Rookie councillors reflect on first 12 months

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/11/2023 (1103 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Brandon voters went to the polls in late October 2022, they elected four new councillors to serve on city council. Speaking to the Sun this week after one year on the job, three of them said it’s been fulfilling but came with quite the learning curve.

“One of the biggest things I’ve learned is the process for everything is definitely slower paced than what normal business practices are,” said Coun. Jason Splett (Ward 8).

“It takes a lot more time to get things put into place, it seems, than maybe I had perceived before. (I’m) definitely busier with meetings than what I might have perceived before … but definitely enjoying the opportunity and enjoying learning all the different aspects of the city and how it runs.”

What Splett, who was elected to replace the retiring Ron Brown, said was the most fulfilling part of the job so far is seeing projects start construction and then eventually come to fruition.

Over the last year, he said he thinks the biggest items council has worked on include furthering upgrades to the city’s water treatment plant, working on lower income housing and moving the sobering centre project on the North Hill forward.

Last month, Manitoba’s Public Utilities Board approved the city’s request to increase water and wastewater rates by almost double between this year and 2026 to help pay for rising service costs, pay for past deficits and help pay for infrastructure improvements including at the water treatment plant.

That approval also came with some heavy criticism from the board about the seven-year gap between rate increases, the city’s handling of deficits and some previous orders given by the board not being followed.

The management on this file, Splett said, is why he introduced a successful motion at council mandating that the city perform yearly reviews of the utility’s rates and finances.

“We’re going to review the rates yearly,” Splett said. “Whether we apply to the Public Utilities Board is another thing, but we definitely need to be on top of this. We can’t have a seven-year lag in increasing water rates. It’s definitely going to be detrimental to some people to have that size of an increase.”

His fellow rookie, Coun. Greg Hildebrand (Ward 5), told the Sun he thought the board was right to castigate the city over its handling of the utility and that he’s glad a review process has been approved.

Hildebrand said “a lot of issues” have come to a head over the last year that need to be looked at, especially when it comes to development, safety and Vision Zero – a traffic design philosophy that seeks to eliminate traffic-related serious injuries and fatalities.

“We need to make better decisions, quicker decisions on how we move ahead as a city,” he said.

“The southwest lift stations, drainage projects, wastewater, being on top of those numbers and making decisions rather than pushing everything down the road. The same with the rate riders that the PUB is allowing to be put into place. We need to make sure that we’re on top of all those things on a gradual basis rather than being taken aback by what may or may not be happening.”

Another rookie councillor, Tyson Tame (Ward 10), also expressed concern with past handling of the utility but conceded he doesn’t know all the decisions and factors that contributed to the board’s criticism.

Going forward, Tame said he thinks the city can do a better job managing its finances and putting money aside for the future.

“If you look at personal finances, we’re taught things like to save for a rainy day,” he said. “We have depleted a lot of those resources… I would like to see a strong commitment to reserve building and that type of fiscal responsibility and taxation. You cannot have flat or minimal (tax) increases in an inflationary market. That gap just gets way too big.”

Where Tame said he thinks council works well is on collaboration. He said the strategic plan council developed as a roadmap for its term has been valuable and he appreciates the diversity of ideas that his fellow council members bring to the table.

He also said that he is proud of the city’s commitment to reconciliation and its approach to tackling social issues over the last year, for which he credited Mayor Jeff Fawcett for his leadership.

Splett, Tame and Hildebrand all identified traffic safety as an item they wanted to deal with if elected.

Splett said he’s been trying to work on crosswalks in his ward, especially on Richmond Avenue, near the traffic circle on 9th Street as well as areas near Maryland Park School.

For Hildebrand’s part, he said he’s been working with the city’s engineering department to see if the crosswalk on Richmond Avenue that connects the McDonald’s restaurant and Shoppers Mall can be made safer.

“I’m hoping to have some kind of a result on that next year,” Hildebrand said. “There was money in the budget for that this year, but the infrastructure that’s in place was a little bit older than what had been thought and so that needs to be replaced.”

The problem areas in Tame’s ward are also near Maryland Park School, with the school itself located within the boundaries of Ward 10. He said both speed and people parking on the side of the road and creating traffic blockages are the major concerns.

While no major work has been done along Maryland Avenue yet, Tame said he, director of engineering Mark Allard, the Brandon School Division, the school’s principal and KGS Consulting out of Winnipeg have been brainstorming ideas.

Recently, he said, KGS completed a traffic study and he’s waiting for an update.

“But it is in the works,” Tame said. “And it needs to be because Maryland Park School is getting an expansion.”

However, Tame said he was happy to have played a part in getting a new sidewalk installed along McLeod Drive that helps keep kids from walking on the street.

All three councillors said they were hoping to continue learning and becoming more well rounded elected representatives over the remaining three years of their terms.

The fourth rookie member of council, Coun. Heather Karrouze (Ward 1), did not respond to emails requesting an interview for this story.

» cslark@brandonsun.com

» X: @ColinSlark