Brad Wardell decided to run for Dawn-Euphemia council after trying to get answers from current council members about economic development.
The 67 year-old retired mechanic who now runs a riding stable with his wife, says he started asking questions about a greenhouse operator who tried to build in Edys Mills and wasn’t satisfied with the answers he was getting. So, at the urging of friends, he threw his hat into the ring.
Why are you running?
“I’m not very pleased with what was going on in the township…there are things that have happened…that I’m asking questions and I’m getting some answers but usually it is the run around. I’m concerned, that’s all. There are some businesses coming in and they’re not getting the help from the county or the township themselves and I don’t know why?”
Greenhill Produce purchased a 100-acre farm in Edys Mills hoping to build a large pepper operation. But as Dawn-Euphemia Council worked with the company it became clear there was not enough water available for even the first phase of construction. The property is now up for sale.
“Every time they try to go to do something, they seem to get a lot of red tape about it and I don’t know why. I had some other people come to me and say, ‘Brad, how come this, how come that’…I said to them ‘I don’t really know’…I’m asking council but I’m not getting any answers. It does bother me …when you’re an elected official you have to answer these questions. My concern is I’m not getting correct answers…so people are saying ‘would you be willing to step on the board, council’ and I said I might. So I got thinking about it and decided to go.”
What do you feel the biggest issue is in Dawn-Euphemia?
“My concern is the spending of monies…there is a lot of things in the township that need to be taken care of. The idea of don’t spend any money but keep the taxes low; I don’t want to change the taxes but have to update our township. Some of the machinery…you get some stuff that is outdated that needs replacing. What’s available from the government right now, I’m not sure of. Talking to politicians in the provincial end of it, there is stuff that is available that we need to get on board with.”
Wardell wasn’t sure exactly what the grants were and said he would have to look into it if he is elected. Currently there is provincial funding for public transit and electric vehicle charging stations.
Dawn-Euphemia has been working toward a solution to stop septic waste from ending up in the Sydenham River – right now, the township is proposing a communal weeping bed to solve the problem, what do you think of the solution?
“I really don’t want to comment on it…I don’t really know what the studies were…people make the comment there was sewage going into the river, I don’t understand where they’re coming from or what’s happening…if there is a problem I don’t know about it right now…I don’t want to comment about it until I get some facts and figures.”
What personal characteristics that would make you a good councillor?
“I don’t make a decision…without all the facts…I’m very independent…I don’t like the idea of someone saying something to me without the facts in front of me first.”