Candidate for Town Councillor, Town of Cochrane
I believe residents should be able to see how the town’s decisions get made and what they cost.
My family has been in Cochrane for three generations, and my wife’s family has been here just as long. For more than twenty years I’ve worked in technology for municipalities and healthcare organizations across northeastern Ontario, which means I’ve spent my career inside the systems that make local government actually run: budgets, records, service delivery, and the people who hold it all together.
I’m running on stabilizing the basics rather than on a list of promises, and that is a deliberate choice. Staff who stay, budgets passed on time, records a resident can actually find. None of that makes for an exciting slogan, but it is what everything else rests on. Cochrane could see real growth over the next few years, and opportunities like that don’t wait for us to get ready. Funding programs open and close on their own schedule, and the municipalities that come out ahead are the ones whose numbers, asset records, and plans were already in order when the window opened. An organization that has its records and its budget in order can move on that. One that’s still trying to find its own numbers usually can’t.
I also believe the best way to earn your vote is to show you the work, not just tell you what I would do. On this site you’ll find actual proposals: a draft bylaw, working examples, concrete ideas you can read, question, and pick apart. If you think I’ve gotten something wrong, I want to hear it. Honest questions and criticism are how proposals get better, and I’d rather hear it now than after a vote at the council table.
A town runs on its people. Over the past few years Cochrane has lost a lot of experienced staff, and every departure costs us money, momentum, and knowledge that took years to build. Before we talk about anything ambitious, we need to make the Town of Cochrane a place where good people want to work and stay. That means stable leadership, respectful working relationships, and a council that lets staff do their jobs.
Ontario already requires every municipality to collect detailed information about the condition of its roads and other infrastructure, and Cochrane collects it like everyone else. So my question is a simple one: if we already have the information, and taxpayers already paid for the work, why can’t residents see it? My first proposal, a Road Condition and Capital Work Registry, would publish what work was done, what it cost, and what’s planned next, in plain language, updated every year. The draft bylaw is on the Proposals page right now.
Good financial stewardship isn’t complicated, but it takes discipline. It means budgets passed on time, debt taken on only with a clear plan to pay it back, and special levies that end when we said they would end. It also means financial reporting a regular person can follow. You shouldn’t need to be an accountant, or file a freedom of information request, to find out where your tax dollars went.
If you’d like a sign on your lawn, or you have a few hours to give between now and October 26, I’d be glad to have you. And if you just have a question or a concern, write to me at dan4cochrane@gmail.com.