Chris Mayne is pleased to announce via a news release, Tuesday, that he will be running as a candidate for North Bay Council again and looks forward to the opportunity of continuing to serve our community.
If re-elected this term, Mayne states his four major areas of concern would be:
- Source Water Protection
- Long-Term Care for Seniors
- Homelessness and Addictions
- Capital Budget
Source Water Protection: Mayne says a recent planning study released by The City of North Bay "seems to focus on the options to grow development around Trout Lake with few recommendations to improve the protection of our source drinking water, especially around Delaney Bay."
That study will be reviewed by Council in the new term and Mayn says he would look forward to being part of the discussion to add protections to our source drinking water, to continue to have exceptional drinking water, and not use our lower-than-average phosphorus volumes as a green light to grow development.
"More importantly, he adds, "while the City of North Bay continues to provide excellent drinking water that meets all current Provincial and Federal health standard requirements, there was a USEPA study on PFAS released earlier this June, and the Ministry of the Environment and Health Canada may, or may not,
decide to re-examine our own current standards and whether or not they should be changed.
"Continuing with the strong support we have received from the Federal and Provincial Governments, I believe there are further steps we can take with them to be proactive and ready to move forward should any of those drinking water standards change.
Long-Term Care for Seniors: "We are all pleased to see the Cassellholme Redevelopment now moving forward but there is still much work to be done. The Municipal members of Cassellholme have taken on a study to consider moving Cassellholme from a District Long-Term Care Home to a Municipal Long-Term
Care Home. If re-elected to Council I would look forward to being part of those discussions and as Board Chair and long-term Board member, to see that resident care, and the well-being of our care providers remains a priority at Cassellholme.
Mayne says he also looks forward to Castle Arms "leveraging our existing resources toward adding more seniors' accommodations to our community for those still able to live independently but requiring some level of support such as maintenance and snow removal. In recent years this has been identified as another growing need in our community and we believe Castle Arms is well positioned to help address that need."
Homelessness and Addictions: Mayne is a multi-term member of both the District of Nipissing Social Services Administration Board and the Nipissing District Housing Corporation and notes those organizations have been able to provide over 2,200 rent-assisted accommodations in our community to help toward our community housing needs.
"Particularly in this last term of Council, in part due to COVID-19 pressures but largely to growing issues around addictions, the City of North Bay, through DNSSAB and strong Provincial support has had success in creating the Low-Barrier Shelter and Transitions House, to help move individuals off of the street and into stable accommodations.
"At the same time, there are clear health and wellness issues involved that need to be shared with all levels of government and cannot simply be placed on the shoulders of Municipalities. The Province and Federal Governments have been very supportive in recent years to help with capital costs but more
work needs to be done to address the operating costs of these programs."
Capital Budget: In Mayne's 16 years as a councillor, he says growing the capital budget to not only keep up with needed infrastructure repairs and replacements but also to grow the budget in real terms above simple inflationary growth has been a priority.
"The Capital budget has always been an easy target at budget time but it often simply puts off needed work and leaves us further behind in our infrastructure maintenance than we should be."
