Election issues in South Frontenac not cut and dried yet

Craig Bakay | Aug 22, 2018

The 2018 Ontario Municipal elections are still two months away (Oct. 22), and while some residents face no election at all because of acclamation (almost all of North Frontenac, public school supporters in Central Frontenac’s Oso District), there are still some races of note shaping up in Frontenac County.

The most important of these is the mayoralty race in South Frontenac, where incumbent Ron Vandewal is being challenged by Coun. Mark Schjerning and former federal Liberal candidate Phil Archambault for top seat in the County’s most populous Township.

The Frontenac News asked the candidates what they see as the issues this time around and what they intend to do about them.

Ron Vandewal said he doesn’t see any huge “issues” at all, other than the regular aspects of running a large rural municipality.

“Some people have mentioned things like a swimming pool, another ice rink or even a splash pad,” Vandewal said. “But this is South Frontenac, with 16,000-18,000 people and lots of lakes.

“I just don’t see things like splash pads as a realistic need for us.”

Vandewal said the issue of speeding in the Township has come up, but again asks, are the proposed solutions realistic?

“The budget for policing is $3 million,” he said. “The OPP tell us they put all their resources leftover after solving crime into speeding concerns.

“But realistically, the only way to get more policing is to put more constables on the road, and can it be done?

“Yes, it can be done, but it’s going to cost more. It’s all about money.”

And when it comes to money, Vandewal sees this as perhaps the biggest issue facing the Township.

“I think every municipality is facing the same thing,” he said. “Every public works manager always wants more resources. And we’ve just hired a new development services/planning manager and she’s going to want more resources.”

And while he’s never really produced a fixed number for tax increases, he does concede that two percent seems to be acceptable to most people.

“If you want more services, the funds can really only come from one place (the taxpayer). But we have no debt and I think we’ve done a lot with the resources we’ve been given. Nothing is free, but the sky isn’t falling yet as far as I can see,” he said.

“I’m biased because I’ve lived here all my life, but I think this is an awesome community.”

Mark Schjerning doesn’t agree that there aren’t any real issues.

He sees development as a major issue, both in terms of regulation and expansion. He’d very much like to see South Frontenac become the approval authority for developments within its borders instead of Frontenac County.

“We’ve had our County representatives vote against the expressed wishes of the Township Council,” he said. “That can’t happen.”

However, he’s not against development and in fact would like to see a major overhaul of the Official Plan to streamline some processes, but at the same time protect property owner’s rights.

In fact, he’d like to see many of the Township bylaws revamped.

“Bylaws that apply to building, renovating, development and re-development need to make sense and be easy to follow,” he said. “You should be able to receive all the information you need for whatever project you are planning.

“This should include all permits and fees along with where you need to apply and how long it normally takes — and all this should be online.

“There should never be a surprise.”

And that fits in with the third plank in his platform — he wants to see South Frontenac become a destination in order to attract the businesses that go with that.

“We don’t have municipal water, other than Sydenham, or sewer,” he said. “So, we have to attract the smaller entrepreneurial businesses.

“One way to do that is to promote our hamlets, and that might be as simple as improved signage.”

Also, to that end, he’s big supporter of increased broadband coverage and would support a “hub” project including new municipal offices with a new firehall in Sydenham.

Phil Archambault sees speeding in the Township as a major issue. It’s the one that got him involved in the first place, and after his experiences trying to fight city hall, it led him to a conclusion that there isn’t sufficient access to or communication with Township Council and administration.

“There were three of us dads concerned about speeding in the Inverary area, but we kept getting the runaround, and despite us going to committee meetings three times, nothing was ever done,” he said. “But since I’ve been around knocking on doors, I’ve been hearing similar things — customer service is terrible in this Township.

“They’re too wishy-washy; they brush things off and there’s no accountability.”

He’d like to see a complete change in the way the Township does business.

“It’s managed in a very reactionary way,” he said. “If we want to be open for business, we should be more straightforward and up-to-date.

“We need greater communication and more rigor in managing money.”

He said he also sees an opportunity to improve things at the County level.

“South Frontenac is not playing well at the County Level,” he said.

Archambault said he thinks another issue is the lack of doctors. He wants to use his experience working with the LHIN health network to work on attracting more health care professionals to the area.