{"id":5678,"date":"2014-02-26T15:08:39","date_gmt":"2014-02-26T20:08:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=5678"},"modified":"2014-09-11T15:31:20","modified_gmt":"2014-09-11T19:31:20","slug":"aurora-is-better-off-now-than-four-years-ago-says-dawe-launching-re-election-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/aurora-is-better-off-now-than-four-years-ago-says-dawe-launching-re-election-bid\/","title":{"rendered":"VOTE 2014: Aurora is \u201cbetter off now than four years ago,\u201d says Dawe launching re-election bid"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2014-02-20-01\"<\/p>\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mayor Geoffrey Dawe is not going to rest on his laurels.<\/p>\n

The Mayor officially announced his bid for re-election at Wednesday\u2019s annual Mayor\u2019s Luncheon hosted by the Aurora Chamber of Commerce at King\u2019s Riding Golf Club.<\/p>\n

Having officially signed his papers at Town Hall earlier that morning, he announced his intentions after a speech focusing on the achievements of the current term of Council over the last three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese past three years have been quite a whirlwind,\u201d Mayor Dawe told an audience of business leaders, Chamber members, and politicians from both Aurora and Newmarket, including MP Lois Brown. \u201cTo borrow from the American Peace Corps, it is truly one of the toughest jobs I have ever loved and it has been my pleasure and honour to serve our residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe acid test in politics is often measured by the common axiom of, \u2018are you better off today than you were two, four, six years ago?\u2019 In citing the many successes of our recent Council term under my watch, including recovering from the divisiveness and acrimony [of the previous term], establishing a strategic plan for our Town, and putting stalled initiatives back on track and implemented, creating a culture of excellence and accountability, I believe the answer is a resounding yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aurora, he said, has been \u201cbetter off on all counts,\u201d but life has taught him never to \u201crest on his laurels.\u201d There are still \u201cstrong challenges\u201d ahead, he added, noting now was not a time the Town could afford \u201ca return to the short-term thinking and political expedience\u201d that has characterized some past governance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to realise managing a modern, urban municipality is a complex task and a task that demands strategic vision that I believe we have provided over the last three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mayor\u2019s address, however, was not merely the first of a campaign stump speech, but outlined the growth and changing face of the Aurora business community over the last 12 months. A successful organization, he said, is contingent on the expertise of the people who are a part of it. He said he has emphasised the expertise of staff at Town Hall to get things done, be innovative and \u201cmaximise effectiveness\u201d in facing the \u201crealities and challenges\u201d of a growing urban municipality.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom 1971 to 2011, our population grew fourfold,\u201d he said. \u201cBy 2031, our community will increase by another 30 per cent to reach build-out. Accommodating this dramatic change and transforming from a growth business model to a sustainable business model requires a shift from reactive to proactive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reactive policies elsewhere, such as zero tax increases in municipalities like Mississauga, and indeed Aurora in the latter half of the 1990s, provide a blueprint of what not to do, he said, highlighting the importance of making sure organizations such as the municipality have healthy reserves to keep going.<\/p>\n

But that is a partnership with the taxpayers. They need to be assured hard-earned tax dollars are being spent \u201cappropriately\u201d and they are getting good value for their money. A service level review, he said, has provided a \u201cdispassionate\u201d assessment of whether that is indeed the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have often said that government is not a business, but we certainly need to be more business-like,\u201d he said, citing the Service Level Review, along with a Capital Reserve Fund and a Reserve Plan study to make sure these are solvent, as three planks that will play key roles in Aurora\u2019s future prosperity. \u201cI believe that these three accomplishments reflect a strategic and accountable approach to municipal government. They are the hallmarks of good leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead to the 2014 budget, which was hammered out on Monday for final approval early next month, he said he was proud of the budget record in providing for key services like the Central York Fire Services, Aurora Public Library, as well as the continued renovations to the Aurora Family Leisure Complex to create a \u201cyouth centre\u201d after 17 years of surveys, studies, meetings, open houses and indecision.<\/p>\n

He also touted the creation of the new agreement between the Aurora Cultural Centre and the Town of Aurora, the growth of the Aurora trails system, and the future 34 hectare Stronach Eco Park, a legacy gift from Magna founder Frank Stronach, as hallmarks of the past three years \u2013 the last of these described as a \u201cbreathtaking, ground-breaking gift of a lifetime.\u201d
\n\u201cIt is the direct result of the type of engagement and policy creation of a positive, collaborative atmosphere in Town Hall,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mayor Geoffrey Dawe is not going to rest on his laurels.<\/p>\n

The Mayor officially announced his bid for re-election at Wednesday\u2019s annual Mayor\u2019s Luncheon…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vote-2014"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-1tA","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-17 10:41:32","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5678\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}