Councillor

Bob Olmstead – better supervision of roads crews

Bob Olmstead moved from Mississippi Station to Zealand Road a couple of years ago, and when he decided to seek election, that meant running in Central Frontenac this time around.

Olmstead was on North Frontenac Council from 2006-2010, before losing a re-election bid in ward 3 of that township.

He was raised at Mississippi Station, and did leave to work for hydro when he was a young man. He returned in 1983 and has lived locally ever since. He stayed with Hydro until he retired in 1999.

As a member of Council in North Frontenac and now as a candidate in Central Frontenac his major issue of concern remains road maintenance.

“Road maintenance is number 1; that's what concerns people the most, and that's where most of the money is spent, and that's where most of the mistakes are made,” he said. “The main thing, the most important thing, is for road crews to do things right the first time.”

Although he thinks that the township is in good shape and is well managed, he said, “I have a big issue with some of the work. They should be ditching the side of the roads better and their grading is poor, they are leaving what I call an eavestrough on the side of the road. I don't know if it is because of poor supervision or what, but it's something that's got to be looked into.”

Another important item for him is making sure the fire departments have what they need.

“I served on the fire department in Keswick and then in Snow Road, and the crews need the full support of the township,” he said.

He would also support efforts by the township and Frontenac County to extend the K&P Trail all the way to the county line, although he is not happy that it is a non-motorized trail from Verona to the south.

“That cuts people off and it cuts off the economy of the tourist potential of the whole thing. If they let horses and skidoos use it, why not ATVs?” he said.

While he supports the idea of septic reinspection programs, he opposes a mandatory program

“I'm not in favour of that; it's too much of an imposition, and many older people are on fixed incomes and can't afford it at all,” he said.

Trustee

Steve Magee – a strong commitment to Public Education

Steve Magee says that public education is “arguably one of the most important institutions that we have. Ideally it brings children of all races and backgrounds together for 12 years. There is no other institution that comes close to doing this. It creates compromise, it creates understanding, and is the foundation that we build our future on.”

He has had a 22-year career as an educator and administrator, much of it with the Upper Grand District School Board, which he said is similar to the Limestone Board in that it has an urban and rural component, with its headquarters in Guelph, but also serves a large rural area. He also has experience and an interest in Aboriginal issues in education.

Steve Magee and his wife Diane, who worked in school administration as a system principal, have maintained a seasonal property in Frontenac County for many years, and they moved permanently to a home they built in the Badour Estates subdivision on Crow Lake five years ago.

Magee’s other passion, besides education, is canoeing. He ran a canoe and kayak centre before becoming an educator and in that role he was involved in the formation of Frontenac Park some 25 years ago.

He said that with Anne Goodfellow stepping down, his retirement, his background and a position on the Limestone Board opening up, he felt it was a good time to put his name forward.

He has done some research into the Limestone Board since registering for the vote in the spring, has met with some trustees and board staff and has attended board meetings.

“Boards are very similar in terms of needs,” he said. “They are concerned with balancing budgets and covering all the needs of schools and students, and dealing with curriculum requirements. The Limestone Board recently held a huge meeting in Kingston looking for collaboration with community groups, which is a good sign.”

He said, however, that there is a tendency for rural needs to lose out in the face of demands in urban areas, and points to the recent cutting of a teacher at Clarendon Central School as a prime example of this.

After attending a public meeting between board officials and the community at Clarendon Central last month, he said the way the board handled the situation was regrettable.

“The way it was handled, the way it was announced, presented a negative picture of the school to the public, suggesting that the school is spiraling down. It may have been possible for that blow to have been softened if the trustee was brought into the picture, and there was some lead time,” he said.

Steve Magee also thinks that it is a trustee's job to convince the other trustees that this kind of cut should not be made, and to use board resources to help the school to try to attract students.

“Cutting that teacher and cutting down to two classes sends the wrong message to the public about Clarendon Central and we need to work now to get the message out that it is really a jewel of a school, a great facility with a supportive community. It needs to be celebrated by the board.”

His commitment is to protect rural schools over the next four years.

“The Limestone Board will be spending $1 billion in public money over the next four years [the annual budget is about $250 million] and the board needs to oversee that spending carefully,” he said.

Councillor

Bill MacDonald – the comeback kid

He's not exactly a kid and he never left politics, but former Central Frontenac Mayor Bill MacDonald is attempting a comeback to municipal politics by running for Council in Ward 3 (Oso).

MacDonald served as mayor from 1998 to 2006. After losing the 2006 election to Janet Gutowski he turned to provincial politics, narrowly losing a nomination contest to be the Liberal Party candidate in 2007. He then secured the nomination for the next two elections. In both cases, he lost the general election to Randy Hillier of the Conservative Party, the last time being this past June.

“I'm running for council because I have so many connections because of my years on council and in provincial politics,” he said, “and with the Liberals being in power for the next four years I think I can serve Central Frontenac in a positive manner. I hope my track record as a community-oriented individual will be considered by the voters,” he said.

He shares the concerns of other members of Council over OPP billing cost increases next year, and thinks it is important for municipalities, through AMO (Association of Municipalities of Ontario) to continue to press the province to take back funding, not only of policing but ambulance service as well.

“There is more than just the cost involved here; services such as policing and ambulance should be seamless throughout the province, and leaving them at the municipal level makes them subject to local political pressures and issues, which is a bad policy. They should be financed out of the provincial coffers, but of course that is a long term argument and in the short term it is a budgetary problem,” he said.

He would like to work on engaging youth in local politics by approaching the civics class at Granite Ridge Education Centre to have a student sit on council for a year. He also thinks it is time that the local council and the Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation started working together.

He said that, if elected, he would consider returning to County Council provided his council colleagues were inclined to send him that way.

Finally, he said he is concerned about the vacancies at the senior management level of the township.

“The revolving door has got to stop. I think a commitment on the part of whoever we hire should come out in the interview process,” he said.

Councillor

Cory Thompson – extending community activism

Cory Thompson moved to Central Frontenac from the Erinsville area when he was in grade 9, and has been living here ever since.

He worked for 17 years in Napanee for a subcontractor to the Goodyear plant. Now he works for the Community Patient Transport Group (CPTG) out of Kingston. CPTG does non-emergency patient transport from hospital to hospital, nursing homes and to patient homes.

He has been a long-time firefighter and Olden Recreation Committee member and a couple of years ago he founded a not-for-profit baseball league that works in parallel with the Central Frontenac Minor Ball Association.

Thompson has also been one of the major proponents of the new ball field in Mountain Grove, which is being built on the land that runs between the school and the fire hall.

“The field is almost done, and it will be ready next year. It will be a real asset to the community and will be a much better and safer location than the existing park, which is next to the township garage and the Olden waste site,” he said.

He said that he was drawn to running for Council because he “really cares about the community and people are always talking to me about things they would like to see happen in the township. I feel I have a strong voice and have shown dedication to other projects I have overseen within the community."

One of the improvements he would like to see coming from Council is more public involvement in decision-making.

“Council needs to listen to the public more; they need to get out and talk to the taxpayers. I think they need to have public meetings if a big decision is coming up before it happens."

During the campaign he has found that roads and taxes are the issues that keep coming up.

“These are big issues. It has been questioned by some residents about South Frontenac having lower taxes and they even have garbage pickup; and people wonder why we don't but our taxes continue to increase."

Regarding the purchase of the former Hinchinbrooke school, he said, "At this point before any big decision is made on the Hinchinbrooke school building I think it’s very important to find out what the upkeep cost will be and to see whether we really need it. We need to sit down and look at our options.”

Finally, he thinks the township needs to be more aggressive in trying to get grants for public works projects and stop the unnecessary spending.