Transparency Matters: A Personal Blog on My Commitment to Open Local Government

Why I’m Writing This

Transparency is important to me, it’s the foundation of how I believe municipal government should operate. Owen Sound works best when residents understand what’s happening, why decisions are made, and how they can participate. This blog is my way of keeping that conversation open.

I’ll be posting questions I receive from residents, along with my answers so people can see exactly where I stand and how I think about the issues facing our city.

I believe residents deserve:

• Clear communication about decisions, budgets, and timelines.

• Open channels for questions whether that’s town halls, email, or conversations at the market.

• Straightforward answers without jargon or political fog.

• Regular updates on what’s happening at City Hall and why it matters.

Transparency isn’t complicated. It’s just communication, honesty, and consistency.

What This Blog Will Become

As more questions come in, I’ll continue posting them unedited along with my answers. My goal is to make this space a reliable, open window into how I think, how I communicate, and how I approach the responsibilities of municipal governance.

Here is the first series of questions that I have received:

1. Do you support community based policing?

   1. Yes I think the concept is a good one, but I would need to know more about what this actually means to implement on the ground and what the implications are to the budget. I'd also like to talk to the current oversight board and police leadership to see what model they are currently using. 

2. Do you see a path to expand current OS police to a regional service ?

   1. I think it's worth a look but again, I have limited knowledge about how this would work and what it would mean to the current force and our budget. While it looks very interesting, I have lived through two amalgamations in the gta and neither produced the savings or streamlined delivery of services as promised. After reading the article in the Sun Times from 2019 though, definitely worth a conversation. 

3. Do you support OPP costing?

   1. I always support looking at all possible ideas for getting the best value for every dollar spent. I would note this does not always mean the cheapest option.

4. Lastly , why are you seeking a seat on OS council at this time?

   1. Communication in our city needs to improve if we want to work together and address the major issues we face. I believe I can contribute meaningfully to strengthening the connection between City Hall and the community it serves.

Over the past ten years living in Owen Sound, I’ve noticed a growing strain in how City Hall, Council, and residents communicate with one another. Many people in the community feel disconnected or unheard, while council and staff often feel unfairly criticized for doing their jobs. This dynamic can make our civic conversations feel adversarial, even though we are all neighbours, coworkers, volunteers, and participants in the same community life.

It’s important for City Hall to recognize that residents may have valid concerns about how decisions are made, how priorities are set, and how budgets reflect community needs. At the same time, the public should understand that many initiatives are already underway, such as the Poverty Task Force, the S.O.S. team, and other programs working on issues we see throughout the city, especially downtown. But do people know these programs exist? Do they know who leads them, what their mandates are, or how they’re funded? Clear communication can help bridge that gap.

I believe my communication experience, committee work, volunteering, project coordination, and team management can help our community have more constructive, informed conversations. I chose to move here and raise my family here, and I’ve come to appreciate what makes Owen Sound special. This is an arts driven community with an entrepreneurial spirit that often goes unrecognized. Those strengths deserve to be part of our civic dialogue.

The conversation needs to shift. When we all agree an issue exists, the next steps should be simple:

What are we going to do, and who is going to do it?