Municipality of Calvin fills council position

John Manson is the newest member of Calvin’s municipal council, having been appointed by councillors at their March 28 meeting. Five residents came out for the position, which was previously held by Debbie Adams, who passed away in late January— “a devasting loss,” councillor Dean Grant said.

“A general transparency of rules and regulations,” is what Manson wants to see at Town Hall, and he emphasized that “less is more with government.”

A financial planner and investment manager by trade, Manson has worked with money for about 30 years, and looks forward to helping to craft a municipal budget and “revisiting the necessity of the line item.”

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He wants to keep municipal taxes in check and plans to open communications between council and the people. “Transparency should be a pretty easy thing to have” he said, noting “everything that goes on in the council should be accessible to all rate payers.”

Manson also wants to review the by-laws as part of his “less is more” politics. “There are a lot of regulations and by-laws that seem kind of layered on, and maybe they don’t need to be there,” he said. “A lot of this could be simplified.”

Calvin “is a small but mighty municipality.” Ensuring transparency, opening communication, and “having people feel that they’re being heard will go a long way to bridging some of the gaps within the community,” Manson said.

Manson will be officially sworn in at Calvin’s next council meeting.

David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.