GRAVENHURST ELECTION? BRAVE SOULS

The next four years of business for the council of the Town of Gravenhurst, will be inundated with challenges nobody will be able to duck, blow-off, side-step or navigate through without some morale bruising.

With a new mayor at the helm, and at least a few new council faces, old business will be new again, and I suspect it will take more than a year to establish a new protocol, a new responsiveness and new attitude about how the town deals with its citizenry, which frankly has been poor at best. While each election year council hopefuls bandy about the idea of greater openness and transparency, generally the feeling we get is.....forget about it. The rules change as soon as councillors are sworn in. And the distance between us gets greater and greater over the four year term.

What’s different this term, is that there is a great deal of unfinished business with some weighty barbs attached that will have to be resolved by a new council. From what I see of the weak talent pool, I’m reasonably sure it will be a lengthy process of review and revamping, revision and restoration......particularly in the way the public’s interest in fiscal management has been stomped and heeled into the ground by council’s arrogance.

There are several council hopefuls who I know will institute a greater accountability, especially in fiscal matters, and this is good for us all. As for councillors who think it would be neat to win a popularity competition, you will be sucked into a vortex of high pressure you may not have anticipated, where you are going to be held to a much greater level of accountability than in the town’s history. I expect more than a few council hopefuls haven’t thought this out, more than how wonderful it would be to get a pay check and expenses to attend meetings. Add in the pissed-off public wanting answers on how their money is being spent. It could get pretty uncomfortable being this popular, at a time when some big issues are on the table.

The biggest of all, is the Highway 11 bypass. It is an enormous issue. It has a devastating potential, especially to all the investors who spent big money to locate in the town’s south end. It’s not just a main street issue or a south end issue, it’s a council issue, pushing each and every one of a new council, to jump on this matter swiftly, and prepare for a massive protest to the province. Unless of course you like the idea of a northerly interchange.

Be careful who you vote for. This is a pressure cooker term. We need brave souls who won’t throw in the towel because the going gets a little rough. We need a council that doesn’t ignore the people who can help......and that would be us......a very interested group of citizens who happen to love their hometown, and want to see it have a fighting chance of competing with its neighbors.

Talk to the candidates. Measure their responses. Hold them accountable. But be informed.