Oct 09, 2014


cf riddell jamieCouncillor

Jamie Riddell – seeking accountability

Jamie Riddell grew up in Sharbot Lake and settled in Mountain Grove with his wife Renee and their three children. He currently works as a federal corrections officer at Millhaven Penitentiary.

He has been a volunteer firefighter for 27 years and served out of the Mountain Grove station for the past 20 years. He also served as chief for seven years and brought the department through amalgamation. He has run for political office once before, for school board trustee in 2010. This is his first time seeking a position on Council.

He notes a couple of main issues facing Council.

“One is accountability; council needs to do a better job holding our management team accountable for the work they do. That is a major issue when it comes to roads and road maintenance. We need to ask ourselves why we can't keep a roads supervisor for more than a year or two, and why there was a union drive this spring among the employees,” he said.

One of the specific issues that concern him is the plan for mandatory septic inspections. He supports the idea but argues that the burden for paying for the inspections should fall to the province, not the township or the residents. He would also like to see a fund available to provide loans to residents if they are facing large repairs that they must pay for after the inspections are done.

“The inspections are intended to improve the quality of life in our township, not force people to leave,” he said.

He also thinks that the township needs to maintain its focus on its core services such as roads, and defer capital projects that are not always necessary. A case in point for him is the new Mountain Grove ball field, which he does not support at this time.

“I'm all for improving recreation, but why build a new field when we already have a real good one, and the new one is going to displace the fire training centre for the entire township?” he said.

He said that Olden District is the only one in the township that borders all three other districts and it is time for council to move away from district politics.

All in all he intends to be a positive force on council.

“I realise I'm only one vote on council but I'm open-minded. I listen to the issues and will work towards making decisions in the best interests of everybody, not just my own beliefs.”

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