My Advocacy

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In early to mid 2025 residents brought to my attention their concerns regarding the speed that vehicles were travelling north and southbound on Lakehurst Road at Gannon's Bridge.  As well as vehicles disobeying school bus stop signs at Anchors Bay Rd S and Lakehurst Road. 

The speed coming south from the north Anchor Bay Rd entrance is a posted 80km/h. by the time motorists make the bend that opens up to Gannon's Bridge the speed reduces to 60 right after the blind bend approximately 100 feet from the intersection of Anchor Bay Road S where the school buses stop to pick up and drop off children.

I encouraged the residents to sign a petition which I forwarded to the County Roads Department. Work is anticipated to take place in the fall, including speed reduction to 60km/h from 80km/h at North Anchor Bay Road and a school bus sign before the bend coming south on Lakehurst Road.

During my tenure on council I had fielded many calls and emails from constituents voicing their concern about the motor vehicle collisions and fatalities on County Road 507. There were no alerting signage as to winding roads or speed monitors.

I worked with the OPP to determine where the most frequent accidents and fatalities were occurring and with that I put a resolution forward at council for the County to install two solar powered speed notifications in both directions at the trouble spots on CR507.

The County agreed to install speed signs as well as conduct a County Road Safety Audit on CR507. I took part in the study along with many other individuals, including Mayor Lambshead, the OPP, county and municipal road engineers, county staff. We walked CR507 identifying road characteristics which may be contributing to poor visibility as well as the way certain areas of the road were constructed.

The County prepared a final report which included the installation of the solar speed signs I had requested as well as road work and tree clearing to improve site lines, Community Safety Zone in the area of Cavendish Community Centre which is to be installed late 2026.

I sat on the committee for the development of a Short Term Rental Accommodation Policy (STRA). When I campaigned in 2022 I knocked on many doors and there were waterfront residents who were distraught due to having a STRA beside their property owned by corporations with no ties to our community. 

Our municipality held two well attended public meetings. The consensus was split almost 50/50 some wanting licensing and others not, wanting the "Mom and Pops" generational cottages to be exempt. The committee ultimately proposed a STRA, using the public input as a major guiding light. 

Ultimately the policy was implemented and it remains to be seen how effective it will be. There will be a review of the policy analyzing stats and making adjustments where need be.

Residents of Granite Ridge Estates in Buckhorn had contacted me regarding 3 street lights that had not been activated for approximately 3 years. They advised they had been asking the municipality to have them activated to no avail.

I worked with our fantastic staff at our Roads Department to remedy this issue. With some friendly poking and prodding alas Granite Ridge Estates now have safe functional lighting. They said let there be light !!

During my tenure as councillor I have had the opportunity to meet with various agencies within the Provincial government to advocate on behalf of Trent Lakes. I presented a delegation to the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Public Safety regarding obtaining extra funding from the province to support the new provincial training standards our volunteer firefighters have to adhere to. 

I presented a delegation to the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Infrastructure requesting extra provincial funding to offset road repairs in our municipality due to the high number of (over 30) quarries we have in our municipality and the hauling of aggregate puts extra stress on our roadways requiring more frequent repairs.

I am the municipal liaison for the Lakehurst Hall Community Centre Board. The board expressed an interest in developing the outdoor hall space. I worked with our staff to discuss funding and logistics. I guided the board and one of our residents through the process of presenting a delegation to counsel. The development was identified as part of the Open Spaces Master Plan and would act as a trailhead for the Lakehurst Trail once developed. Council supported the development. Our staff applied for and received a grant which paid for approximately 95% of the costs.

CCRAI initiated an initiative to identify abandoned docks on a 7 lake chain. They requested $15,000 from Council through the Municipal Grant Program. The municipality provided $5,300 leaving the initiative short of their requested amount. I filed a motion before council to provide CCRAI an additional $8,500 to effectively complete their initiative. The motion passed unanimously.

There were 132 docks were removed from Lakes Catchacoma, Mississagua, Beaver, Cavendish, McGinnis and Gold. 

The initiative was a resounding success thanks to the CCRAI and members of the community volunteering as well as donating over $27,000 to the initiative. 

Representatives from the Lovesick Lake Cottage Association approached me seeking guidance as to how to find a solution to their efforts to have an At Capacity Lake Study completed.

I worked with the association and guided them through the process of presenting to both the Environmental Advisory Committee and ultimately to Council. 

Council passed a resolution to work with Selwyn Township to develop a Terms of Reference to ultimately address the goal of completing an At Capacity Lake Study. The process is ongoing with Selwyn Township taking the lead.