Midland voters face stark choice

Mayoral candidates couldn’t be more different in style and substance
By Nicole Million Simcoe.com Sep 15, 2010
MIDLAND – The race for mayor in Midland is a study in contrasts.
In one corner is incumbent Jim Downer, a former butcher whose 17 years on council have stamped him as a meat-and-potatoes populist with a bit of a gruff side.
Facing him is current councillor Gord McKay, a more reserved but no less persuasive politician well known for his involvement in the arts and environmental issues. Both feel they offer the traits and skills needed to lead the municipality through the challenges the next four years will bring.
“Midland is such a lovely place, and things seem to be going well, but if you look out a couple of years, you can see the challenges we’re going to face. We’re losing jobs very rapidly and have little prospects of getting those jobs back,” McKay said. “We also have a high tax rate that’s deterring people from coming to the town of Midland.”
The municipality needs to start figuring out how to deal with these issues today, he noted.
“To wait 10 years and then react is inappropriate. We’re going to be presented in this town with challenges: Can we afford our hospital? Can we afford the social services we have? Can we afford to maintain our streets?” he said. “If we look forward, the question for the people of Midland right now is: Who is the best leader to serve?”
McKay suggests he is the man for the job due to several factors, from his knack for engaging residents to his ability to see which way the economic winds are blowing.
“People are part of the solution. The good old days when you had one smart person that could tell you the answers are long gone. You need to listen to the people,” he said. “You also need the ability to see the economic future of this town. Everything from our housing to our hospital depends on our ability to pay in some fashion. Right now, the only solution we seem to have is ‘Let’s raise the tax rates,’ and that’s not going to work.
“We need a different approach. I have a business background and a view as to how economic development should work, and that is what’s going to be needed.”
Downer, who is vying for a second term as mayor, said he wants to see the municipality continue to grow on its current path.
“We’ve received $12 million in the past four years from both levels of government, and that frees up monies locally to finish projects in a timely manner,” he said, adding it’s been through his leadership that the town has achieved a number of goals.
Downer noted the last four years have seen Midland selected as an Olympic Torch Relay and Atlantic Challenge host, undergo a library addition with $3.5 million in provincial funding, receive a town hall grant, be chosen as the site for new cultural centre, as well as create a poverty committee that provides recreational opportunities to children in need.
“I am not afraid to make decisions that are tough. I want what is best for this town and always have. It’s about the Town of Midland moving forward in a manner that is going to be beneficial to all residents,” he said. “We’ve made some very tough decisions. Not all of them are popular, but you have to lead by example.”
Downer and McKay both acknowledged Midland has one of the highest tax rates in Simcoe County, as taxes and services often go hand-in-hand.
“A lot of people look at it as a zero-sum game. You either raise taxes or you lose services. What I am talking about is we have an economic base we’ve got to grow, and as we grow that base you can improve your services without raising residential taxes,” said McKay. “We’ve lost our industrial base and that has got to come back.”
Creating a balance between the two, he noted, boils down to basic efficiencies.
“I’ve watched our budget process – we don’t really approach it at the council level with a view to cost efficiency. That can change and will give us a true benefit.”
Downer said making a choice between raising taxes and providing services is a difficult challenge.
“I, as mayor, am regularly in contact with residents to receive their input as to what services they want and at what level. I then make my choice based on what I feel the majority want, bearing in mind the current financial restraints many residents face on a daily basis,” he said, adding he won’t support services that only benefit a select few. “I take (the) approach that residents should get the benefits of services they expect and deserve in the most economical and efficient way possible.”
Downer noted council strives to keep the municipality’s tax rate below five per cent, but acknowledged that can be an extremely difficult task.
“People come to expect services, and they’re not cheap,” he said. “We are about to embark on a budget process. If we keep our tax mill rate below three per cent, I think we’re doing an exceptional job.”
Both candidates said sitting at the head of the council table and maintaining decorum can be a tough job, but it’s a task they’re both ready to take on.
It can get a little fractious,” said McKay, adding his plan would be to avoid problems right from the beginning. “It starts with respect. I find people get upset when they feel they’re not being heard or understood.”
He said it will be through what he calls “creative confrontation” that the right solution will be found.
“The people that sit around that table know in the end they have to make a decision in the best interest of the people of Midland. That doesn’t necessarily mean I have to agree with what you’ve said, but we have to come up with a solution that makes use of all of the information around the table,” he said. “That takes a bit of skill manoeuvring the meeting to that, and the chair is not there to tell you what the answer is, but to direct the content around that table and say ‘this is best solution we’re going to come up with’.”
Downer said his approach is to give each councillor every chance to say his or her piece.
“I try very hard to let everybody have their say, but you go around once and, unless you have something new to add to the topic, it’s tying everyone up and hampering business from being done,” said Downer.
“We’ve been able to achieve good things with the majority of council. These aren’t decisions I make on my own. I don’t always win everything, but you have to learn how to live to fight another day. At the end of the day, you do what you feel is right for the whole of the population, not just 50 people.”
Whoever is voted into office will also be required to sit as a member of Simcoe County council – and both candidates have a clear idea as to what issues they would like to see brought to the forefront.
For McKay, it would be finances and what he sees as climbing revenue demands on the town.
“It is really a major matter for us, and there is very little we can do if county council says it wants another $5 million a year out of Midland. We are part of that tiered government structure, so, as a member of county council, this is our opportunity to get in there and speak to that,” said McKay.
Another issue, he said, concerns governance.
“There are many decisions being made – social housing is one of them – that directly impact the town,” he said. “If you look at it from a county perspective, everything is fair, but, from the Midland side, it’s entirely inappropriate and this voice has got to go back very clearly to county that this whole area is a special area and needs special consideration.”
Waste management is also a big issue for both candidates.
“I just spent six months with Zero Waste Simcoe on the committee helping develop a waste strategy for the next 20 years for Simcoe County,” said McKay. “There’s a lot of good material and, if it’s implemented, we will be heading in right direction.”
Downer said now that the Site 41 dump proposal is off the table, county council has to work hard to stay on top of waste management.
“I want to sell to the county to get that land turned back to agriculture,” he said, pointing out the county may follow Midland’s lead with a voucher system for heavy garbage.
“We’ve taken some great heat over it, but the town looks cleaner and there is less waste going into the landfills,” he said. “It’s a success story that the majority of council voted for.”