Alnwick/Haldimand Township Deputy Mayor Candidates’ Event Brings Calls for Change
By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Both in-person at Fenella Hall and via Zoom, almost 100 people attended Thursday night’s debate for Alnwick-Haldimand Township’s three Deputy Mayoral candidates at Fenella Hall.
Hosted by the Alnwick-Haldimand Ratepayers Association, the gathering saw York Bell-Smith emcee, as incumbent Joan Stover and challengers Mary Catherine O’Neill and Dave Forbes set out their visions for the next council term.
Stover is a life-long resident of the township, growing up on a farm and later raising her family in Grafton. She won the Deputy Mayor’s spot in the 2022 election, though she had served a previous term as councillor in 2010 – back before she retired from a 20-year career as Special Constable with the Cobourg Police Service.
“Those experiences taught me a great deal about working with people, listening, solving problems and making decisions. Most importantly, it taught me about treating people with respect, even if we don’t agree,” she said in her opening remarks.
“I believe that municipal government plays an important role in people’s lives,” said O’Neill, currently a council incumbent who has lived in the municipality for 34 years.
She’s a strong believer in asset-management-based budgeting and wants a review of the township’s procedural bylaw, as well as terms of reference for advisory committees.
“I believe volunteers with their love of our parks and facilities are invaluable partners for this municipality,” she said.
“My experience means I will hit the ground running with my commitment to responsible, respectful representation.”
Forbes was born and raised in this township, moving west in 2016 to serve with the RCMP. He moved back five years later for family reasons.
“I suddenly realized it’s almost impossible to buy a home back in the township where I lived,” he shared. After five years of renting, he has finally purchased one in Grafton.
His background as police officer, control engineer, electrician and maintenance manager “gives me a lot of critical-thinking skills, decision-making skills, communications and the ability to work with people.”
He still adheres to the RCMP core values of honesty, integrity, professionalism, compassion, accountability and respect (HIPCAR, as they say in the force).
“A lot of those values are things that may have been forgotten in recent years in our current council, and I say that because I have spent a lot of time talking with residents, friends and family that live in the area. A lot of them say they have lost trust, that the transparency has gone away and they are not really sure where their tax dollars are going,” he continued.
Questions were entirely submitted by community members, and these concerns were reflected in many of them.
Based on his own research, Forbes said that municipal taxes have gone up 26% over this term of council, and the two incumbents to his left did not correct him.
“One of the things that hasn’t happened and has concerned me and that I have consistently advocated for was an asset-management-based budget,” O’Neill said, claiming that it “allows us to make repairs at essentially half the cost.”
The $2.2-million debt incurred with the rehabilitation of the Haldimand Community Memorial Arena is another concern.
Stover – who is council’s representative on the fundraising committee for this project – recalled the 2019 report to council that brought them to the point of making a decision on the facility, and their ultimate decision to go forward with rehabilitating it.
She pointed out that the township currently has two debentures – for facilities at the Centreton roads department and the Roseneath emergency services base – that total 3.3% of the township’s operating budget.
“A municipality cannot borrow more than 25% of their operating budget,” she noted.
Even if there was a full debenture for the arena – which she said would never happen – that would only bring the total to 5%.
Asked what size annual tax increase she finds acceptable, O’Neill replied, “I think that is the question I hear the most, when we have 28% of the people living in Alnwick-Haldimand having access to food banks last year.”
She would like to peg it to the cost of living, though she said two of their budgets with the largest increases were brought in as the economy was recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
There were vague references to trouble with the library board from one questioner, and another wondering why the deputy mayor had filed a lawsuit against the current library board.
“That was a very unfortunate situation we found ourselves in during this term of council,” O’Neill said.
“I believe the solution is to find an off-ramp rather than escalating, escalating, escalating,” she added, referring to the cost of the incident to the municipality and to the library “that did not result in any benefit for you, the taxpayers.”
Stover called the question a set-up.
“As a victim working through this, there isn’t anyone in the room that knows the complete story, and I am quite frankly disappointed that question would come forward like this,” she said, adding that she would leave if another such question was sprung.
Another questioner noted that the township’s integrity commissioner had been terminated after providing a ruling relating to resignation letters that should have been handled differently. As the questioner put it, it gives the impression the “firing” happened because they didn’t like the findings.
“It’s almost laughable that council is even allowed to vote out their own integrity commissioner,” Forbes said to a round of applause.
“This situation is complicated,” Stover said.
“Our integrity commissioner had put in that they would not be continuing with being integrity commissioner after January, so we were looking at having to replace them anyway. I’m not sure why they weren’t going to continue. The clerk’s department sought legal advice – things just didn’t seem right. We did get a legal opinion and we followed through with that.”
“I do respect the role of the integrity commissioner, his independence,” O’Neill said.
“Their findings should be easily available on the website, and it’s not there.”
O’Neill said she had not supported Stover’s motion that the dismissal could be effected with a simple majority instead of a two-thirds vote.
“I am concerned members of council who took action, like Mike Ainsworth, fired the integrity commissioner because they did not like the answers they received,” she stated.
Stover pointed out that the township had since engaged a qualified replacement for the departed integrity commissioner.
Amid questions on how to regain the trust of the electorate. O’Neill pointed out that she is an incumbent who is campaigning on change.
“I am a change candidate, but I do want to say I think my institutional knowledge from the past four years will be a huge asset moving forward,” she said.
“I think we need to have a fresh set of eyes, a new group of people that can look at what exists, make pragmatic decisions about where we are financially and where our infrastructure is, and then play for the next years ahead,” Forbes said – “not just for the next four years, but how do we set ourselves up as a township to be good for the next 12 years, 20 years.
“Throughout this campaign, I have focused on a few strategic priorities – transparency, accountability, sound financial management, support for local businesses and agriculture, practical infrastructure planning, better communications between the township and people served.”
“As a contributing member of this council, I have done my homework,” Stover said.
“I have asked questions, listened to the professional advise of our staff and have made some very difficult decisions. Most importantly, I have been available to you and will continue to be available to you.
“I have always believed being deputy mayor isn’t sitting around the council table. It’s about being out in our community, listening to people and being available when someone has a question or concern,” she said.
“I am proud of what we have accomplished over the last four years.”
Having held a similar event for mayoral candidates Mike Ainsworth and Sherry Gibson last month, the AHRPA will hold one for the five candidates for council – Terry Carruthers, Ron Farrow, Jim Hogg, Jim McCormack and Cathie Ritchie – Monday, Oct. 5 at 6 p.m. At Fenella Hall, 8071 County Rd. 45. Three of them will be elected, and none of them is an incumbent.
