Mayor

Ron Vandewal – a family tradition

Ron Vandewal is open with his opinions. You might say he wears them on his sleeves. He has been a member of Council in South Frontenac for 11 years, and he has a family history on Loughborough Council as well.

He lives with his wife Nancy on a farm property that has been in his family since 1950. He continues to run the farm and drive a school bus. The rest of his time is devoted to family, and the township.

As a senior member of council he has taken an active role on committees, including the Committee of Adjustment and the Corporate Services committee, and he is a long-standing member of the Frontenac Arena board.

He said that he thought about running for mayor in 2010, but when Gary Davison told him he was running again, and that it would be the last time, “I figured I would be better off to stay on as a councilor. This time, I knew from early on that I was going to run for mayor.”

He realises that if elected as mayor, he would not be able to speak to issues as he does now, but would have to listen to what is said by others “and be more of a voice of reason”, but he feels that he has enough knowledge about the township to take on the leadership role.

He has been a persistent critic of some of the trends at Frontenac County over the years, and said, “Sometimes I scratch my head and wonder what the purpose of the county is, but the county is there and you have to make it work. My attitude is to go in to it politically and I will not be a negative force, not at all. I will say that we have to be conscious that we do not need to grow the county just for sake of growing the county.”

Among the issues facing the township in the coming years there is the question of development.

“There is no question that we are going to grow. There are subdivisions in stream now and more coming. What we have going for us is that we have a very good staff. I don't care what anyone says, I stand behind them. I think they make really good recommendations to us, and we make the final decisions, but we can handle growth because we have the planning, building, and public works staff to handle growth, and to keep taxes from going up that way,” he said.

He is committed to working towards maintaining tax increases 2% each year going forward, 1% for operations and 1% to go towards replacing fixed assets over time (roads, bridges, halls, equipment, offices and yards, etc.).

“One thing that I have always said, and I have sometimes been alone in this, is that when we have cost over-runs in a department they should be taken off the next year’s budget at the start, not just funded from reserve funds and forgotten about. I am the only mayoral candidate who voted against larger tax increases that were there because of how we fund cost over-runs,” he said.

One thing that Ron Vandewal will expect from Council if he is elected mayor is something he says he has always done himself - act in the interest of the entire township.

“In my 11 years on council, I have helped many residents from Storrington, Portland, Bedford, and Loughborough districts and these people know who they are. I have worked as hard for all South Frontenac as I have for my own district’s concerns and that is what I expect from everyone on council.”

Mayor

Allan McPhail – Bringing Council together

Allan McPhail has been a member of South Frontenac Council for eight years, and before that he ran for council twice.

He was active in party politics before switching his focus to the municipal world, as a union local president at Queen's University, where he worked in the Department of Mechanical Engineering for 26 years, and with the local NDP riding association. He even ran for provincial office in 1999 under the NDP banner.

McPhail thinks that political affiliations, with right or left- wing tendencies, “don't tend to have any impact at council. Generally their thorny edges wear out over time in the face of the pressures of council and the issues municipalities face,” he said.

He said that he is not running for mayor in order to push an issue or an agenda, but rather because he thinks he is suited to the role and he has the time. “I think I have the leadership skills to help bring the council together. I have a background on council now, and knowledge of the issues, and I believe I can be an asset to the township as a whole.”

He would like to see Council take a more active role in the decision-making process. “We have gotten ourselves into a bit of a mess of charging for the use of township halls by sitting back and letting it happen. I think we should have debated this earlier, before the recreation committee looked at it. It would have saved a lot of trouble later on.”

In the end, McPhail feels that the halls should be free for community based groups. “The basic idea is that the township is providing these halls as a service, cut and dried. If you want community you have provide something” he said.

He would also like to see Council informed earlier in the process when it comes to planning issues, such as plans of subdivision or vacant land condominium.

“We might consider instituting a planning committee, or just have earlier reporting to council, before a formal application is before us and we are under the gun to make a decision,” he said.

His attitude toward the township's role in Frontenac County is similar to the one taken by South Frontenac politicians over the years.

“I think the county’s role should be well defined in relation to the townships, and we should be wary of increasing any of its responsibilities,” he said.

He also thinks that if other townships use the County planning services, then the actual costs need to be determined and paid for by these townships.

“We owe that to South Frontenac ratepayers,” he said.

He has experience working with the county on the K&P Trail project and on the county trails committee.

“There is a lot of value to the K&P, and I am optimistic it can be extended not only to Sharbot Lake, but through North Frontenac,” he said, “and I see that since it has been completed through Verona to White Lake Road the use of the trail has increased. It is a good example of a county-wide project supported by the townships.”

Allan McPhail has been the township representative to the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority (CRCA) for a number of years and is currently the Chair of the Board with the CRCA.

“Sitting on the board has given me an understanding of the shoreline issues, and of a wider range of issues of concern to our waterfront residents, and has helped me understand the impacts of development,” he said.

McPhail stated also he will not be seeking reappointment to the CRCA Board if elected as mayor.

Mayor

John McEwen – Building a better township

John McEwen was born in Weston, Ontario, in the long shadow of the City of Toronto, and although his family moved to Kingston Mills when he was in high school, his South Frontenac roots go back to the beginning of the settlement period of the 1830s.

“Old Tom McEwen settled in Bradshaw, township of Bedford, in 1830, and the family farm is still there, just east of the tracks on Bradshaw Road,” he said, “but we all moved away generations ago.”

In 1991, John McEwen moved to Bellrock and started the business he still runs, John McEwen Waterproofing.

If elected mayor he will be closing down the business, for fear of any appearance of a conflict. One of his key reasons for running is also to put people like himself out of work.

“My business is entirely founded on the mistakes made by existing building departments. If elected, I will urge council to pass a bylaw enforcing an existing statute requiring waterproofing for all new construction. Municipalities are entirely responsible for enforcement of the statute, and although I brought this information to the township last year, nothing was done about it,” he said.

McEwen said that the township has been listening to the building department and some builders who say that enforcing the bylaw would hinder development in the township.

“When the lawsuits come to the township from homeowners with flooded basements and huge costs to fix them, the township will be liable because of this,” he said.

Among the other issues that he intends to address if elected is the ongoing Sydenham water situation

“Water rates will be up to about $1,200 over 4 year period, up from $600, and those who don't use the water pay a penalty on top of that. What I would do is eliminate the penalty and split the increase in half, so Sydenham residents would pay $900 per year. The rest of the township could take up the loss, in exchange for a public water tap, somewhere in Sydenham,” he said.

In order to make better use of the water system, he said he would like to see development encouraged on Stage Coach road in the vicinity of the water tower.

While he has never sat on a municipal council, McEwen said that in the 20 years he has been working on changing provincial legislation regarding waterproofing and drainage in new home construction, and as a member and Treasurer of the local Liberal Party Riding Association, he has had plenty of contact with provincial officials, including those at the deputy minister and minister level, and it has given him much insight into how provincial politics works.

“I would have no hesitation whatsoever in calling a cabinet minister on township matters. I know how to navigate that system,” he said.

Other township matters that interest him include the future of waste management in South Frontenac, encouraging programs aimed at helping seniors remain at home in the community, making the county work, and keeping taxes in check.

“I am not tied to one issue,” he said, “but my experience in the construction industry is an asset. The township is essentially a construction maintenance corporation. We are 90% roads, ditches, grass, bridges and buildings, I own a corporation that is involved in construction maintenance; that's what I am, a construction maintenance guy.”