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In search of honesty, not just transparency

Marianne Stewart declares candidacy for Ward 1 councillor BY DON RICKERS Special to the VOICE T here wasn’t a single “aha” moment that propelled Marianne Stewart towards seeking office in the Town of Pelham. “It’s been a cumulative thing.
Marianne_Stewart_EDIT
Fenwick’s Marianne Stewart is running for council in Ward 1. DON RICKERS PHOTO

Marianne Stewart declares candidacy for Ward 1 councillor

BY DON RICKERS Special to the VOICE

There wasn’t a single “aha” moment that propelled Marianne Stewart towards seeking office in the Town of Pelham.

“It’s been a cumulative thing. It gets to the point where you say to yourself that if none of these other people are going to step up and open their mouths in a reasonable fashion, somebody has to do it…so here I am.”

Stewart has fought for local causes in the past, one being an effort to save and restore the Maple Acre Library in Fenwick. She was not happy with all the results of the renovation, completed last year.

“It was supposed to blend with the overall look of the community. What they’ve built doesn’t do that,” she said.

“The Town doesn’t seem to do their research properly. The library was a design-build for $1 million, but things had to be redesigned. There were engineering and architectural issues. If all these little things are happening, what other big things are happening? Was there a performance bond on the project?”

Originally from Welland, Stewart has lived in Pelham since 1980. She said she worked for two levels of government and a board of education in the past, but considers herself a business person and entrepreneur. She previously owned the Fenwick Pie Company and bake shop, but sold it last year.

“I was in business for 30 years. I know what it is to work within your means. If you spend more than you make, you’re done,” she said.

The new community centre raises many questions for Stewart.

“The Meridian name will apparently be on the community centre forever. Why was such a deal made? Why did we lose out on future naming revenue? What is the real cost of the facility? When will it be disclosed?”

The first thing any new council needs to do, said Stewart, is commission a complete forensic audit to cover at least the last four years of Town finances.

“The audit needs to be put out to tender. A lot of stuff [in Pelham] just doesn’t get put out to tender the way it should,” she said.

“We have no reserve funds. Where did the money go? We have two roads we can’t fix. I think [Town staff] are just stalling, because they don’t have the money. We are not being given the real numbers. I believe we still owe money on the two fire stations and the library expansion. We need those debts paid down, so we are left with just [the community centre].”

In response to pressure from concerned residents, says Stewart, “the Town did a limited audit on basically one land transaction. They had a public meeting where they provided a lot of pretty meaningless information. They promised us a follow-up meeting for questions and answers, then they cancelled the meeting. It’s bait-and-switch.”

A second audit, said Stewart, should be conducted on public-owned properties.

“The town has assets—the Old Town Hall, the old arena, the model railway building, the work centre. We need a facilities audit so we know what we have, what condition they are in, and what it costs to maintain them.”

She is opposed to selling off the old arena on Haist Street.

“Don’t sell that building with its eight acres. The Town is growing. If we sell off parkland, we’ll never get it back in that neighbourhood. We can’t just sell it off because we’re broke.”

Stewart feels that Summerfest events, a year-round farmer’s market, concerts, and the Supper Market (on a separate day from the farmer’s market) could conceivably be held on the property. She is annoyed that the Town is selling alcohol at events. “Restaurants and bars need the business,” she said.

Audit number three would be a work audit of Town Hall staffing. “We need to consolidate and/or eliminate jobs. We need really solid job descriptions, where people have eight hours of work to do in an eight-hour day,” said Stewart.

“They hired an external company to do the fundraising for the community centre—why aren’t internal people handling that? A lot of work gets contracted out, like the broken culvert on Poth Street. They hired an engineering firm to do an assessment. Don’t we have our own engineer on staff?”

Stewart questions the high salaries of some staffers, which she feels are out-of-line for a small community of 17,000.

“Our CAO makes the same as the Speaker of the House in the Ontario Legislature,” she asserted. [Editor’s note: In fact, at $173,795 yearly, CAO Darren Ottaway’s salary is $20,881 higher than recently elected Speaker Ted Arnott’s $152,914 annual compensation.]

Transit in Pelham needs to be re-thought, said Stewart.

“Do we really need a little white bus running around pretty much empty ten hours a day?”

She referenced a pilot project in a community north of Toronto, in which she asserted customers pay an Uber driver $3 for a ride, and the Uber driver bills the town for the difference.

“This eliminates bus maintenance, fuel, insurance, driver salary, and cost of the vehicle,” she said. “There is more than one way to provide local transit.”

Stewart fells that there are creative opportunities to meet provincial guidelines for housing density.

“We need to have a new formula—streets with mixed housing, single homes with duplexes and condos integrated into one development. A variety of house types. It creates a strong community,” she said.

Stewart is adamant that Town Hall needs to be run more like a business.

“We are not getting the information [from council and staff]. You ask questions, and you don’t get answers except through Freedom of Information requests. I hate the word transparency. It has become a meaningless buzz-word. Let’s just go with honesty,” she said.

As for future mega-projects in Pelham, Stewart said, “I don't think there will be any sizable ones in the near future. But I believe at such time they come about, they should be decided by referendum.”