Bob Woolvett is hoping being an incumbent will be an advantage in his run for a spot on council in Plympton Wyoming.
The 67 year-old has already served two terms on council and is seeking a third Oct. 22.
Do you have any political and community experience?
Woolvett is a member of the Lions Club and has also served as a wage rep during is career at Imperial Oil. “I’ve always been a rep of the ordinary guy.”
Why are you running for council?
“I think we’ve done a pretty good job in Plympton-Wyoming. Our council has been very progressive. We are the fastest growing municipality in Lambton County – a tremendous amount of development going on…I think that I still have a fair bit to offer in experience knowing what’s going on and there is a tremendous amount of stuff going on…There is two positions coming open…we need some experience so I thought I can still contribute for the next four years.”
Is development – the pace of it and where it is going – the big issue?
“Everyone is complaining about property taxes. There’s not a lot we can do about that because it is based on home prices and MPAC. But yes, I do believe that all this development and all these new subdivision is a big issue because in Plympton-Wyoming…with development comes sewer, comes water and all that stuff and I think one of the biggest challenges facing the municipality – and most municipalities – is upgrading their water and sewage systems. That’s the big challenge – infrastructure. We’re looking at a lot of money over the next 10 years in Plympton-Wyoming just because of the infrastructure and I think that’s going to be a big challenge.
“We’ve made plans for it, putting extra money away for the roads.”
There is still some concern where the development will take place. This council has allowed a fairly large portion of farmland to become residential areas – are you hearing about that this campaign?
“Oh, absolutely. That has been a discussion within our council – not everybody agrees. This area out here was all urban development, zoned for residential long before I came along and it has been slowly developing…And the challenge in my term is we have some councillors believe there should not be any development north of Lakeshore Road but we’ve lost four or five municipal board hearings on development and all based on this idea of urban settlement…I am a big supporter of rural Ontario and farmland but north of Lakeshore Road, it has always been urban settlement for residential development and that’s what we’ve been told at every hearing and every case we lost. Development needs to go somewhere. But there does have to be a balance between residential and agriculture. But the tax base has to come from somewhere and where else do you build?”
Is there anything you would like to accomplish in the next four years?
“I really don’t know how to answer that. We’ve been involved in so much from upgrading roads and sewer lines. I think I would have to go back to the infrastructure, that we would continue to improve and maintain our infrastructure system so we’re well ahead of the game and we’re not behind the eight ball like a lot of municipalities are. Let’s keep our infrastructure going and keep upgrading it.”