Belleville city council ward one candidates profile

By Mike Fleming, ^[1] Becky McMullen ^[2] and Sarah Law ^[1]

BELLEVILLE – With the municipal election close at hand, QNet News sat down with several of the candidates running for ward one in Belleville. 

Each candidate was asked a series of questions on a range of topics from the issues affecting Belleville to why they wanted to run for council. Below is a summary of their answers.

Tyler Allsopp is running for council for a second time after an unsuccessful run in 2014. He says one of his motivations for running is that he feels there is no representation on council for people under 35.

“When I mentioned to my wife about running, she mentioned to me that, ‘if you don’t run, who’s going to do it?’ If it’s not going to be me, who is going to carry the torch and who is going to represent them on council.”

Allsopp says his platform is very youth-centred. He cites issues like promoting youth entrepreneurship, promoting events for youth and infrastructure projects specific to young people, such as a skatepark. 

“One of my taglines is that Belleville is not a place to be from, it’s a place to be. It’s a message that resonates with young people, but also older people. Our parents don’t like the fact that we have to leave town to find opportunity. Our grandparents don’t like the fact that they have to travel to see their grandkids because they left the community.”

He says that affordable housing is also a big issue he wants to tackle.

 

Richard Black was born and raised a farmer. At age 35 he got married, moved to Belleville and became a father. Since then, Richard’s careers have ranged from sales to construction to his current job with Sprout’s Landscaping. Richard says he is running for council because he wants to bring change to city hall.

“I want to look after the people’s finances in the best way. I think we can do it and get things done, get things accomplished faster with a better turnover time rate.”

The four main issues he wants to address are revamping the transit system, roads and infrastructure, attracting large manufacturers and free garbage tags. Black believes his unique background and the relationships he’s built with local business owners will make him an asset to council. He says he believes new ideas are something council needs to be open to.

“Sometimes having too much education is not a good thing because if you’re not willing to learn and have an open mind, you’re not willing to absorb more and I think with my experience, I have the credentials to help get things done faster at City Hall and work for the people.”

Pat Culhane was born and raised in Belleville. She graduated from the Belleville General Hospital School of Nursing and worked at Belleville General Hospital for 46 years. She has retired from the position of nursing supervisor at Quinte Health Care and is now the vice chair of the Quinte Humane Society and is also an outpost nurse employed by the territory of Nunavut. She was first elected to city council in 2006 and stayed there for eight years before deciding to run for mayor in 2014. She is running for council again because she says, “I know how city hall works, I have an excellent relationship with the employees because I value them as human beings and as employees, and I let them know, always, that I value their work. I compliment them and I see what they achieve. That’s lacking. That’s greatly lacking in the world today because for-profit is driving the engine.” Three main issues she is focused on in this election are fixing the housing crisis, developing the new police station and funding a new building for the humane society. She says that, “regardless of what stands before me, what happens to me, I will never lie to them, offer them disrespect, not greet them, and not care about their problem. Never.”

Jeremy Davis is a lifelong resident of Belleville and works in the media communications field. He founded and created The Other Side Media group, a non-profit media source in the Quinte region, with his twin brother, Joshua Ryan Davis. He says he has been a citizen appointee on various city council committees since 2002 and is the vice-chair of Heritage Belleville. He first ran for council in 2014.

“It’s important for me to note to every group and every individual that I talk to, just because I happen to use a wheelchair to get around, I always like to take at least 30 seconds to say it doesn’t define me and what I am capable of doing.”

Davis says “I have always had the core belief to put service above self.” He says that tackling the housing crisis and improving health care services are top priorities for the city. He also says he wants to expand the waterfront, ensure new programs at Loyalist College are receiving the support they need and help graduates and young families access job opportunities in Belleville.

“The most important issue is to listen and react to the needs and the will of the people and what they want to see. It’s not my agenda. It’s your agenda. We’re all stakeholders in this. We have to return to our policy, like an open door policy. We have to restore the public’s trust.”

Carol Feeney grew up in Belleville and moved back 15 years ago to take on the role of executive director at the Quinte Arts Council. She is also a folk singer, a chocolate maker and a sports and arts enthusiast. She says she has worked on many volunteer committees with the Rotary Club of Belleville as well as Volunteer and Information Quinte and other charities. Feeney says her work with the arts council has made her feel connected to the community and has helped her meet a lot of different people. She says the most important issues she is focused on in this election are health care, the housing crisis and providing more job opportunities for youth to encourage them to stay in the city. She says she wants to help make health care more personal, tackle the shortage of affordable housing and rental units, and help the city continue to grow despite its aging population by bringing more employment options to young workers.

Chris Malette is a retired journalist who spent 36 years as a reporter, photographer and editor for the Belleville Intelligencer. He says one his main motivations in running for council is to make Belleville a better city.

“Unlike a lot of people who are promising a lot of things “Oh I want to do this.” I am a bit more basic in that. I just want to see this city as a better place to live and that comes from being a journalist and seeing shortcoming of the city is in how we deal with the weakest among us.”

Malette says he believes his long career as a journalist will be an advantage for him, through the relationships he’s built with city workers. He says that affordable housing is a key issue facing the community, but says he recognizes it’s not all on the city.

“There are things we can do to help encourage affordable housing, but it involves senior levels of government as well. I know how that works and I know that the municipality could advocate on behalf of affordable housing at the provincial and federal level.”

Paul Martin has been based in Belleville since 1993. He was a journalist for 25 years before deciding to run for council in this election. He says the knowledge he gained from covering council meetings, school board meetings and health board meetings taught him a lot about “what made organizations tick and how the community runs, what the priorities run, what should be done and how, in some cases, things shouldn’t be done.” He says this influenced his decision to become involved in politics. Martin says the number one issue he is focused on is “to finish what we start.” He discussed problems with Belleville’s stagnant infrastructure and how the city has started several projects that have not fully been developed, such as the police station, the water and wastewater infrastructure at Zwick’s Park and the waterfront. Martin says these projects are not being completed because of a negative culture within city hall. He says he hopes to change this by bringing a new vision to city council and by making city hall more approachable and accessible for residents. He also says he wants to look at improving regional transit, integrating healthcare programs with other municipalities in the region and look at how the revenue generated from the casino casino transfers can help the city improve social supports.

Kelly McCaw is a lifetime resident of Belleville and a graduate of Loyalist College. She is a business owner and was a realtor for 25 years. She has been on city council since 2014, having never been involved in politics before that. McCaw says the two main issues she is focused on in this election are the housing crisis and improving the effectiveness of the Quinte Human Society. To help solve the housing crisis, McCaw says, “I have some ideas about how we can help and change that, help get some more affordable housing by adding secondary units and homes, lifting some of the city regulations to do so, and maybe offering some type of grant process to do it.” Regarding improving the lives of animals in the area, she says, “I hope to bring a coalition together between Quinte West, Prince Edward County and Belleville that would see the funding for the operations of the Quinte Humane Society.” Other issues she says she wants to tackle are funding new park equipment for children to play on and reducing development fees to attract more people to move to the city. McCaw says she hopes this election brings in “a whole new slate of council” that will push new ideas and initiatives and improve transparency. Ultimately, she says that, “Despite this election, whether I win or lose, I have won because all of the people I’ve met, again for a second time, out campaigning. For me, that’s a win.”

Danny Morrison was born and raised in Belleville. He was a bartender for many years before returning to school and eventually teaching nursing at Loyalist College. He has been the nursing administrative co-ordinator at Quinte Health Care for the last decade. Morrison says the most important issue for him in this election is improving Belleville’s residential, commercial and industrial growth. He says it is important for there to be infrastructure in place to allow the city to expand. He says that, “I also believe that we need to put together at least a 12-year plan so that we are a proactive council and not a reactive council.” Morrison says he is a good candidate for city council because, “I have an open mind.”

“I have a plan for Belleville. I think that municipal politics has more to do with the everyday life of people in Belleville than provincial and federal combined. Everything that happens in our day-to-day life, it’s council that decides. Garbage pick-up, snow removal, you know, all the things the city provides and I just think that everybody in the city should have an equal opportunity to be involved in everything that the city provides.”

Brigitte Muir said she is running for council because “I was just tired of the city always backing themselves into a red tape corner and things weren’t getting passed and job opportunities have been missed. And really when it comes down to it, I don’t think that there isn’t enough of a diverse voice on council, so I would like to see younger women run for council. I think we need that voice.” While she is a newer resident to Belleville, she says she is excited to raise her family here and sees a lot of room for improvement and the need to attract more young families to the city. She says her campaign goals are to work towards a well-balanced budget that considers long-term goals, fixing roads, tackling the housing crisis, improving garbage disposal and protecting the Bay of Quinte. She says that rather than looking at what other municipalities are doing the city should be looking to be innovative and to make a name for itself as a place where innovation is encouraged.  

Garnet Thompson has 13 years of experience on city council. He moved to Belleville about 40 years ago and worked in the retail and resale sectors. Thompson has been involved with the Alzheimer’s Society for 20 years and also volunteers regularly at the food bank. He says he has been very involved with the community and attends many events throughout the year. Thompson says that the four main issues he is focused on are tourism, affordable housing, infrastructure and long-term care beds.

“Housing is a big issue, especially with the large number of students coming in to Loyalist. They’re always looking for apartments or a house to share and we are short of housing for apartments, whether it be for students or people just moving to our city.”

To solve this growing problem, Thompson says that “we’ve got to try and deal with it through social services, providing housing for the needy, so we’ve got to be a little more diligent through the social services to mandate the provincial government to provide us more money to provide some of that.”

Ryan Williams is the owner of a local hotel and a father of three. He was born and raised in Belleville and attended the University of Guelph and the University of Western Ontario in London. He returned to Belleville 14 years ago and has been living in the city ever since. He’s also a founder of “QuinteVation”, a local organization that focuses on economic development outside of the manufacturing sector. Williams says he believes that innovation and population growth are two of the main issues facing Belleville.

“I think if we can see a mixed, diversified set of jobs and entrepreneurs being attracted to Belleville, that will be one of the main goals. I’d love to see Belleville refreshed and rebranded.”

QNet News invited all the ward one candidates to Loyalist College to speak to journalism students. Paul Bell, Curtis Hayes and Sean Kelly did not respond to our invitation. Stanley Jones responded after the event had been held.