to hide. ————————————————————— 6. What are your plans to help support young families, Stats. Canada says the average age in Woodstock is 40.7 years. In speaking with families as the Community Complex this weekend, I was surprised that more often than not, many families have moved to Woodstock in the past 3 years or less. It is undeniable that our current population is getting older and focus needs to be placed on our senior community, but it is essential that we also continue to lay a foundation for growth of new families coming to Woodstock. Creating programs for young moms to network, movie nights in the park, and further development of the Pittock trails. Our green space in the North end is really limited and the parks even more. It should be a priority of council to create parks in walking distance of every house in Woodstock where possible and investigate opportunities to promote social awareness of our environment. Being eco-friendly isn’t a trend, it is a lifestyle and I believe it needs to start on a municipal level as changes made locally serve as a visible reminder to be responsible. More focus should also be placed on our teenagers who are often overlooked. In speaking with groups like WhyNotUs.ca, they are making a tangible difference in our youth and I would like to further investigate the possibility of incorporating their Kendall Court proposal in the Woodall Development. If the Woodall project is going to require a significant investment, it will need to serve as many people as possible. We need to explore all options and this definitely is a viable option to include. ————————————————————— 7. If elected, how would you promote Woodstock? Woodstock is an attractive city to those used to inflated housing prices in larger surrounding cities. I believe people move here with the attention of saving money with more affordable housing, but are disappointed when there is not a lot of selection for entertainment and retail. I will be making it my mission to create opportunities to keep money in the city. With more variety of clothing stores, restaurants, and entertainment, our local economy will grow. While I cannot force this growth, encouragement of local retail opportunities will help make this a reality. If we can be successful in facilitating commercial growth while promoting currently established local businesses, it will provide municipal tax relief, limit families from needing to travel outside of the city to shop, and ultimately create local prosperity. Thanks again for bringing these questions up. This dialog has been helpful in developing my understanding of the concerns and questions our City has. Regards, Jonnathan.
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 03:27:33 +0000
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