Grant Brenan is running for the first time for Rothesay Council on an agenda of “fiscally responsible development”. Grant is the former President and CEO of G.E. Barbour Ltd. His community service has involved him in numerous fundraising campaigns, including for SJ Regional Hospital Corp, NB Mindcare and most recently, the Saint John YMCA.

Brenan believes there’s a need and a public mood for more fiscal discipline at Rothesay’s Town Hall. He, like other first time candidates, recognizes that the town’s spending priorities need realignment to reflect needs for basic infrastructure and taxpayers’ ability to pay. For instance, mandatory upgrades required in the town’s water and sewer system mean ratepayers will need some breathing room to accommodate the increased fees to cover that cost.

Grant, who has strong connections with the hockey fraternity (He was president of Saint John AAA Hockey for two years) believes that we need to show some spending restraint vis a vis the Rothesay Arena. Brenan said, “While I’ve never seen the plans for the new rink and field house, I haven’t been convinced that we need one.  At best the town should move forward on a major facelift of our rink which was part of a master plan a few years ago.”

He went on to say, “The town has a long list of infrastructure improvements that should be dealt with before we worry about its list of “wants “. In today’s economy our town has to think long and hard about the way it spends its tax payers’ money.”

With that businesslike focus Mr. Brenan will bring a spending discipline to council that has been missing from the group seeking re-election.

We’ll see on May 9th if Grant Brenan has read the electorate correctly. I believe he has.