Chaboyer challenges Jessiman again for council seat

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/10/2010 (5716 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s a repeat showdown in Brandon’s Green Acres ward.

Incumbent city Coun. Don Jessiman is being challenged for his seat at the council table by Brandon University employee Jan Chaboyer.

Chaboyer ran against Jessiman in the 2006 municipal election, losing to the former provincial government employee by 284 votes.

She says she’s running again because she believes a lot of ward-specific problems simply aren’t being addressed.

"I’d like to blow the dust off of all these concerns," she said. "For example, there’s a terrible dip on the road on Garwood Drive and it’s been outstanding for, like, 30 years. People are so frustrated with why (the city) can’t deal with it. I just think that I could have a fresh look at these things and pick away at them and see what the real problem is."

Concerns of drainage in Brandon’s industrial park and the proposed closure of the Canada Games Sportsplex pool are issues that ward residents have told Chaboyer need addressing.

Chaboyer has suggested that the city could implement an accommodations tax on hotel stays could create revenue to address the Sportsplex’s deficit and other new recreation initiatives.

"It’s not scary for the citizens to consider that," she said. "I’ve worked out my numbers based on a 60 or 70 per cent occupancy rate and it looks like, if it’s five per cent like what Winnipeg and Thompson have, it’s around $700,000. That’s a lot of revenue that would help with that."

Through her work as president of the Brandon and Area Labour Council, Chaboyer said she has a proven track record of successfully lobbying for rights of everyday citizens.

"I think that I would be an asset on council because I know what skills it is to lobby MPs and MLAs and stay on their case," she said.

Meanwhile, Jessiman says if he’s re-elected on Wednesday, residents of the Green Acres ward can look forward to "more of the same" over the next four years.

"I will definitely not be changing any line of thought that I’ve had all the way I’ve been elected," he said. "People are pretty happy with how this council has moved ahead in this last term and what has been done. They’re pretty happy out there."

One thing he will be looking to change, however, is the recent trend of property tax increases.

"I’m going to definitely be striving for a zero per cent tax increase," he promised.

"With our ever-increasing assessment and more coming, we should be able to do it. I want to now hand back to the citizens a little bit of a break that has come with all our expansion.

"I don’t want to continue on with ever-increasing property tax."

Jessiman has twice attempted to find support at the council table for an accommodations tax to be placed on hotel rooms in Brandon. Though he said he still believes it’s an "excellent idea" to raise revenue without raising property taxes, he won’t bring it back to council for a third try.

As for the issue of affordable housing, Jessiman said he’d like to first get rents back in line with where they should be before looking at a glut of new housing developments.

"Rent is out of whack in Brandon and the housing is coming slowly," he said.

He’d also like to see budget money refocused to deal with the city’s infrastructure "under the asphalt."

 

» The Brandon Sun’s series of ward profiles concludes tomorrow with a look at the two candidates running in Riverview ward.