We now have a race for Mayor in Dryden.
Greg Wilson has filed his papers ahead of the Friday deadline for nominations for the October municipal elections.
Wilson finished second in the 2014 vote but was named Mayor in the Fall of 2015 following the departure of Craig Nuttall.
Right now he will be going up against former Mayor and current Councillor Roger Valley.
Wilson admits it’s very time consuming but it’s worthwhile and it’s satisfying when you see progress being made.
He says he wants to be a part of that progress continuing.
Wilson says he has some unfinished business to do, stressing he wants to lobby both levels of senior government to fund infrastructure upgrades.
His priorities include low taxes, balanced budgets and doing what they can with what they got.
He says outside funds are needed as the City continues to make great strides to reach its 2020-2021 goal to pay down its massive debt.
Wilson says the future is looking good as the City now has some consistency at the staff level, noting he has been through five CAO’s since he took over.
On the Council front, incumbents Norm Bush and John Carlucci have filed their papers.
They are joined by Jason Owen, Michelle Williams, Darton Dudley-Rennie, Bill Latham, Richard Jonasson and Catherine Kiewning.
Here is the Mayor’s Update: Council Review 2014 – 2018 provided by Greg Wilson
As this council nears the end of its term, I thought it would be appropriate to look back and reflect on the achievements and opportunities that your City Council has experienced.
I have been fortunate to work with a great group of individuals both on Council and city staff over the past three years. Although much has been accomplished, more needs to be done. Dryden has an exciting future ahead of it!
We have had a very challenging four years, yet looking forward, the next term of Council should be even brighter. After two more years of heavy debt repayments in 2019 and 2020 the City will have approximately $2.4 million per year more to spend on roads and other critical infrastructure, monies that are currently going to debt servicing
Some of the key accomplishments during the term of this Council include the following:
· Stabilized the city’s financial situation and implemented the City’s financial recovery plan
· Reduced the City’s debt by $8.8 million from $22.6 million to $13.9 million
· Made interest payments of $2.9 million servicing this debt
We made these major debt reductions while running the City with zero to limited annual municipal property tax increases for most homeowners, without reducing service levels. Note: Increases for most homeowners were a result of property valuation increases from the Ontario Government’s Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC).
Other Achievements:
· Highway 502 Landfill site Saturday hours expanded to include the afternoon
· Established annual operating and capital plan submission requirements
· Settled the City’s tax dispute with Domtar to the satisfaction of both parties. The City paid Domtar $5.2 million as part of the settlement.
· Updated our Asset Management plan in 2016 and initiated a roads condition survey in 2017.
· Reviewed/Established/Updated many corporate policies.
· Updated our alcohol policy on municipal property, keeping current with LCBO/Provincial laws and societal values.
· LED Streetlight project – reducing both the environmental impact and our costs.
· Implemented a Performance Management system for all city staff to make sure we are aligned on goals and objectives and accountable for personal performance.
· Made several key hires including a CAO, Treasurer, Community Services Manager, Child Resource Centre Manager and Chief Building Official. These hires will bring fresh experience and new ideas to the City. We are looking forward to their contributions.
· Supported or participated in several major building projects in the city including:
o New soccer complex at Rotary Park
o Supported KDSB’s conversion of Pinewood School to housing for single Aboriginal mothers
o Approved a site plan agreement with Bridge Road Investments to develop a seniors housing complex at the bottom of Van Horne
o Supported the $32 million expansion of the MNR Fire Centre at the airport
o Supported and participated in the SIJHL Dudley Hewitt Cup and the Big Bands and Little Bands hockey tournaments
o Made several major capital purchases including a new street sweeper, sander truck and grader and new electronic signage for both main entrances to the city.
As you know, along with the major financial issues the City had to deal with, there were external financial pressures as well that were outside of our immediate control. These included:
· A reduction in the City’ annual OMPF (Provincial) funding grant of $868K since 2011
· The Province continued to download various costs for provincial programs onto the City’s taxpayers, which are now in excess of $2 million annually
· Hydro rates increased by 71% from 2008 to 2016, (two times the National average and significantly greater than the rate of inflation). Of course this has impacted everyone, not just the City. This put a lot of pressure on controlling the City’s annual operating costs.
Servicing our high debt load has hampered the City’s ability to deal with its significant and growing infrastructure deficit. Water and sewer lines, streets and sidewalks are not being replaced at the end of their lifecycle. In a 2016 presentation to the Honorable Bob Nault we indicated an annual infrastructure spending deficit in Dryden of approximately $10 million dollars.
To raise even half of this amount through property taxes would result in a one-time tax increase of 36% (1) on top of the average regular annual increases homeowners have been experiencing over the past few decades. This is clearly not the long term solution we need to solve our infrastructure deficit. The Provincial and Federal governments must stop downloading costs to municipalities and provide partnership grants to support infrastructure replacements.
Our next Dryden Council must invest much time and energy into forging key relationships with our new Provincial government to ensure they understand our unique needs in the north, and commit to a fairer redistribution of tax dollars to our region as a whole.
Another opportunity the City still has in front of it is to develop a new strategic plan for the future. This Council was not able to get that done due to the numerous changes in the CAO position (5 in total). Something else for our “to do” list is the updating of the City’s Community Improvement Plan (CIP), ensuring tie-in with the Strategic Plan and instigating Economic Development within our Community. I am hopeful that with our new CAO, Roger Nesbitt, this will get done in the first year of the next Council.
The City will also be making a decision on its police service model, weighing the services and costs between the current Dryden Police Service and the OPP. As with other communities, we will be faced with putting the right policies, procedures and by-laws in place to deal with the legalization of recreational marijuana. The next Council will need to work closely with the Police, City staff and citizens to make sure the implementation goes as smoothly as possible.
We must also look closely at improving Dryden’s visual appearance and improving or providing better community gathering places such as a community town square, a waterfront pavilion etc. to attract and retain new citizens. Any of these things, if implemented, must be done in an affordable, sustainable manner.
The recent past has been challenging, but Dryden has a bright future and we are now well positioned to take our rightful place as the leaders in Northwestern Ontario.
I have been very humbled to serve as your Mayor and have appreciated your support.
Greg Wilson
Mayor
