CALLANDER – If you want to get residents out to talk with their mayor, the place to do it might be the local pub. The concept proved highly successful for Mayor Hec Lavigne when over 40 local business owners joined him for lunch at the Callander Tavern on March 27.
“We thought it would be a good idea to get our business community together with the mayor,” said Judy Skidmore, publisher of a national trade paper. “We were the only community in Ontario last year to get a reduction in municipal taxes so we felt we should keep our lines of communication open.”
The meeting was organized by Skidmore and Callander real estate agent Barb Larose, “as an informal way to bring some of our concerns to the mayor, as well as keep ourselves informed on what plans council has for the future. Because we’re not forming a committee or anything, we felt people would be more likely to come to this type of a gathering,” said Larose. “It also gives our business community a chance to introduce ourselves to each other and tell a bit about our businesses.”
Lavigne said he was “really pleased by the turnout. It was actually our municipal budget that brought me back into politics. When I received the 2006 tax bill I thought it was quite excessive. Last year we based the budget on actual costs of doing business and capital projects which resulted in a budget decrease, something we haven’t seen in a while.”
Callander council now has a capital projects plan with money set aside annually to help with major expenses.
“Everything we do has a big price tag,” said Lavigne, “often starting at the $100,000 mark. Before, we use to sit around the council table and stare at each other wondering where the money would come from. Now we have developed a long-term plan that schedules capital projects for now, and for 15 years in the future. That way we know how much we have to spend and how we can stage the funding. Having a plan also lets us massage and manipulate other levels of government funding.”
Council has budgeted $250,000 this year for engineering studies alone, which Lavigne says is crucial “if you’re going to be ready to apply for funding when a program is announced. The window of opportunity is often very slim, and without an engineered project ready to go, you can lose out on that government money.”
On the priority list are repairs to Landsdown Street “all the way from Main Street to the highway,” said Lavigne, “including sidewalks. We want to be prepared to jump on that this year to do the work to get ready for 2009. This road acts as the main entrance to Callander, so it’s significant, but we’re also wanting to work on Terrace Road as well.”
Water and sewer are also priority items.
“We’re at the end of our capacity in sewer and water is another issue,” Lavigne said. “We’re currently rationalizing what the fixes are. Whether it is expansion, building another lagoon or installing a new system, we have to ensure that our growth continues and that those who have investments in Callander can followup on their plans.”
Although Lavigne says he is “pro development, it has to be controlled growth that does not erode our quality of life. We don’t want to record our growth by stacks of buildings on the horizon, but by economies of scale that bring the revenues necessary to manage our municipal affairs. It’s inevitable that growth is coming toward us, but do we really want to see the Collingwood high rise structures here? Right now we are experiencing more demand for houses as people from across Ontario see our lake, the beautiful bay, the small community, and the commercial downtown, and they get excited about living here. We need to control growth in order to continue to reflect that community life.”
He also updated the group on the Callander beautification plans saying that new entry signs “should be up in the next two weeks or so. Since we formed the beautification committee we have planted over 100 trees, installed over 25 large street flower planters and instigated an annual community cleanup day.”
Lavigne encouraged the business owners to become involved with the Callander Strategic Plan, which has just undergone its first five-year review.
“This is a living document to share with everyone in the community,” he said. “Your input is important as we try to see into the future and tie our capital project plans into the overall vision.”
Callander’s business community gave positive feedback of the meeting and have arranged to hold two such events a year, one in the spring and one in the fall.
“Mayor Lavigne is a pretty open guy and very available,” said Skidmore. “He seems more than glad to sit down with us and that’s important. I think this has turned out to be a wonderful concept that benefits us all.”
Editorial
