Central Frontenac Election - Olden (Ward 2)

Ron Couchman

When Ron Couchman moved to a property on Silver Lake, on the eastern edge of Central Frontenac, the last thing he thought he would be doing was getting involved in local politics.

He has been active politically for most of his life, mostly in Ottawa and Carleton Place, and moved to a rural property to set up a land-based business and lifestyle a couple of years ago

He had been running two vape shops in Ottawa, which he opened up 15 years ago after working as a counsellor focusing on gender violence and harm reduction for many years, but while he still owns the shops he is no longer managing them.

Early this year, he learned about the potential for the Alto rail project to come through Central Frontenac, and he became heavily involved in the anti-Alto movement. He organized and hosted public meetings, including meetings in Arden and Sharbot Lake.

“Since I came to this community, people told me not to bother with the local council, because of the dynamics were negative, and when I went there to talk about Alto, I found that to be the case. The lack of concern about an issue this important was, frankly, astonishing,” he said.

He decided that the local community needs more from their council than they were getting.

“I’m not scared of going against the flow of thing, and I felt that this community could use someone with my skill set for then next four years at least.”

After deciding to seek a council position he said that he said he started “looking at the political landscape. And it seemed to me that Olden seemed to be the ward with the least amount of energy in the campaign.”

He added that from observing council meetings, he had decided that he would like to replace Bill Everett on council because of Everett “really likes to say yes to the Mayor”

One of the focusses of his campaign is to promote transparency and public engagement on council, and at the all candidates meeting in Mountain Grove he said he would propose holding a public forum before the start of every meeting if he is elected.

On the issues before council, he thinks the township should take a stronger position regarding Alto.

He shares concerns of other residents about short term rentals, but does not think simply putting in a new set of government regulations will be effective because “people get around government regulations all the time, They don’t work.”

Instead, he proposes holding a meeting with short rental operators, council members, concerned residents, “everyone who is involved, a working out a solution that works for everyone.”

Bill Everett

When he ran in 2022, Bill Everett said that he was running because he had complaints about the township and felt that people don’t have the right to complain without doing something about it.

“It is kind of the same thing this time for me,” he said.

He has been a Central Frontenac resident for 44 years, and he ran Bee Sanitation, a waste and recycling pickup service, which he sold around the time he ran for council. While running the business, he was a community/stakeholder member of the township’s waste management committee for a number of years and appeared before council in that capacity from time to time.

As a member of council, he has become very aware of the constraints the township is under.

“The obvious thing is that people complain about taxes and they complain about the roads. But to make the roads better, taxes would have to go up even more.”

He thinks that in the next term, Council does need to address short term rentals.

“We need STRs [short term rentals] in this township, if we want to develop as a tourist destination, because people need somewhere to stay, and we also need regulations for STRs. And once we take that on, we need to talk about a municipal accommodation tax in order to promote tourism, because all of the money we receive from property taxes, is already needed.”

He said that developing regulations for STRs is complicated and will require staff time, which is not readily available.

“I know that we have complaints from the public that we are overstaffed, but until you actually sit in that office, you don’t know what is really going on. A lot of work doesn’t get done now because Staff are already too busy. I think the hirings will be ongoing and that’s just a fact of life,” he said.

When it comes to budgeting, he said that cost increases that are out of anyone’s control, “such as Covid a few years ago, and now the United States,” have resulted in structural tax increases.

“When we start budgeting, we are not at 0% or even a 2% increase. We need a 1.7% increase just to maintain our roads, and an increase for inflation on top of that. If we try for a 2% tax increase, the value of everything that we own would deteriorate pretty quickly.”

He supports the septic reinspection program, but said, “I dislike the fact that some people are going to be inconvenienced, and hope that even though the program applies throughout the township, waterfront properties are the focus.”

In describing his political style, he said, “I am not much of a public speaker, but I can argue okay.”

Dan Meeks

Dan Meeks was first elected to council in the 2022 election.

During his first term on council, he has worked on a number of issues, one of them being an effort to make it easier to sever lots from larger properties to spur growth in housing, and ultimately, tax assessment.

He advocated, successfully, for property owners with enough acreage to be able to create up to three lots, along with their own retained lot, replacing a two-lot limit that had been in place in Central Frontenac.

He said that one thing that he was not aware of when he ran for council last time, was the amount of work that it would entail, not only to keep up with what comes to the council table, but from committees as well.

He also has ended up taking on extra projects as the result of his role as Council Representative on the recreation committee.

“Being on the rec committee, I really get to work with a lot of people, and we all wanted to get things done.”

Out of that he ended up out at the Mountain Grove rink with a group of volunteers tearing down the boards and replacing them with new post and plywood, plastic covering they salvaged from another arena.

Then an elderly resident showed him that the access to the Mountain Grove Memorial was very steep, leading to another project he put in a new access off of Ferguson Road.

“Once the overgrown trees were trimmed at the site while doing that work, we found there were four benches there that were beyond repair. We looked at metal benches but that was too costly, so we picked a design and I built the four benches in which I donated all the labor and material for one, two other residents donated one each and the forth was donated by District Two Recreation Committee. The memorial site is now accessible and more inviting. None of this cost the township any money.”

Looking forward to the next term of council, if elected he would like to look at what it will take for there to be emergency centres in each district, starting with the newly renovated Mountain Grove Hall, which is set up to be powered by a generator.

He would like to see council meetings move around the township.

“I think that would create more opportunities for council to collaborate with residents.”

He said there are some big issues before council that will be difficult for council to address, such as “infrastructure, roads, and fire which take up over 80% of our budget. We also have to address waste.

He said that his approach to these issues, and all issues before council, “is to take a common-sense approach, and look at all four corners of the township, not just one.”

Dan Meeks is a lifelong resident. He has worked at Tarasick Carpentry for 41 years and still works full time. He has a family history in local politics. His father Archie was a member of council and Reeve, and his grandfather Fred Smith served as Reeve and Frontenac County Warden.

Ed Quinn

Ed Quinn has followed local politics for years, and back in the early years of Central Frontenac he used to attend evening council meetings that were held in Mountain Grove, in the old municipal building and later at the hall.

“They were a fledgling group back then, but I think they did pretty well.”

Eventually he got too busy to go to meetings but kept following council.

“Over-spending has crept in over time, and now it seems that it has gotten out of hand.”

He said that now that he is “partially retired” from Quinn Contracting, the business he started in 1987, he has the time and inclination to run for council.

“I started wondering what was going on when the township purchased those two schools, which have been money pits from the start. I was also against hiring a full time bylaw officer. I think that was craziness. Why didn’t they leave things as they were instead of starting to chase fines.”

He also opposed the purchase of a new administration building last year.

“I think we need to bring some common sense to the township, and not worry so much about keeping up with South Frontenac, where they have more money to spend. We do a good job grading the roads, and we should stick to what we can afford to do,” he said.

Septic installations are one of the major services offered by Quinn Contracting, and his knowledge of how systems operate and are maintained has made him sceptical of the septic reinspection program that Central Frontenac is pursuing.

“Septic systems were an issue on lakes at one time, because of phosphate loading, but there is very little of that any more. But this new system is over-reach, and a hidden tax. Homeowners know very well whether their toilet is flushing or not.”

He said that he is not afraid to say what needs to be said at council, even if it makes people uncomfortable.

“Somebody has to stop all the spending that is going on,” he said.

Ed Quinn lives on Leggat Lake Road with his wife Patsy. They have a daughter who lives in Kingston and their son lives next door.