Why I'm running
I started asking questions.
It started with the AMPS by-law. Dave Welling, who is now running for Mayor, was the person who first brought the issue to my attention through a post he made and a conversation we had about it. That prompted me to read the by-law for myself and write to the Mayor and Council to raise my concerns.
My objection was simple: we were fixing something that wasn't broken. Nobody showed us a problem the existing by-law was failing to solve. When the main argument for a change is that other municipalities are doing it, that isn't an argument — it's a shrug. Residents deserved to be asked first, and they weren't. That doesn’t take away from the many things our current and past leadership have done well; it simply means I believe every major decision should be able to stand up to questions from the people it affects.
The more I looked, the more interested I became in how decisions get made here: how spending is explained, what gets brought forward, and how easy — or difficult — it can be for an ordinary resident to follow what’s happening with their own money.
I will push to make Council business as open and accessible as legally possible. Residents should be able to easily find what’s being voted on, who voted for what, and a plain-language explanation of the issues and decisions before Council.
As a councillor, I would represent the wishes and needs of the community at large. If a resident wants to understand the who, what, when, where, why and how of a decision, they shouldn’t have to dig for it. My goal is to make that information easy to find, easy to understand and available as quickly as reasonably possible.
I'm not running because I think I know everything.
I'm running because I care about this township, I pay attention, and when something doesn't make sense I keep asking until it does.
I’m a certified heavy equipment operator and licensed septic installer, and I hold my SVOP qualification to operate commercial vessels up to 5 GT. I’m experienced in heavy equipment, excavation and drainage, septic systems, marina operations, shoreline projects and working on the water. That practical experience gives me a useful perspective when looking at municipal projects and spending, but I'm not going to pretend that experience makes me an expert on every municipal issue. What I do know is how to ask questions, look closely at the work in front of me, and keep digging until I understand it.
I don't think the answer is to tear down what Carling is doing. A lot has been done well. I want to help maintain that progress while asking harder questions where they need to be asked.
What I can promise: I'll study the information, ask questions, listen to people who know more than I do, and make decisions I can explain afterward.
Listen first.Hear both sides before deciding.
Show my work.If I vote for something, I'll explain why.
Say the hard thing.Good leadership means making the right decisions, not simply the convenient ones.
Keep learning.If I don't know the answer, I'll go find it.
