MUNICIPAL ELECTION Mayor: It's about leadership The Independent & Free Press sat down with Mayor Rick Bonnette, 51, to question him on issues in this year's municipal election campaign. He was elected in 1982 and has served the last three years as mayor. The following are excerpts of his responses. Q. Why are you the best candidate for mayor? It's leadership. Three years ago we had a town of very low staff morale, we were talking about renaming streets in Acton, that got everybody upset. We were talking about public transit, we were talking about expanding the Q. How disappointed were urban boundaries...and we had a you with Mold-Masters decision split council. Now fast forward to delay building a facility in the to today, we have good staff corridor, and are you worried morale...the street names were that they're not going to build off the table so the people in there, or that Mold-Masters is Acton are happy, we didn't making the Town dance to the expand the urban boundary... song its playing? and we didn't get into the public I would be a liar if I didn't say I transit debate and we have a real was disappointed. I'm still hopeteamwork in council. ful. RICK I think part of the leadership I About the agreement we did, I BONNETTE showed, was with the hospital...I don't regret that decision at all. think I engaged the communiThat's something that had to be done. ty...I didn't do it all on my own, I had some other councillors (working on it), we did it Q. With the pressures from the as a team. province's Greenbelt and Places to Grow I think the Curwood Packaging (clo- plans and Halton Region's Durable Plan sure)... I think as much as (councillor) Mike how will the Town be able to control develDavis is criticizing how I (dealt with the clo- opment here? sure) of Curwood Packaging-- here's the I can't predict with the Durable Plan. president of the union for Curwood endors- There's a real concern I have...if we got chaling me. lenged to go to a board hearing and you've I think we were the first community to got a provincial message out there from bring in closed captioning without having to Places to Grow. Is it wise to spend $2 milbe forced to by human rights. lion on a losing battle to fight an OMB I'm inclusive of councillors. (Ontario Municipal Board) hearing that you We've engaged the know you're going to farming community. lose?...That's a real We've had two open dilemma. forums for the farming We have to get (to community... Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Q. How can council The Independent & Free Press is Minister) John Gerretkeep tax increases as offering readers a chance to be sen and say, `Are these low as possible and mayor of Halton Hills. numbers etched in maintain services? Simply let us know what YOU stone' that Halton's popI think what we've would do if you were mayor. We'll ulation has to douproposed to do, the 2 print your responses in the Nov. 1 ble?'... per cent pavement man- edition. The Places to Grow agement plan has been Responses must not exceed 50 doesn't even have an supported, it was some- words and must be e-mailed to inclusion on waste thing I went to the pub- jmcghie@independentfreepress.com management. lic with three years ago, by 9 a.m. Monday, Oct. 30. Please I think Oakville, until we get caught up a include your name and address. Burlington and Milton little bit... are around 25 per cent Our fire department, industrial and I don't think our town should that's another thing we have to look at, we be growing until we get up around that ratio. have to hire more full time firefighters... I'm still against lake-based water for resiLastly is to have the industrial base. dential growth because if you bring the pipe That's very important...It's still low it's about up Trafalgar Rd. you've lost all control. 13 per cent. Even though we're just starting Give us the (growth) numbers (for Halton to kick in the 401 Corridor. Hills) early in the game and let us plan our Attracting business, that's the key thing. sandbox. We have to have the respect of the province. When we make a decision we don't Q. What do you foresee for the future of want it challenged at the OMB. But in the the 401 Corridor by the end of this coun- short term, no lake-based water. cil's term? There's room for intensification. I don't This is going to tie into the Durable Plan. want to see us like Milton and double the I can see it being developed right up to population in four years, because we'll lose Trafalgar Rd.-- minimum. all sight of what this community is about. One idea I've been toying with is chargQ. Are you happy with how the ing a community fee for any new developCorridor has developed over the past three ment. If you're paying $385,000 for a home, years, or are you disappointed with it in what's the difference adding another $2,000 the challenges you've faced, with Mold- going directly into your community? Masters for example? I don't think anyone predicted that three years ago $150,000 an acre which was what land was being bought up for in the Corridor would jump to $300,000 or $350,000 an acre. With people putting that kind of money in they're basically going to market to whomever they want... As far as the offices (head office type development), yes the market's changed. Who knows, we may get that back. We may get that back in the next two years. W A R D B O U N D A R I E S Right now it's not on the table. We did increase transit for seniors and for handicapped people Q. An amalgamated region building-- are you for or against it? I'm for it...Despite what (challenger) Rob Heaton is spreading around in his brochure that we're tearing down that (region) building. We're not tearing down that building, we're adding to it...It's going to be close to $20 million in savings...I think it's prudent. Q. The pavement management plan. Will you push to have it continue? Our streets are much improved, but there could be other projects that we have to do...I don't want to say a yes/no answer...there might be other priorities, but we can still do some street improvements from the gas tax. Q. Do you like the Barber Mill plan? No. There is too much density. It's 14 storeys, plus a commercial area, there's no off-street parking. I think the plan is too saturated...It has to be scaled down. Q. Are you for or against the Energy From Waste plant at the landfill? I'm definitely for it...That will add another 15 years to that landfill site. Technology has never been better than it is now...York's been doing it, Japan's been doing it...Brampton's EFW plant is right on the 407. There's thousands of cars driving past it per minute and people probably don't know what it is. Ward 1 Ward 3 Ward 2 Ward 4 Q. What are the biggest challenges facing the town in the next four years ? Growth. Q. Do you want to see Places to Grow reworked? I think so, because if it's not reworked Oakville and Burlington are almost to the max. Milton's got a wide space and is likely more of a target than even us, but if we don't (rework Places to Grow) we know we're targeted for who knows what population ratio. With growth comes all the spin-offs-- the services, and recreation will be coming up. Right now we're working on a recreation master plan in anticipation to try to find out what the needs are of the community... We're just not talking a hockey rink. We've had requests about cricket in the past, baseball diamonds... One baseball diamond, lit, fenced, with drainage is around $250,000 to $300,000. The library. I think we handled that well. We made a decision it's going to be built where it should be-- in the downtown. We have the fire halls, which won't be a tax burden because we did a pay as you go plan. There is, I believe, an arena scheduled for 2010 in Georgetown. With all of these projects the challenge will be getting them done. Q. What was your biggest disappointment the past term? I think it would have to be the business decision by Mold-Masters not to proceed on schedule (relocating 401/407 Corridor). Q. Your best achievement? I think the hospital...not only how we got to the minister's ear and kept obstetrics open but it evolved to the point that we got the hospital moved right out of William Osler. Now I hear today that they're hiring two more obstetricians in Georgetown Hospital. I think the 401 Corridor agreement is something I'm very proud of... I couldn't have done that without regional help. Q. What is the future of transit in Halton Hills? If you were mayor... Challenger mum Mayoral challenger Robert Heaton did not respond to several requests from the Independent & Free Press to be interviewed for an election profile in this issue. ROBERT HEATON