Drainage
Not raise it again. Get it done.
Out here on the outskirts we don't have a sewer system. All the water drains through the ditches along our roads and properties. A lot of them were never done properly, so when the rain comes the water has nowhere to go and just sits on people's land. This isn't the first time I've raised it. I want it finished.
My plan for the drainage, in plain words
- Work toward a proper drainage system across the whole area. Out here it's ditches, not sewers, and they have to actually function.
- The ditches we already have need to be cleaned and graded, so the water moves off your property instead of sitting on it.
- In the newer developments where they were left half done, go back and finish them properly.
- Going forward, make sure new development is built properly, with the drainage handled and nothing overcrowded. This is where my project-management background comes in.
That's the plan. It isn't complicated. It's just been ignored. If the water sits on your property too, send me a photo. When enough of us show it, it stops being easy to ignore.
Growth
Grow without becoming the city.
People come to West St. Paul for the space and the quiet. I did too. Growth itself isn't the enemy; it brings new families and better services. But growth done badly, packed in too tight with the water not handled, takes away the exact thing that made people move here.
I've been a project manager most of my life, so I know you can do both. Ask the hard questions before a development is approved: is the water handled, is it packed in too tight, can the roads take it? Ask then, instead of after, when it's already sitting on your property.
School taxes
Our seniors shouldn't be paying school taxes at all.
The school taxes out here hit hard, especially on our bigger lots. Most of our seniors bought out here years ago, raised their kids, put them through those very schools, and paid in the whole way. Now they're on fixed incomes and still being billed every year. It isn't right that the people who built this community could get taxed out of the home they built.
I'll be straight about the role: a councillor doesn't set school taxes or grant exemptions. That's the province. So this is advocacy. I'll carry it to the province, raise it every chance I get, and keep pushing, but I need your support to make the case.How school taxes actually work out here
The Seven Oaks School Division sets its own budget, and the province sets the funding and rebate rules. The municipality only collects the money and passes it along, which is why council gets the phone call even though council didn't set the rate.
What a councillor can do: be a loud voice at that table, press for a fairer share for our part of the municipality, ask where the dollars actually land, and bring it forward every single budget. Manitoba also already has a partial seniors school-tax rebate and a homeowners credit, so it's worth checking whether you qualify.
Showing up
You can't represent your ward from your couch.
The most basic part of the job isn't the speeches. It's being in that room, at every meeting, every time. I've sat in enough meetings to notice the pattern: they come, they talk, and nothing happens. I'd rather be measured by whether I show up afterward and follow through. I'm comfortable being judged on exactly that.