- by Anne Finlay-Stewart, Editor

All the incumbent candidates – that is, those who hold a seat on the current Owen Sound council – have an advantage over those who would join them, or replace them. Incumbents have name recognition and visibility, but they have to carry both the achievements and criticisms of the past four years in this city.

Reviewing their campaign literature and listening to them speaking at all-candidates meeting, not to mention watching them as closely as covid allowed over this term, I have some observations for your consideration.

Travis Dodd was elected in 2014 as a young voice on council, on a platform of ensuring that Owen Sound's future offered the opportunities and services he had himself enjoyed growing up in this city.

Dodd's re-election literature in 2022 says “It's time” to take “a close look at why we do what we do and find a new, efficient way to deliver services”.

With respect to affordable housing, Dodd also wants to take a “close look” at City policies “to see how we can change” and “continue to look at all opportunities of working with our municipal neighbours and the county regarding services to generate savings.”

Dodd has participated in service reviews, capital and operating budgets for the past eight years - plenty of time for that “close look”.

Brock Hamley is a one-term councillor elected in 2018. Within his first year, he used the contacts he made in his municipal door-knocking campaign to send written invitations  to “a discussion on the future of our community”. It turned out to be the launch of his campaign for the Conservative Party nomination in Bruce-Grey- Owen Sound – a campaign he later abandoned.

In speaking to his record, Hamley includes “leading the 10th Street Bridge Project, which finished ahead of schedule.” The bridge opened December 11, 2020 and media in 2019 said “The bridge will be closed until December 2020”, so any early completion would have been a matter of days. The project itself began with the engineering reports on the failing bridge almost two full years before Hamley took office, and no specific leadership was required from any member of council once upper tiers of government had committed to funding and the contract tender was let. Two legal action against the City concerning the bridge project, claiming $1.5 million in damages, are still in process.

Hamley's priorities for the next four years include the green-bin collection that his employer – the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks – has already mandated for municipalities over 50,000 population. He also proposes to increase the City's annual spending by $180,000 for repairing downtown storefronts and another $850,000 for road resurfacing, money he says can be found “by more effectively allocating tax dollars.” In his four years on council, Hamley has never proposed a million dollar saving in any annual budget”. I would have liked to have heard him questioned on these plans in a second all candidates meeting, but Hamley did not attend.

Marion Koepke said in her closing statements at both all candidates meetings that her “biggest advocacy is towards roads”. Other than that specific, her commitment to the future is somewhat general. She repeats twice in her literature the need to “focus on what matters” without explaining – beyond roads – what that is. She says she will continue to “use a common sense approach to keep municipal spending at a reasonable limit in an effort to maintain infrastructure demands” - an eight year record on which she is standing for re-election.

Koepke had retired from a long career on the bureaucratic side of running the City, latterly as deputy clerk and clerk, before being elected to council in 2014. In my interview with her following that election, I asked her if she were concerned about the lack of gender equity on the council. She and fellow retiree Arlene Wright were the only two women, after three women were not re-elected. Her response was “no, I am not concerned. I wear pants.” I regret that I did not ask for clarification. In response to a question about diversity at the second all candidates meeting this year, she honestly stated that she was the oldest candidate running, and a woman, suggesting she could represent that demographic.

Carol Merton first ran for council in 2018, and after she was elected she literally wrote the book – So You Want to Run for Office - to help others join her in elected office. She, like the other incumbents, takes responsibility for both the progress and missed opportunities of the past four years.

At the second all candidates meeting, a questionner raised the subject of the infamous “flamethrower” comment that Medical Officer of Health Dr. Ian Arra threw at a councillor in the council chamber. It was the first time I had heard members of council discuss the incident publicly, and I was gratified to hear that all incumbents present (two did not attend that all candidates meeting) admitted that while Dr. Arra's violent words took them by surprise, it was inappropriate for them to go unchallenged. Merton went further. She said that following the meeting she had contacted the Integrity Commissioner and learned that she had the responsibility, as did everyone at the council table, to speak up, and she took that learning seriously.

In the first all candidates meeting, when candidate O'Leary challenged something she had said, Merton took the opportunity for rebuttal to list at least ten “levers” of opportunity lower tier municipal governments have at their disposal for working on the housing issue. She had provided that list, and more, in the pre-amble to a motion at council to develop an Owen Sound-specific Housing Policy. That motion failed, as did her motion to include actions that would support the work of reconciliation through the strategic plan process. But Merton continues to campaign on these issues.

Merton has never had difficulty demonstrating by her questions at the council table that she has done her homework, even in the face of a challenge from a colleague. Perhaps her most frequent questions have been “How will we measure success?” and “What metrics are we using to determine if our strategies and policies are working?”

We encourage you to watch the recorded all candidates meetings and candidate statements,  for yourself, read the candidates' literature and check their websites before you cast your votes for those people you feel will best represent you for the next four years. You can vote for up to seven councillors, but you are not obligated to vote for seven.