Council Candidate Eric Ennis

Q1: Meaford is experiencing dynamic growth. How do you see ratepayers’ involvement in that growth? What role do you see the community playing in establishing the common direction and longer-term priorities?

Generally speaking, I don’t want to see ratepayers not pay for growth; growth should pay for growth through development charges (DCs). However, this gets complicated because the province is working towards reducing DCs to make development less expensive with little to no consideration for how this leaves municipalities holding the bag while developers make their profits. At the current moment there is no clear answer for what will happen with DCs.

In Meaford’s specific case, we need to do a lot of water system repairs and maintenance projects to keep the system in good order, as well as the waste water treatment system expansion to enable further development. These two factors necessitate high water service rates, which nobody on council or municipal staff want.

From here, I do not want to see the municipality-wide tax levy pay for the water system (in addition to water system users), but if the rest of the municipality wants to see growth to spread the tax burden, increase the number of possible customers and workers, bring business owners, etc., then we may need to consider applying the tax levy to the water system.

Q2: Would you support the development of an active community-based Advisory Committee for planning and development?

Yes. While this advisory committee would not be able to perform the functions of planning and development staff, which is to look at proposals and ensure they conform with the existing municipal planning and development rule book, they would be able to help guide council toward making changes to this regime that would enable developments the community wants. Individual councillors may feel that making it possible for someone to build and operate a grocery or department store is a great idea and support from the advisory committee could add legitimacy to the idea and foster the political will to make it happen.

Q3: Currently, Meaford Council has just two Advisory Committees: Heritage and Accessibility. Prior to this current Council, there were seven advisory committees. Given that advisory committees facilitate public input into important matters, would you reinstate other advisory committees? And how would you ensure they are used effectively in the next term of Council?

I want to see an economic development advisory committee, rural affairs, urban affairs, municipal service provision, and as mentioned above planning and development advisory committee. I also think the pumped storage advisory committee needs to be brought back with amendments.

In all levels of government economic development is a political hot potato since it usually requires actions that are immediately expensive and have very long-term pay offs. Like I said above, hard political decisions to invest in 10-year plans that are agreed upon by knowledgeable and experienced members of the community have more social legitimacy than such decisions made by council alone.

Given Meaford’s rural / urban divide, advisory committees focused on each area could be very helpful for ensuring that fair attention and resources are given to both. Our family farm in Sydenham North only really receives road care, and that is all we expect; we are not looking for beautification and sidewalks or bylaw enforcement on e-scooters. But, we do expect that heavy tractors can conduct their business safely, and that farmers can pull their livestock down a side road without the animals experiencing a pot-hole paint shaker.

A municipal review advisory committee could be very helpful for identifying and addressing gaps in municipal service provision. Many residents have mentioned issues with contacting and following up with bylaw enforcement or inefficiencies in the building department. An advisory committee to review these kinds of complaints could be very helpful for solving these problems to keep things running smoothly; solutions could include be adding staff or adding resources for existing staff to use, or changing processes. For issues like this, council often has little context depending on whether any member of council has sought permits to build a deck, extension, or new business recently.

I also think a version of the Pumped Storage Advisory Committee focused on helping navigate the eventual community benefits agreement would be helpful for all of the above reasons.

Q4: What is the role of Council and the Municipality in supporting the development of downtown Meaford? In rural areas? Please provide examples.

The municipality needs to have a proactive zoning / planning regime that makes it possible for a developer to show up in Meaford and easily build profitable things. In areas of specific concern, the municipality needs to stand firm, and do so early. This way, developers know whether their projects will be doable in Meaford before they sink money in to non-starters and then throw good money after bad to keep their non-conforming projects alive.

This is also true in rural Meaford. We need to ensure that productive land is maintained so that those who know how to work it / maintain it can keep it alive but allow people to make their living from their land.

The municipality, and community as a whole, also need to get a clear sense of what profitable developments look like and then make sure our rules allow them. We will never have developers asking us to build things that will lose money so we need to know what to expect before it comes knocking.

Q5: What role does Meaford’s “Official Plan” have in guiding development?

That is its purpose. It provides the, “what we want in location X” and zoning / planning bylaws provide the limitations that are enforced on projects to narrow them towards that want. A planning and development advisory could also be “official plan advisory committee” which works to provide input for the required regular official plan updates on an ongoing basis rather than all at once when the deadline comes up.

Q6: If a development project does not appear to meet Official Plan requirements (like the SkyDev proposal), what should Council do to ensure the project is in the best interest of Meaford and its citizens?

In cases where we have clearly communicated what we want in a specific location, and we are certain of it, like this example, we need to stand firm. But in most other cases we need to ensure we have a good sense of what factors affect the market and enable building to do that, despite any NIMBYism. I fully accept that higher density housing is cheaper to build, enabling developers to offer lower prices. Having good quality housing that the young people working in local businesses that provide goods and services can afford is essential for keeping our community afloat. However, it seems that many residents reflexively say no to such housing, despite it advancing previously agreed upon goals. There are no perfect solutions, and density downtown where density belongs is a key step to make our community functionally affordable.

Q7: Should Council members or municipal staff meet with developers prior to a development application being submitted? What is your understanding of them role in such meetings? Can you give us an example of what you would do in that position?

Any developer is welcome to meet with a member of council at any time just like any other member of the public. But this should not be a formal process or requirement. In this case, they are welcome to attempt to rally support for how their idea will benefit the community and justify any related changes to the existing zoning / planning regime in advance.

Meeting with staff absolutely should be a formal part of the process. If anyone is kicking around an idea for something they would like to build for themselves or to create an offering to the community they should have to meet with staff to learn what is required to do so as efficiently as possible. This includes providing that person with an exhaustive checklist of the steps / tasks and a description of the costs / fees involved. That way there are no surprised on either end and things can go smoothly.

Q8: There are many issues that need to be addressed in the coming four-year term, including the TCE pumped energy project, affordable housing, job creation, the downtown heritage district, business development, climate change, tourism, and a host of infrastructure needs supporting agriculture, bridges, roads, water and sewer and urban green spaces. What, in your opinion, are the most urgent issues to address?

I see business development, job creation, and affordable housing as the most urgent issues; they feed and enable the others. Many independent farmers are already doing their own thing, and could be doing more as members of the community if there were more secondary processors in Meaford. The transportation infrastructure they rely on could be better funded with more industry and commerce in the municipality. This type of industry would bring more workers, who need housing they can afford, and the higher demand would make it easy for developers to financially justify building that housing.

When a municipality is thriving with a healthy tax base, it can more effectively tackle climate change and recreation.

I put tourism low on my list because places that are great to live in inevitably attract the attention of potential visitors who want a piece of what it might be like to live in such a great place. Thus, I would rather work towards making the municipality great to live in rather than work to make it great for others to visit.

Finally, despite taking up a small percentage of council’s time, TCE’s PSP is very important. Whether it continues or not will have lasting impacts on the community. Unfortunately, the proposition of the project puts the municipality / community in the awkward position of having to plan for it going ahead without knowing whether it will or not. So, we need to grow to be ready to accommodate it without over-growing so that people are not over-extended if it doesn’t proceed – yet if people are under-prepared they may be overwhelmed. In the latter case, businesses may try to expand. If that takes too long, they will be too late, and even if they are able to make hay when the sun shines, they may be left over-extended when the construction boom ends. This is a very difficult line to walk; this project has foisted much work upon us.

Q9: The TCE Pumped Storage Proposal will be decided by the federal government. What is your position on the project, and what role do you think the Meaford Council has as the project moves through approvals?

I do not support the project. I have spent the last 6 years looking to be convinced that the stability, reliability, and cost effectiveness of Ontario’s electrical grid relies on the PSP, and I am not yet convinced this is the case. If this changes, I will adjust my stance accordingly.

Our municipal staff and council are not the decision makers or regulators for this project. This responsibility rests on the shoulders of the provincial Minister of Energy and the Premier. The federal government are the landlords and will study the project as such, and may or may not give the province their blessing for the facility to be built on their land. If they give their approval, the provincial representatives will add that to their check list for making the final decision on whether to allow TCE to proceed. While such members of government have previously stated that it would be best practice to ensure the project has Meaford’s blessing, Meaford’s blessing is not required. Further, the ministry of energy’s leadership has changed since such comments were made. Therefore, Meaford must continue to participate in the federal impact assessment process and just wait to see what comes of it.

If our municipality decides to take a “DARE approach” of “just say no”, we may be left behind. It is of the utmost importance that whether our community thinks this project is a good idea or not that our council collaboratively advocates for our community. Environmental harm is bad enough; I cannot stomach the idea of anonymous corporate shareholders profiting from that environmental harm to build their third home.

Q10: As a member of Council, how will you work with local and county/regional partners and Meaford's CAO and staff to move the Municipality forward on the issues listed in Q8? Can you provide any examples?

Everything that Meaford council decides to do is enacted through the CAO, who is their only employee. It is essential that council and the CAO have a good working relationship to make the pathway of direction-to-action efficient. Meaford council has enjoyed a good relationship with the CAO, and the rest of municipal staff for the last year and the rate of positive change has been phenomenal. Like in any organization; happy people do the best work.

A member of council cannot effectively work with members of staff or ask them for information if those staff members have to feel afraid for their jobs every time they give an answer. This leads to overly-safe conservative answers. While some may feel good about how this leads to making safe decisions, I feel that it leaves no room for high-reward options. Keeping some things in the realm of safe decision making is good, but no new great idea or better way of doing things ever got traction among people who were looking to make safe decisions. There is a balance to be found.

There are some county service-sharing programs coming our way, such as waste management and the county road transfer project, among others. While I strongly support some of these, I do not support others. But, deeply criticizing the county would negatively impact our ability to collaborative advocate for Meaford’s position among the county. The manner in which council deals with all of these parties must be rooted in respect; this way we can disagree on tough subjects but still move forward to find solutions in good faith.

I have heard good things from those with direct personal experience with county-built and operated long term care homes and I would love to see another built in Meaford. This provides good living options for those in need and great jobs. Other scalable business developments could benefit from county support, but it is hard to describe what this looks like without proposals / projects in hand.

Considering all of the above, I want to see Meaford’s council continue to build its reputation for being a collaborative and reliable problem solver rather than the creator of problems.