Feature Article January 15, 2003
LAND O' LAKES NewsWeb HomeJohnston leaving in North Frontenac, MacDonald undecided in CentralMayors consider their futures as election year beginsby Jeff GreenAfter 12 years as a Reeve of Clarendon and Miller Township and six as Mayor of North Frontenac, Stan Johnston confirmed last week that he will not be seeking re-election when municipal elections are held in November.
Johnston said that while he has enjoyed his life in municipal politics, and is happy with the progress that has been made, amalgamation and downloaded responsibilities from the provincial government have turned being mayor into an all-consuming job.
Im afraid people dont understand the importance of municipal council now. Whether you call the police, call an ambulance, drive on a road, or get a building permit now, you never deal with your provincial or federal government. All of those things are administered on the municipal level.
Although amalgamation was a provincial initiative, Johnston says he had believed that for some areas, amalgamation was a good idea; but we have not seen all the benefits yet. We have seen, however a huge increase in the workload, and this has put pressure on a small staff.
The staff that work for North Frontenac have made the township function, according to Johnston, who says he is sometimes embarrassed when I phone the office at 7 p.m. to find someone is still there working, just because they are so dedicated and there is so much to do.
Meanwhile, Central Frontenac Mayor Bill MacDonald said, I havent made a decision [whether or not to run again] at this point. He added that he is waiting to see if someone comes forward with enough background in municipal politics to be able to take all the responsibilities of mayor on successfully.
He is aware that his counterparts in North and South Frontenac will not be running again and this may be a factor in his decision-making process.
I am concerned about the work that is done by the Frontenac Management Board (FMB), which is made up of the four mayors of the rural townships and has a $21 million budget. It will be hard for someone without a strong understanding of all the current issues faced by Central Frontenac and the FMB to handle everything that has to be dealt with, he said.
MacDonald agrees with Johnstons assertion that the Mayors job has grown into a full-time position attached to a part-time wage. The amount of responsibility now is phenomenal. Not only do we deal with the $4 million Central Frontenac budget and the FMB budget, we also have to deal with the City of Kingston through the RULAC (the Rural Urban Liaison Committee), which deals with items such as provincial offenses, Ontario Works, Social Housing, and Childcare. These are all programs that the city administers with funding from the province.
MacDonald says that it is not always a pleasant task dealing with the city of Kingston, whose perspective is focused on the citys own interests, and who sometimes think they should have control over all the decision making that effects the outlying region.
I know the City of Kingston would like to take over the whole county. It will be quite job for someone having no experience as mayor to deal them with after the election.
MacDonald does not think amalgamation has led to large savings, except maybe for the provincial government, who save money dealing with 500 municipalities instead of 800. He also does not think that restructuring of government services, which has been a major preoccupation of the amalgamated townships since they came into being, is all done.
I also dont know where restructuring is going. I can say that I have had a difficult time dealing with the province over funding for services they downloaded with insufficient funds. Weve applied to OSTAR and SuperBuild [provincial funding programs], and it seems to me weve been turned down every time.
Plans for 2003:
Both MacDonald and Johnston would like to see certain initiatives that have been taken by their councils over the past several years come to completion this year. In North Frontenac, Johnston is hoping to see the townships Official Plan adopted, and to see 9-1-1 come on stream. I would also like economic development to proceed. And if we can move forward towards broadband access, it would be a great thing for economic development as well, he said.
For his part, Bill MacDonald said he thinks 2003 will be an interesting and challenging year. I see no way around an increase in municipal taxes this year. I would hope that people realize that they are seeing decreases in federal and provincial taxes, and we have been given responsibilities on a municipal level without being given the resources to swallow this without raising taxes.
Whether or not Bill MacDonald decides to run again will probably be determined by who else steps forward to run for the job. Even if he does run, MacDonald does not consider himself a shoo-in. As Mayor, I have very little time available for campaigning. I also know enough about what the realities of council are that I cannot make promises that are unrealistic. I only hope that if someone wants the job, they take the time earlier in the year to come to attend council meetings, so they will know the issues later on.
