Cullen wants quicker action to restore yards

An outgoing Brandon councillor said he hopes to start a process that would speed up the restoration of people’s disturbed properties before the end of his term in October.

Coun. Barry Cullen (Ward 3) confirmed in March that he would not seek re-election after serving his third term.

Before the next election, he hopes to initiate a policy change for how long it takes city crews to fix properties that have been torn up because of water-main breaks. Crews take too long to restore affected yards because of other commitments, he said.

“The resident can have his lawn dug up for two years. It just takes forever, and I’ve been working on that for years, trying to get that tightened up,” Cullen told the Sun on Monday in an interview about his departure from council.

City staff are constantly dealing with other priorities and fixing disturbed properties often gets delayed, he said.

“In my ward alone, there’s still like over half a dozen, if not more, open wounds (where) somebody (does) not have their lawn back up and running again,” he said.

A proposal like that would likely need to go to budget in January, which is after his term ends, the 68-year-old said.

Cullen said he decided to leave politics to focus on family, including being able to watch his grandchildren play sports instead of attending evening meetings.

He said he has enjoyed his 12 years on council, which started with an acclamation in what was then called the Victoria ward in 2014. He was re-elected in two-person races in 2018 and 2022.

“I enjoyed it. It was an honour to be (the Ward 3) representative … It’s been a really good experience,” he said.

Cullen said he is happy with the way he was able to help streamline the budget process, personally meeting with city administration and other council members ahead of time and pointing out budget items that are non-negotiable.

He said he also would have wished to have recommissioned the paddling pool at Riverheights Park in his ward or rebuild it into something more like a spray park.

Cullen tried to push the matter through during the 2023 budget deliberations, but it was voted down.

The infrastructure, including washrooms and water lines, is already in place, he said, adding his ward is lacking recreational facilities.

“I brought it before budget, but there was always a disaster at the Sportsplex, or there was always a disaster somewhere else where the pool’s leaking or the Park Community Centre,” he said.

The paddling pool was originally closed in 2019 because of low daily attendance and because the Valleyview Spray Park opened, city spokesperson Merrilea Metcalf said. The spray park is located outside Ward 3.

Cullen said he would also have liked to ensure that trains crossing 34th Street would have been barred from blaring their whistles when the road was initially connected to McDonald Avenue earlier this decade.

He said he was initially under the impression that trains would have stopped using their whistles when modifications were made to the tracks, including changing the angle of entry and installing crossing arms.

“I wasn’t aware that it was an add-on that never got put into the original program. So then it became a $50,000 add-on,” he said.

Last year, council made a push to make additional modifications to stop trains from whistling there, but it was ultimately voted down because of the $50,660 cost, along with a yearly fee of $560.

In 2020, the city asked the province to borrow $3.5 million for the road’s extension. Had the $50,000 cost been lumped in at the time, it would have been a lot more palatable, Cullen said.

While the city has been seeing larger tax hikes in recent years, Cullen said he’s proud that Brandon is in growth mode, adding that he’s a “pro-growth guy.”

If the city wasn’t spending money on upgrading infrastructure for new developments, graduates from Brandon University, Assiniboine College and the city’s high schools wouldn’t have any opportunities, he said.

“They’re young professionals, young tech graduates, young students that are now going to enter the workforce and without growth, they have no place to work,” he said. “And if you don’t have the growth, you don’t have the opportunity within a community.”

If the city doesn’t grow, inflation would eat away at municipal funds and the city would have to make up lost money by charging residents more to continue to provide services such as fixing potholes and snow clearing, he said.

Cullen said he’s proud of the work council has done to implement development charges, which increase costs for developers for city infrastructure related to their projects, in turn saving the city money.

“The development charges, they’re not perfect, but the framework is there, and as we sort of grow and learn … it’s going to work out for everybody,” he said.

“Growth is a problem, but it’s the best problem to have,” he added.

“Brandon right now is in a good place. At least we’re not trying to hide from the growth where we know it is required.”

» alambert@brandonsun.com