{"id":15844,"date":"2018-10-05T11:54:31","date_gmt":"2018-10-05T15:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/?p=15844"},"modified":"2018-10-05T11:55:11","modified_gmt":"2018-10-05T15:55:11","slug":"letter-to-wawa-candidates-for-council-and-voters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/05\/letter-to-wawa-candidates-for-council-and-voters\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter to Wawa Candidates for Council and Voters"},"content":{"rendered":"

October 5, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

Letter to Wawa Candidates for Council and Voters,<\/strong><\/p>\n

First, I would like to thank Mayor Rody for running for Mayor again.\u00a0 I believe Mayor Rody has provided sound and positive leadership over the past four years.\u00a0 I would also like to thank all the candidates for running for Council.<\/p>\n

It was great to see everybody at the All Candidates Night.\u00a0 This shows how much everybody cares about our community.\u00a0 It was a lot less eventful than four years ago.\u00a0 I give the current Mayor and Council credit for this as they have provided proper leadership over the past four years.<\/p>\n

I sat quietly, listening and observing all the questions and answers throughout the night.\u00a0 There were a lot of good questions and some good answers.\u00a0However, there were several answers that were not correct or lacked response.\u00a0 I respected the rules laid out for the night and I stopped myself from going to the microphone to debate the candidates and\/or make speeches.\u00a0Instead, I decided to write a letter to provide my opinion on the issues discussed.\u00a0 I believe my experience as a former Wawa Councillor and Director of Infrastructure may provide you with a more informed and objective response on some of the issues discussed.<\/p>\n

Water Meters and Water Conservation<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

I completely disagree with the comments made that water conservation is a waste of time.\u00a0 Water is a natural resource and we should all respect this natural resource.\u00a0 Every gallon of water needs to be filtered, chlorinated and pumped to our homes or businesses.\u00a0 The Water Treatment Plant does have one pump that is running all the time to maintain positive pressure throughout the Municipal water system.\u00a0 This pump is a variable speed pump that automatically adjusts the pressure based on demand.\u00a0 When the demand is greater than the pumps capacity, a secondary pump turns on.<\/p>\n

The statement made that the volume of water pumped does not affect the electricity used is not correct.\u00a0 This statement contradicts the laws of physics.\u00a0More flow at a constant pressure will always equal more energy required.\u00a0 Therefore, by conserving water, the Municipality will save costs on electricity, filtration, and chlorination.\u00a0 The largest savings from conservation will be the electricity costs.\u00a0The electricity cost for the Water Treatment Plant is approximately $175,000 per year.<\/p>\n

The other statement made that water conservation will cause sanitary sewer issues is incorrect.\u00a0There are a small number of sanitary sewer mains within the Municipality that might be of concern and might require additional inspections or maintenance.\u00a0 Lower Toronto Avenue is an example of this, but this sanitary main is being replaced this year.\u00a0 The majority of the sanitary sewer mains are adequately designed to handle lower flows of water due to conservation.<\/p>\n

The water meters were installed under a grant program and the cost to the Municipality was not significant.\u00a0 The reason why water meters were installed was to better determine the actual water consumption of an individual household or business.\u00a0 It is common practice throughout the Province to charge water and sewer as user-based services by actual consumption usage.\u00a0 This way you pay more if you use more.\u00a0 The question that should be asked is \u201cWhat level of service for managing and administrating the water meters does Mayor and Council want for the taxpayer?\u201d.<\/p>\n

Recycling<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Recycling was a big topic of discussion.\u00a0 I believe we all want a cleaner environment, so we can leave this environment for our kids.\u00a0It is surprising that we live in the middle of the wilderness and don\u2019t recycle more than we do.\u00a0 The two main reasons why recycling has not been fully implemented by the Municipality is because it is not mandated by the Province due to our population and the costs to recycle is much higher than straight garbage disposal.<\/p>\n

There is very little cost recovery in recycling.\u00a0 Plastics recycling has no cost recovery and is only an expense.\u00a0 Therefore, as taxpayers, we should all understand that providing a good recycling program will require increased taxes or increased garbage collection costs.\u00a0 The estimated costs to fully implement a recycling program is in the range of $250,000 per year or more.\u00a0 The Infrastructure Department has been reviewing several recycling options over the past year. I bring this up to highlight the fact if we want to recycle, it will cost the taxpayer more in the future to dispose of their garbage and recycling than it does today to dispose of just garbage.<\/p>\n

Fluoride in the Water<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

There were several comments made about fluoride in our drinking water. \u00a0My research indicates that there are several dental health benefits from fluoride and no proven adverse effects from fluoride in drinking water if the levels are within the range defined by the health units.\u00a0 The comment made about the corrosiveness of the fluoride is only true at the concentrated levels.\u00a0 Fluoride does not corrode the water mains or household plumbing at the small dosage levels in the drinking water.\u00a0 The cost of providing fluoride in municipal water is approximately $2,500 per year, not the $18,000 stated at the meeting.<\/p>\n

Current Road Conditions<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

The reason why the roads in Wawa have cracks is due to the climate we live in.\u00a0 The asphalt on the roads must cycle through temperatures from +40 degrees Celsius and -40 degrees Celsius.\u00a0 These temperatures differences cause extremely large thermal expansion and contraction which causes small cracks.\u00a0 If these cracks are not sealed, they will get larger and larger due to freeze-thaw cycles. \u00a0I believe it is extremely important to implement a pavement preservation program to help extend the life of the pavement.\u00a0 Without a pavement preservation program, the road surfaces in Wawa will continue to deteriorate over time and require full replacement.<\/p>\n

Good Governance<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

The elected Councillors, Mayor and Municipal Staff need to work as a team and not against each other.\u00a0This is a key philosophy to provide proper governance and management for the Municipality.\u00a0 It is extremely important for all Council members and Municipal staff to support final decisions through votes for resolutions or bylaws.\u00a0If Mayor, Council, Municipal Staff and the rest of the community can work together as a team and not as individuals, Wawa will continue to be a great place to live.<\/p>\n

I hope my perspective and information will help candidates and voters in the month to come.\u00a0 Good luck to all the candidates and thank you again for running for office.\u00a0 I look forward to seeing a Council that will work hard, make common sense decisions, and provide a positive leadership for the Municipality.<\/p>\n

Thank you for the opportunity to share my views, James Neufeld<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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