1. Plan where we want to go! Put our money where our mouth is!
2. Create a budget and stick to it!
3. Prepare annually and a multi-year timeframe to organize applying for every grant and funding

My time on council has proven that I am hardworking, transparent, accountable and passionate about our town.

We need to plan to succeed and build it together.

….there is no place like Hornepayne…. As Mayor this is the direction I would like to lead council:

1. Lead council to create a manageable plan for our taxes, we need to make living in Hornepayne affordable for everyone. Most pressing issue is Out Migration: People are choosing to live elsewhere even though they work here, long-term residents are deciding to leave, and seniors having no choice but to leave for proper care or housing. This problem is solvable.  We need to lower our mill rate (tax rate) and bring our assessment values up!  Why is this important because it will allow people to invest in our community.  We need to set forth a plan of action by creating a “Housing/Taxes Task Force” to look at the complexities of this problem.  We could have this sub-committee established to look at three key factors:

1. How can we lower our tax rate and increasing our housing assessment values, making the mill rate lower will attract businesses to come and invest!
2. How can we make moving here attractive, are there incentives that we can look into.
3. Why are people leaving: Find out what it would take to keep people here or to get them to move here.

We need to learn from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, lending institutions, and from community developers on how we can better invest in our community. We as citizens need to start investing in our community and you can do that by investing in your property.  We need to have a place that is beautiful to come home to, a place where we want to spend our time and we need to build it together.

2. Add equipment to our water system to make it more efficient and continue working at upgrading our infrastructure.

Water is life!  We need to explore water meters!  This is important because it can give us measurables to help use better negotiate in the future with OCWA and when deciding on new systems or plants we can equip council to make informed decisions. By installing water meters, it is likely we will see a decrease in consumption.  This will create room for growth without increasing the cost.  Right now, if we add new homes to our water system, will OCWA charge us the same amount?  We pay in a fixed rate system, the total cost divided by the about of users.  That fixed cost is also dependent on the number of users and it will go up as we add new properties.  We need that growth room to be able to add users to the system. We need the measurements so that we can make better decisions in the future.

3. Lead us to be involved with our schools and connect with our youth. Creating a “boomerang strategy” where students go away for school but can return home to work if they choose. We have a student councillor position available and it would be a pleasure to have a young person sit at our table.

We need to listen to our children.  There is a generation now that has never know life with out computers and internet.  We are getting to the generation that has not known life without the connections of cell phone.  Children are using tablets at such a young age now, I am excited to see the things they will create in the future, as their mind set will be very different than our own.  We at council need their voice and need to hear this perspective, not only for the young person’s benefit but for our own. We need to listen to what the children would like to do because ultimately, they will build our future.  There are so many avenues and opportunities out in the world and now being connected globally we can really help the world from Hornepayne. A “Boomerang Strategy” is where we allow our children to go out into the world to discover, learn and prosper but if they choose there is a place here at home, if they want to return.  What are we looking for in life:  A place to live, play and BELONG!  We need to value our young people and help them fit in to our community.  The student councillor is a great place to start but do we need to do more?  This needs to be a two-way street.  We need to take our young people seriously and get involved with their lives. Maybe it is time that we, a council member or the Mayor, get involved at the school level on student council.  We need to value our children and what better way than to be proactive and go to where they are meeting.  We need to show our young people in a tangible way that we care.  We have to start thinking differently.  This is a partnership I would like to see happen.

4. I will ensure an Economic Development Officer (EDO) is hired to implement the strategic plan and create strategies to protect and grow our business sector. The official plan and all regulated documents need to be either created or updated, this will open more grant and funding opportunities.

Since being on I have been diligent in working towards the hiring of an Economic Development Officer. It is imperative to growth and development of our community to have this position and have it filled.  We need to have our plans either updated or created. I want to focus on the community development plan.  This plan is essential to increasing value to our town because it is the picture of what we want our future community to look like.  It gives use the right areas to invest in first.  We need to know what infrastructure to add first to create the most value.  We need to figure out what part of our community to “renovate first” to best increase our community value. When we renovate our own homes, we know that certain areas of the home will bring more comfort to our daily living but also in resale value.  We need to find out what are the areas of a community, if “renovated” add the most ‘bang for our buck’.

5. Lastly, we need to decide about the nuclear waste project and move forward. As your Mayor I have faith that whatever the outcome of the community decision, with or without a repository, Hornepayne will have a prosperous future.

I will implement whatever the community decides.  We need to make some decisions for moving forward, we need to take proactive measures to demonstrate to our neighbouring communities and the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) that we take the opinions of our citizens seriously and that we are ready to plan our own future.