There are many challenges ahead with the hospital, Fairvern and affordable housing ~ Huntsville councillor Daniel Armour

This is the eleventh in a 2018 series of commentaries from municipal politicians which allows them to tell you, in their own words, what is important to them, what bugs them and what makes them tick. Each week will feature a member of either the Huntsville or Lake of Bays Council. As we enter an election year, this is your opportunity to get a better picture of your elected politicians. This week: Huntsville councillor Daniel Armour.

I would like to thank Huntsville Doppler for the opportunity to write this commentary.

The past three years as the Brunel Ward Councillor have gone by fast and been very rewarding and challenging. You know, we may not be the most exciting council, but we have many accomplishments.

Let’s think about what we have accomplished in the last few years. Within our first three months in office we dealt with a three million dollar deficit that was on the books from a previous council. We were able to find the money within the current budget process and it has now been paid in full.

We assisted each Town department in the completion of their 10 year capital plans and began funding as required. This has assisted us in establishing long-term based operating and capital budgets to guide and assist us by giving us an informed annual budgeting process.

As the chair of Public Works I am proud to say that we held to our commitment to improve the infrastructure of the town of Huntsville, Port Sydney and Utterson. We completed a roads-needs study in 2015, and it advised us that the roads budget was underfunded and we needed to invest millions into our roads over the next 10 years. Council has committed an extra $400,000 annually to assist in getting us back on track. This will ensure the infrastructure and service levels respond to the needs of a prosperous and progressive community.

We have developed and implemented a roads and transportation master plan to guide us in construction and maintenance schedules and to have an informed long-term capital plan. Through this process, we have gained some ground which has allowed us to begin 2018 road projects in the 2017 capital year. We continue to have a lot of work ahead of us, but I’m confident that the plans we have implemented today will get us there.

Over the next year and the 2019 term, council has a great deal of work to do.

Muskoka’s hospitals remain under the microscope and we are in danger of losing them. The message sent on March 1 to the Task Force and MAHC management staff was loud and clear. They need to stop wasting time and send a message to the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care to say that we want two acute care hospitals in Muskoka. I personally do not feel it is the Hospital Board that’s not listening. I believe that It’s the MAHC Management team that continues to ignore the District Chair, mayors, councillor’s, constituents of Muskoka and Parry Sound and our MPP. We all want two hospitals in Muskoka; both with acute care services.

I agree with our Mayor that we should not be agreeing to fund any new buildings until they agree to two hospital sites in Muskoka. We are in control. Huntsville and the surrounding area continues to grow with developers and residents choosing Huntsville as their new home. We need adequate and appropriate health care in place to serve the needs of all residents in Huntsville and surrounding area. In addition, we need to start building our health hub by doing what we can to assist Fairvern in the relocation to its new site.

Attainable housing in Huntsville needs to be addressed; we need to provide several affordable housing programs. There are hundreds of families in Huntsville and the surrounding area who are in need today. Council needs to provide things like capital incentives, and charge rebate/fee waiving for developers and home owners interested in building new affordable housing units.

While Huntsville is growing we need to continue to commit to protecting the quality and character of our environment. We need initiatives to protect the natural environment and water resources to ensure their sustainability, as well as the sustainability of our community. We need to partner with organizations so we can respond to the planning needs of the community, while maintaining the culture of the town and protecting our environment.

These are only a few of the many challenges ahead of us. Other major projects like the relocation of the curling club and town revitalization are just as important and need council’s continued support.

I look forward to having the opportunity to continue to represent Brunel Ward residents and Huntsville as their councillor.

To read more in this 2018 series of commentaries from municipal politicians, click here.

Don’t miss out on Doppler! Sign up for our free newsletter here.

Daniel Armour is the chair of Public Works, and a member of the Accessibility Committee. He is 59 years old, born and raised in Huntsville. Dan works for Muskoka Paramedic Services as a Commander, and has been a paramedic serving all of Muskoka for 30 years. He is married to Glenna and they have four amazing children and two fabulous grandkids. Dan served as a Volunteer Fire Fighter for the Town of Huntsville for 20 years, and continues to canvas for the Canadian Cancer Society. “I believe in giving back to my community that continues to give to me.”