Ward 3 candidate wants city to shore up its reserves

The city should be putting more money into financial reserves in order to better prepare for surprise repairs and fund major projects, a municipal council candidate says.

Craig Shanks, who is one of four registered candidates in Ward 3, said being proactive is better than being reactive when it comes to paying for infrastructure work that arises without notice.

“All the stuff that’s happened with flooding and windstorms and hailstorms and wildfires and those kinds of things … that just puts a real big pressure on the city and the infrastructure as a whole,” Shanks, who works as an executive adjuster at Wheat City Claims Services, said in an interview at his home in Ward 3 last week.

Responding to this year’s flooding, Brandon city council recently voted to use $210,000 of parks reserve funds to improve drainage at the Wheat City Golf Course after floodwaters closed part of it during the summer. An additional $2,280,000 was taken from four separate reserves in July to pay for flood recovery and mitigation, though the city has applied for disaster financial assistance from the province to recuperate that cost.

Shanks faces former high school teacher Kevin Chambers, realtor Quentin Derhak and former Westman Immigrant Services executive director Enver Naidoo in Ward 3 in the Oct. 28 election.

Ward 3 includes neighbourhoods west of 34th Street and north of the CN rail line.

The city last year approved a $139-million upgrade to the water treatment plant, which aims to meet Health Canada drinking water guidelines with a projected completion date of October 2029. Shanks said that project is a “fine example” of the city not being proactive enough, as more than $29 million of the project’s cost is being paid for through city loans.

The city should have been putting money away for the project farther in advance to save up for it, he said. Saving in advance, he added, can also help convince other levels of government to contribute to a city project as officials can see that Brandon is serious about proceeding with it.

Street work, buying new buses and investing in sewer work should be focuses for the city now, he said.

“I want to be somebody who asks the tough questions at council. Why are we not planning ahead for this stuff?” Shanks said.

He said the city had kept taxes too low in the past, but that increases in the last couple of years were too high. He called for a middle ground with around three to five per cent increases, adding the city can bring in revenue in other ways.

Issuing more tickets and enforcing bylaws aren’t ideal ways to raise revenue, he said, but would add to the bottom line.

Shanks said the fact that he is the only Ward 3 candidate who lives in the ward is what sets him apart in the campaign.

“It’s important to live (in the ward and) to represent the people that are your neighbours. I didn’t have a hard time finding 25 people to sign my nomination papers because it’s walk across the street and talk to the people who’ve lived there, talk to the people who are friends down the street,” Shanks said, adding that he’s lived in the ward for the last 35 years.

“We like the neighbourhood. We love the area. It’s got a lot of positives, but every area needs a little bit of tweaking now and then, too.”

He said he wants to represent the ward he lives in, not just use Ward 3 as a way to get onto council.

Shanks said improving council transparency and bettering affordable seniors housing are other priorities for him.

» alambert@brandonsun.com