If the current Rothesay election is really about change then the six challengers for council seats; Brenan, Butler, Cseszko, Davis, MacKay-French, and Shea could be the change Rothesay residents are looking for.
The ballot box issues are simple. They are; runaway spending and lack of transparency and accountability in Council’s decision making. We’ll look at how the challengers stand on these issues.
Nathan Davis is a newcomer to municipal politics although he’s worked on the federal and provincial political scene. His bio can be found on his website here. Nathan started his campaign for a seat on Rothesay Council in January and since then he has gone door to door throughout most of Rothesay. I sat down with Nathan last week at Java Moose where he can be found Wednesday evenings.
Nathan has put a lot of thought into the issues we face and appears to strike a balance between spending on basic needs before big ticket discretionary items. For instance, on the issue of building a new Arena as proposed by the four incumbent councillors, Nathan believes we should fix the existing Arena before going further into debt to build a new one. He also believes we need to work more closely with other communities on other services to make efficient use of our combined population.
On the issue of taxes, Nathan is a little less clear:
Property taxes in Rothesay should not be a big issue – they will move reluctantly up and down with the needs of the town. Municipalities in New Brunswick have very limited ability to borrow money and so Rothesay will generally have to ensure that taxes and spending are in line with one another. Anyone who claims to be able to freeze taxes is also claiming to predict the future circumstances of the town. – Nathan Davis
Nathan is strong on facilities for youth and while he also appears to understand the need to hold the line on taxes, he leaves the door open to raising them.
On the transparency issue he is clear; Davis is calling for an independent audit;
In order to increase the perception of openness and transparency of our local government for past, present, and future taxpayers, I believe that an independent audit would greatly help rebuild the relationships with Rothesay Residents. – Nathan Davis
Davis’ appetite for oversight goes beyond the limited scope of the existing audit performed annually. So, he may pick up votes from those who support Blair MacDonald’s call for an independent audit of Rothesay’s financial and procurement practises.
That audit met with no support from the existing incumbent council candidates at the February Council meeting. That was the meeting in which Deputy Mayor Nancy Grant withdrew her previous approval and in so doing has probably given her and those incumbent councillors a failing grade with many voters on the issue of transparency.
Candidates like Nathan Davis who are supporting the principle of more accountability may benefit from public concern over the stance taken by incumbents who don’t seem willing to have their record put under an independent microscope. We’ll have to see if that concern carries into the polling station on May 9th.
Learn more about Nathan from his website by following this link.