Mayor David Conn's
 Inaugural Address
 December 4th, 2006


Good evening members of Council, Fire Chiefs and Fire Captains, members of Township staff and honoured residents of Seguin Township.

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to this inaugural meeting of Council for the Township of Seguin.

I believe it is very appropriate that this inaugural meeting be held in the newly renovated and very beautiful Rosseau Memorial Hall.  This is a place in which you can literally feel and sense the history of Rosseau which is one of the jewels of our Township.  And how appropriate that on a night when our soldiers are fighting for us in Afghanistan and Iraq, we are in a building dedicated to the memory of those who fought and died for us in previous conflicts.

I am deeply honoured to take office as your Mayor.  I am humbled by your support, by your confidence and by your expectations.  I am also filled with a sense of excitement and optimism as we begin governing our magnificent Township for the next four years.  All of us on Council are very cognizant of the serious responsibility which you have bestowed upon us.  We accept this responsibility willingly.

Tonight, I want to talk about the future.  But to speak of the future, I believe we must first reflect on the past.  So I would like to spend a few minutes reviewing the activities and accomplishments of the past few years.

In no way do I consider these accomplishments as being achieved exclusively by Council.  Rather, these accomplishments were achieved also by all the residents who gave us their time and talent to serve on committees; by all of the residents who provided their input; and by our very talented Township staff who provided guidance as well as implementing our decisions with excellence.  I refer to this three-pronged partnership of Council, residents, and staff as a triangle of achievement-as a triangle of togethernes.

Together we developed an environment-first Official Plan.

Together we developed the new Zoning By-law necessary to implement our Official Plan.

Together, we developed the first ever Strategic Plan for Seguin Township.

Together we restored the financial health of our Township.

Together, we provided our residents with the lowest tax rate in our area.

Together, we re-developed the Rosseau Waterfront and restored this magnificent and historic building we are in tonight.

Together, we facilitated exciting new economic development projects.

Together, we provided the leadership to create the first ever economic development partnership between Seguin, Parry Sound and McDougall.

Together, we led the exciting expansion of our airport.

Together, we launched the annual volunteer appreciation night.

Together, we increased the talent and experience level of Township staff and worked with them on a true partnership basis.

Together, we achieved many other things too numerous to mention.

And so as we look ahead, I believe that it is absolutely critical that we maintain this triangle of achievement; this style of inclusive government; and that we view our accomplishments of the past as a solid foundation on which to build for the future.  As we do this, I believe that we should focus on the following priorities:

I believe that the first priority of this Council and every Council that follows must be to protect and preserve our environment.  We are blessed to be living in Seguin Township which is a place of natural beauty.  It is a place that abounds with incredible watersheds, forestation, the Canadian shield, birds, animals and fish.  Our environment is the envy of the world.  Living in  our environment is used as lottery prizes.  Our environment is also the economic engine of our township.  So there is no question in my mind that protection of our environment is fundamental to our quality of life in Seguin.  We really must remember that we are just borrowing our environment from our grandchildren.

Let me comment on what I have learned about what I call the resident scale of environment standards.  At one end of the scale are those who think of Seguin as "play land".  These people tend to want the biggest houses as close to the water as possible, they want big noisy boats and they want to be able to party hard, long and late.  This is the wrong end of the scale.

At the other end of the scale are people who consider Seguin to be "sacred land".  They don't believe a leaf should be removed from a tree or a twig broken.  But our environment is not that fragile.  This is also the wrong end of the scale.

The true answer is somewhere in the middle of this scale and I firmly believe that our new Official Plan and Zoning By-law have found this middle.  As Council we must defend this position.  Our residents expect this of us.  We must be strong because we will be challenged.

Other environment initiatives that I will ask Council to address are:

· I will request Council to start the process of developing a clean yards by-law.  There are parts of Seguin that need to be cleaned up.  This will be a difficult and complex task that will likely require our entire four year term to resolve and it is a task that should be achieved more by persuasion than by regulation.  As a start to this process, I plan to ask Council to agree to at least two "free" days in 2007 for residents to get rid of items destined for the Christie landfill site.

· I will request Council to consider a tree cutting by-law.  We simply must put a stop to people clear-cutting on our waterfront.

· I will request Council to consider a blasting by-law.  We must put a stop to people who are blasting away our beautiful cliffs located in residential areas.  I certainly recognize that blasting is a necessary part of building in our geography but in my view, if you blast a hole in Seguin, you should be expected to put a building over that hole.  You should be expected to conduct blasting in a way that does not unfairly disrupt the peace and quiet of your neighbours.

· I will request of Council that we become more of a partner in the Muskoka Watershed Council.  I have requested Councillor Sturgeon to represent us on this important group.

I believe the second most important priority of Council to be effective and to maintain efficient financial management.

We must:

· strive to maintain our municipal tax rate as one of the lowest in the province for municipalities similar to Seguin.

· we must demand cost effectiveness and efficiency.

· we must continue to benchmark our performance against similar municipalities.

· we must be committed to maintaining an appropriate level of reserves.

· we must plan long term, invest wisely and execute with excellence.

· on all financial issues, I will be counting on the input of all Council but I will be particularly relying on the leadership of former Finance Committee Chair and now Councillor Gibbon.

Other priorities include:

· Partnering with our neighbouring municipalities to promote economic development.  This will include capitalizing on the great growth opportunities on our airport lands.  This airport issue will continue to be led by Councillor Sainsbury.

· Improving roads by executing our five year Road Reconstruction Plan which will require the investment of at least $1 million dollars every year for the next five years.  We will continue to benefit from the wisdom and experience of Councillor Jacklin on all roads issues.

· We have an incredibly effective team of volunteer firefighters.  These dedicated women and men save lives and save property and they do so by volunteering their own time and talent.  We must ensure that they are properly, but efficiently, resourced.

· Our nursing station in Rosseau is a very valuable asset in our community but it needs a permanent home.  Thanks to the generous contribution of several specific residents plus the fundraising efforts of the citizens of Rosseau, we expect to be able to break ground this spring and have a permanent building completed by next fall.

· We must continue the work of the Waste Committee to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our waste system.  Councillors Gibbon and Sainsbury will be involved in this initiative.

· We must challenge the Library Board to create in the next four years a library system that is a vibrant force in our community.  I personally will continue to represent Council on the Library Board.

· We must find ways to help seniors and the disadvantaged in our community on issues such as transportation and snow clearing.  I will expect great involvement from Councillor Chidley on this initiative.

· We must improve our recreational programs.  Two specific programs that residents, particularly mothers of young children, have talked to me about are a March Break Camp and a Summer Camp for kids.  I think these are good ideas and I have asked Councillor Adams to lead this initiative.

· We must improve communications and continue our program of branding our township. I will rely on the contribution of Councillor Sturgeon on this issue.

· We must continue to add our voice to those of other municipalities, and to organizations like WRAFT (Waterfront Ratepayers After Fair Taxation), to lobby the provincial government to fix their flawed system of assessment.

Of course there are other priorities but the bottom line for Council and Staff is that we have an ambitious workload ahead of us.

Members of Council, I am honoured to have been elected to lead you.  I respect each of you and I think we have an excellent blend of experience, background and skill level.  I know for sure that we have a high level of commitment.  While I know we won't always agree, I am hopeful that once decisions have been reached we will all support the decision and operate as a team.

Council, our residents have high expectations of us.  I also know the difficult nature of the task ahead.  Like all governments, we will never have sufficient resources to fund all of the wishes of all of our residents so governing this Township will always be a matter of difficult choices.  I am confident that we will make the choices that satisfy most of our residents most of the time.

Ladies and gentlemen, your Council stands before you tonight as one of the three points on our triangle of achievement; our triangle of togetherness.  We stand here humbled by your confidence and committed to your service.

This concludes my inaugural address.  Thank you for your time and attention.