Geordie Sabbagh

Plan for the long term, aggressively pursue outside funding, and make every infrastructure dollar work harder.

Roads are one of the issues I hear about most often from residents. Huntsville has hundreds of kilometres of roads, difficult winters and a significant infrastructure funding gap of $11 million per year.

Huntsville's Asset Management Plan estimates that proactive management of our roads could substantially reduce their annual requirements and save about 12 million. That's why I believe we need to get ahead of deterioration rather than continually paying more to repair infrastructure after it fails.

But better planning is only part of the answer. One of my priorities is to be much more aggressive about identifying and applying for provincial, federal and other infrastructure funding that Huntsville is not accessing. I’ve got experience in getting grants and funding and want to bring my experience to that.

Before asking local property taxpayers for more, I want us looking everywhere else we reasonably can for funding. If there are programs available to help pay for roads, bridges, culverts, stormwater systems, facilities or other infrastructure Huntsville needs, we should be putting strong applications forward.

If we don't pursue those dollars, our tax dollars are helping build infrastructure in other communities instead.

I also want Huntsville looking at what comparable cold-climate communities are doing, like Sweeden and Finland, including new pavement designs, longer-lasting asphalt binders and emerging materials that could extend the life of our roads.

Huntsville also has another infrastructure challenge: our roads and services support far more people during the tourism season than our permanent Census population suggests. I believe Huntsville should work with other tourism communities to make the case to Queen's Park and Ottawa that infrastructure funding needs to better recognize the actual number of people our infrastructure serves.

My approach is straightforward:

Know what we need. Plan for the long term. Find outside funding. Make every dollar work harder.

Set the priorities first — don't start with an arbitrary increase or an arbitrary cap. These are lessons I learned as a small business owner, during my MBA and working with Forture 500 company CEOs.

Financial discipline doesn't mean cutting blindly. It means asking basic questions about every dollar the Town spends:

Where is it going? Is it working? And are we getting the best possible value for it?

I would start by determining what Huntsville actually needs, what our priorities are and what we can reasonably afford before setting a tax-rate target.

What do we need? What can wait? Where can we find efficiencies? And what provincial, federal or other outside funding can we secure before asking taxpayers for more?

I don't believe Council should begin with an arbitrary spending increase, but I don't believe it should begin with an arbitrary cap either. A predetermined number shouldn't make difficult decisions for us.

Core infrastructure and essential services come first. Council should set the priorities, make the difficult decisions and then build the most responsible budget it can around them.

Residents should also be able to clearly see where their money went, what major projects were supposed to cost, what they actually cost and what taxpayers received for that money. That means easier and more accessbile information, such as listing where your money goes on your tax bill and an easier to understand website.

Plan now for what Huntsville's fire service will need five, ten and fifteen years from now.

I'm a Huntsville firefighter, Vice-President of the Huntsville Firefighters Association, and I sit on the department's Operations & Engagement Committee.

Those roles give me direct exposure to the needs and challenges facing our fire service — from replacing trucks and equipment, to future station requirements, staffing and the longer-term possibility of transitioning toward a full-time or combination fire service as Huntsville grows.

I want Huntsville to have a clear long-term plan for the fire department. We need to understand what our community will require five, ten and fifteen years from now and plan for the people, equipment, facilities and resources needed to get there.

That doesn't mean deciding today exactly what the department should look like fifteen years from now. It means understanding where we're heading and planning ahead so major investments like apparatus, stations and staffing don't become expensive emergencies.

Community safety also extends beyond traditional emergency services. Drugs, homelessness and mental-health challenges affect both the people who are struggling and the safety and quality of life of our neighbourhoods and businesses.

Huntsville cannot solve these issues alone. I support working with other municipalities and pushing senior governments for the funding, treatment, supportive housing, mental-health services and other resources our community needs such as Solve the Crisis via the OBCM.

Protect our lakes and shorelines while planning responsibly for growth.

Fairy Lake is particularly important to me and my family as we live nearby and it’s where we swim and canoe. Protecting our lakes, water quality and shorelines isn't an abstract issue to me — it's about protecting the neighbourhoods and natural assets that make Huntsville such a special place.

I've reviewed the Federation of Ontario Cottagers' Associations' municipal priorities, and I believe protecting our lakes and shorelines has to be part of how Huntsville plans for its future.

That means responsible development guided by sound planning and environmental science, protecting water quality and natural shorelines, supporting lake-health monitoring and stewardship, and ensuring residents have a meaningful voice when decisions affect their neighbourhoods and waterfront.

Seasonal and waterfront residents also deserve the same focus on value for money and essential services as everyone else in Huntsville. We need long-term planning for roads, culverts, stormwater infrastructure and emergency preparedness.

I also want organizations like the Fairy Lake Association and other lake associations to be partners with the Town. They have local knowledge and expertise that should be part of decisions affecting their lakes and communities.

Protecting our lakes isn't about stopping growth. It's about making sure growth doesn't sacrifice the things that make Huntsville a place people want to live in, visit and pass on to the next generation.

Make sure the new transit system works — and plan now for access to the new hospitals both in Bracebridge and Huntsville (services will be split between the two)

Huntsville is updating and expanding its public transit system. I want us to give the new system an opportunity to work and then look carefully at the results.

Are people using it? Are the new routes getting residents where they actually need to go? Are the schedules reliable? And are there gaps that need to be addressed?

We should use ridership and service data to determine what's working, what isn't, and where changes will make the biggest difference.

As Huntsville grows, transit needs to grow thoughtfully with it. In particular, as planning for Muskoka's new hospital moves forward, we need to make sure residents have practical public-transit access to the new hospital site.

Healthcare isn't truly accessible if people can't get there.

The goal should be a transit system that is useful, reliable, accessible and provides value for the taxpayers funding it.

Be a great place to visit and an even better place to live.

Tourism is enormously important to Huntsville, but we shouldn't have to choose between being a great place to visit and a great place to live.

My starting point would be residents.

Investments in good roads, parks, trails, waterfronts, recreation and a vibrant downtown make life better for the people who live here — and they also make Huntsville a place people want to visit.

Tourism should help strengthen the services and infrastructure residents depend on, not compete with them.

We also need to keep building a stronger year-round economy. I want Huntsville to be a place where entrepreneurs, professionals and businesses can build careers and create good jobs twelve months of the year. We need to look to showcase our community to a diverse range of businesses from tech to manufacturing. Not everyone wants or needs to build in the big city.

A stronger and more diverse year-round economy will also help us manage the pressures that come with growth and reduce our dependence on a single sector.

Don't wait for residents to come to Town Hall. Bring Town Hall to them.

Huntsville is full of people with incredible knowledge and experience. We should be making much better use of it.

I don't need to have every answer. Good leadership means listening, finding the people who understand an issue, and bringing them to the table.

And our community needs to work for everyone — not just the people who already have a seat at that table.

Only 37% voted in the last municipal election. We need to do a better job of involving people in the decisions that affect their neighbourhoods.

If elected, I'll keep knocking on doors, hold community office hours, visit churches, clubs and organizations, and communicate about important decisions before they're made.

I won't wait for you to come to Town Hall. I'll bring Town Hall to you.

Plan for growth without losing what makes Huntsville special.

Huntsville is going to grow. The question isn't simply whether we grow — it's whether we're prepared for it.

Growth affects roads, fire protection, recreation, healthcare, infrastructure, housing, the environment and the services taxpayers depend on.

I want us thinking five, ten and twenty years ahead instead of dealing with each issue only when it becomes urgent.

Development should contribute fairly toward the infrastructure and services it requires, and we need to protect and plan for the public spaces, facilities, services and land future generations will need.

We also need to finish what we start. When the Town enters partnerships, contributes public resources or makes commitments to residents, there needs to be accountability for delivering the result.

We can welcome responsible growth while protecting our lakes, neighbourhoods and the character that makes Huntsville special.

Take seriously both the safety of our community and the needs of people who are struggling.

We're seeing the effects of drugs, homelessness and mental-health challenges in Huntsville.

We need to take both sides of this seriously: residents and businesses need to feel safe in their neighbourhoods and downtown, and people who are struggling need somewhere to turn.

These are complex problems, and Huntsville cannot solve them alone.

I support Huntsville working with the District, healthcare and mental-health professionals, police, community organizations and other municipalities, while pushing the provincial and federal governments for the treatment, supportive housing, mental-health services and funding our community needs. I would also push for us to joing Solve the Crisis, which is a an initiative by the OBCM to get more funding and support from all levels of government. Parry Sound has joined and I think we should as well.

Compassion and community safety shouldn't be competing objectives. We need both.

Four years from now, residents should be able to see what we promised, what we spent and what we actually delivered.

Four years from now, I want residents to be able to see that Huntsville is safer, stronger and better prepared for growth — and to be able to measure the progress we've made.

That means visible progress on roads and infrastructure, strong essential services that keep pace with growth, and better recreation and gathering spaces for our kids and families.

It also means much greater transparency about taxpayers' money.

Residents should be able to easily see where their tax dollars went, what major projects were supposed to cost, what they actually cost and what we got for that money.

People aren't expecting everything to be fixed overnight. They want to see progress, and they want to know they're getting value for their money.

VALUE FOR MONEY

Know what we need. Plan for the long term. Find outside funding. Make every dollar work harder.

HUNTSVILLE STRONG

Strong essential services, safer neighbourhoods, community involvement, healthcare and emergency services that keep pace with growth, and a community that works for everyone.

FUTURE READY

Responsible growth, housing, opportunities for young people, a stronger year-round economy, and protection of the lakes, environment and community assets that make Huntsville special.