The "new" building – a discussion
Hi Arcadia – as you may have gathered, my platform is focused on four core issues, focused on making Arcadia a more affordable community to reside. Over the past two years my goal in attending council meetings and in this campaign is to inform you, the taxpayer, as to what is happening with your tax dollars and how those tax dollars can work for you.
The four core issues include:
1) Fiscal Sensibility
Meaning common sense spending; spending tax dollars on products and services that benefit all residents/taxpayers, all while reducing unnecessary spending. Careful consideration to be given when it comes to larger, more costly projects; are they truly necessary and for the benefit of the residents/taxpayer of Arcadia?
Smaller budgets mean lower taxes. Just look at what other nearby communities have done and are doing.
2) Transparency
Allowing you to see where your tax dollars go and how they are being spent and allowing you to have your say, especially on large, significant expenditures.
3) Debt Relief
Lower/no debt means lower costs to service that debt meaning lower budgets, meaning a path to lower tax rates.
4) Charting a Path to Tax Relief
See core issues 1 through 3.
And of course continued advocating for the community to allow us to explore new opportunities to make Arcadia stronger and better for all of us.
The “New” Building Discussion
In my conversation with residents, the issue whether Arcadia should spend the money to build a new municipal building, or as it now defined: a “multipurpose” building has arisen.
The current Mayor and council have made it clear. They want to build some type of multipurpose building. There has been little in the way of details per say, conveyed as to what this multipurpose building would house, other than municipal offices. A project like this (a multipurpose building housing say municipal offices, a medical center, daycare, etc.) would likely cost millions to construct and will either:
- Deplete our municipal reserves significantly, or
- By financing the project or a portion of same, it most certainly will increase the existing debt considerably, which means you and I are digging deeper into our pockets to pay more in municipal taxes to service that larger debt.
There has been little in the way, in my view, of public engagement by the current mayor and council, with the folks who are ultimately paying for this; we the taxpayers.
My Position
I am not in favour of building a new building; one solely for municipal offices. We have existing, usable facilities in Cambridge Narrows. We can coexist with the recreational aspect of the building as Cambridge-Narrows council did, up to 2023. We, as a municipality, supported by the taxpayers, do not have the financial wherewithal to take on a project of this magnitude.
Regarding the “multi-purpose building/ collaborative care center” proposal; with respect to the latter, Horizon Health has made no commitment whatsoever to a collaborative care facility in Arcadia. We do have a newly renovated clinic in Gagetown. That and the clinic in Cambridge-Narrows should be the focus at this time.
I am not anti-growth, or anti-progress, as my opponents will likely suggest. I am anti – “more taxes for the residents and taxpayers of Arcadia”. You (we) pay too much as it is. We have more pressing things to address.
Looking to the future, when things are more favourable; if I were Mayor, I might be inclined to revisit this matter. That said, any project that might be contemplated would have to have a specific defined purpose; one that would benefit each and every resident of Arcadia, not a “build it and they will come” project and further, has the support/ approval of taxpayers through a public engagement process (meetings, a plebiscite perhaps?).
Ideally a project of this magnitude is best handled by the private sector, where experienced developers do this sort of thing day in and day out. Construction, leasing and day-to-day management of the building should be left to those developers as well.
And to clarify, I am not in favour of leasing space in any new building, if one is ever built. We do not need to be paying rent of $10,000 – $15,000 per month (like a neighboring community) for offices when we have suitable facilities existing.
Regardless of what happens with this issue, I believe it would be prudent as mayor to put a mechanism in place to deal with matters where large capital expenditures are contemplated. I would look at proposing a municipal bylaw that prohibits council from spending over a specific threshold of dollars on any capital project costing over a pre-set approved dollar value, without a binding Letter of Intent, or a signed lease from a major partner (i.e. Horizon Health). That bylaw would include provisions for resident engagement and resident approval of said project/expenditures.
My preference though is if it came to a point where the Health Authority made the decision to consider a collaborative care center in Arcadia, they would do exactly what they are doing now: issue a notice requesting “expressions of interest” for interested parties to supply a building for the purposes of housing a collaborative care center. At that point private developers would step in and submit proposals to the Authority. Private developers will build a project like this if they see a case for it.
This discussion we are having about this multipurpose building isn’t about stopping a collaborative care center; it’s about stopping a “Field of Dreams” gamble where the taxpayers build a multi-million dollar facility that might sit empty. Who picks up the tab to maintain that empty building? It’s the taxpayers that take on all the risk.
I think we should be advocating for increased medical services in Arcadia. We have a newly renovated clinic in Gagetown that needs medical practitioners and a clinic in Cambridge-Narrows, that at some point in the future may require additional medical practitioners as well.
Let’s work together with what we have existing.
Ask your councilor about their views on a new “building”.
This from the September 6, 2023 council meeting minutes:
- It was moved by Councilor Mennier and seconded by Councilor Gahan-Magee that Council reside in the Cambridge-Narrows Municipal Building.
- Councilor Gahan-Magee stated that she was in support of the office being located in the Cambridge-Narrows Municipal Building since the beginning.
That motion didn’t get approved, unfortunately.
Ask all mayoral/councilor candidates directly: What is your view on a new “multipurpose/municipal building”? If they are in favour, how do they propose it gets funded?
Thanks again for reading!