Over the course of the campaign, I’ll be releasing more detailed proposals under each of these priorities.

There are always a lot of ideas put forward during an election. What matters is whether a candidate has thought through how an idea would move through City Hall. A city councillor is only one vote. Working through the City’s processes, knowing where to push, and building support around the Council table are all part of getting things done.

That’s the approach behind the policies and proposals I’ll be releasing throughout this campaign.

SMARTER FISCAL MANAGEMENT

Good fiscal management means setting clear priorities, investing wisely, and getting real value for public money.

Windsor needs a better approach to budgeting, a closer look at where savings and efficiencies can be found, and stronger scrutiny of how money is managed and invested. That includes moving beyond one-year-at-a-time budgeting and making sure Windsor is getting a strong return on the money it holds and invests.

This is an area I’ve spent years paying close attention to, from City budgets and financial reports to how Windsor compares with other municipalities.

SAFER, STRONGER NEIGHBOURHOODS

A strong city starts with strong neighbourhoods. That means paying attention to the issues residents experience every day and finding practical solutions that make our streets and neighbourhoods safer and better places to live.

From the city budget to the speeding car on your street, the big decisions matter and so do the details. Basement flooding, speeding, school traffic, property crime, and other neighbourhood concerns all affect what it is like to live in a community.

I’ll be knocking on doors across Ward 1 throughout this campaign, listening to what residents are experiencing and using that to help shape the priorities and proposals I put forward.

City Hall needs to pay attention to what is happening on the ground, listen to residents, and act on problems that affect people’s everyday lives.

EFFICIENT, AFFORDABLE CITY SERVICES

Residents should expect high-quality City services and good value for the money we spend delivering them.

Windsor should be regularly measuring the cost and performance of its services, comparing them with other municipalities, and identifying areas where our costs are significantly higher or where there may be opportunities to improve. The point is not simply to compare for the sake of comparing, but to use that information to make better decisions.

That same approach should apply across City services: measure performance, identify inefficiencies, modernize where it makes sense, and look for better ways to deliver services while keeping them affordable. That also means looking carefully at user fees with an eye to affordability and at whether services are meeting the needs of the people who rely on them. 

I’ve spent my career working on exactly these kinds of questions: how public services perform, where they can improve, and how to deliver better value for public money.

AN OPEN, ACCOUNTABLE CITY HALL

Trust isn’t something government can ask for. It has to be earned.

Residents should be able to understand how and why decisions are made, know how their money is being used, and have meaningful opportunities to be heard before important decisions are made. Council should ask tough questions, information should be made public wherever possible, and major decisions should be clearly explained.