North Frontenac News Media sent all twelve mayoral candidates the same nine questions in writing. Each answer was capped at 250 words and published exactly as submitted. These are Art Hannigan's responses.
Housing is the same conversation whether you're twenty-five or seventy-five: is there anywhere here that fits your life right now? For young families, that means looking seriously at small-scale housing on underused Crown and township land near our villages, the kind of project that grows our tax base instead of costing us to maintain, rather than assuming someone else will build it. It also means cutting the red tape around garden suites and secondary units on an existing lot, so a family member, a young couple starting out, or a senior wanting to downsize can live on land they already know, near people who already know them.
For seniors, staying here is often less about a big new program and more about whether a smaller, manageable home actually exists nearby once the big house on the lake gets to be too much. I'd direct staff to identify Township-owned or Crown parcels realistically suited to a handful of units, not a subdivision, and bring that forward publicly so residents can weigh in before anything is decided.
None of this happens overnight, and I won't pretend otherwise. But every year we don't start is another year young families look elsewhere and seniors are forced to leave the community they built. I'd rather report honest progress on a real plan than another study that sits on a shelf.
I accept it, and I think arguing about which comes first is exactly how a township stays stuck for fifteen years. Nobody builds a business waiting for customers who aren't here yet, and nobody moves a family somewhere without work, services, or connectivity. The way out isn't picking a side; it's investing in the handful of things that serve both at once.
Broadband and cell service top that list: a contractor can't quote a job, a remote worker can't take one, and a young family won't gamble on a place where the internet doesn't reliably work. Roads are next, since neither a business nor a household chooses a place they can't reliably get in and out of, especially with our own roads carrying a quarter of the county's network on seven percent of its population. I'd put those two ahead of everything else, because they're not "for business" or "for people"; they're the floor everything else stands on.
What I'd do first, concretely: use what our own 2020 service delivery review already identified, real revenue and savings sitting mostly unused, and put it toward broadband gaps and road capacity rather than starting from zero. That's not a slogan. It's following through on work North Frontenac already paid for and hasn't finished.
What I'd hold the line on: no tax increase that isn't tied to something residents can actually see -- roads, fire and emergency services, and reserves that mean the next 509 washout doesn't land as a surprise bill. Those don't get cut, ever.
What I'd spend less on: discretionary items first -- extra travel, new studies and consultants, and add-ons that don't tie back to roads, safety, or our lakes. I wouldn't walk into the office with a pre-made list of programs to cut before I've seen the real numbers; that's how you end up cutting the wrong thing to save face instead of the right thing to save money.
What I'd spend more on, or at least stop leaving on the table: our own 2020 service delivery review already identified roughly $250,000 in new annual revenue and $205,000 in direct savings for North Frontenac specifically, much of it tied to how we manage roads with our Frontenac neighbours. Six years later, I don't think anyone can tell you how much of that has actually been implemented. I'd finish that work before asking residents for more, and report the results publicly every year instead of burying them in a binder.
Where would I hold the tax rate? As close to predictable as the roads, fire, and reserve commitments above actually allow -- no more, no less, and never as a surprise.
I've spent my years in Snow Road helping local seniors stay in their homes, and here's what I've learned: it's rarely one big program that keeps someone here; it's a neighbour who'll fix the step, clear the culvert, or get up on the roof before a small problem becomes the reason someone finally has to leave.
I want to be straight about jurisdiction too: personal support workers, home care, and care beds are funded through the province and the local health system, not the municipality. But the Township can organize what already happens informally here into something dependable.
Two commitments. First, a volunteer handyman network -- coordinated through the Township -- matching seniors who need help with small home maintenance and safety fixes to residents willing to give a few hours, the same spirit already running our lake associations. Second, a volunteer driver network for the same reason, so a doctor's appointment in Kingston or Perth doesn't depend on whether a neighbour happens to be free that day.
Both build on what North Frontenac already does well: people looking out for each other, instead of waiting on a provincial program that may or may not arrive. I'd also have the mayor's office pushing the county and province for the home care capacity our numbers clearly justify. That's what a township this size can actually deliver, and I'd rather commit to it honestly than promise services I can't provide.
Internet and cell service, without question, and it's not close. A contractor can't send an invoice, a student can't finish homework, and nobody can call for help reliably in parts of this township, and that's not a comfort issue; it's a safety one. Closing those gaps, through options like satellite service where fibre isn't realistic, and pushing every provincial and federal broadband dollar available toward North Frontenac specifically, would be my first-year priority, tracked publicly so residents can see the map improve, not just hear that it will.
On fire and ambulance: an ambulance is delivered through Frontenac Paramedics at the county level, not the township directly, but our own 2020 service delivery review already recommended an automatic aid agreement and a joint fire service model with our neighbouring townships to improve response, and I don't think that's been fully acted on. I'd push to finish it.
On waste sites: I'd want a public review of hours and capacity before assuming more spending is the answer. Some of this may be about scheduling and communication, not just infrastructure.
Health care itself is a provincial responsibility, not a municipal one, but the Township's voice matters in pushing the County and province for the rural capacity our aging population is clearly going to need. I'd rather be honest about where our authority ends than promise something I can't deliver.
I wrote for NFNM until June, when I stepped back to focus on this campaign -- the same line I think anyone moving from reporting into a campaign should draw, so I'm answering this from both sides of the notebook. Local news should have a guaranteed seat at the table: full access to meetings, full and prompt access to records, and a straight answer when a reporter asks a direct question on the record, not a runaround. That's not a courtesy to the press; it's the basic mechanism by which residents who can't attend every meeting still find out what their council actually did.
One thing I'd change: a written, public commitment that freedom of information requests get answered fully and on time, with any refusal explained in writing rather than left to lapse. Right now, a resident or reporter who hits a wall on a records request has to already know how to appeal it, and most people don't. I'd also want the Township to stop treating requests for basic information -- minutes, correspondence, and budget detail -- as adversarial. A council doing its job on the public record should welcome that scrutiny, not manage it.
I can't separate this from wanting the same standard applied to me if I'm elected. If a reporter, from NFNM or anywhere else, asks me a direct question, I owe them a direct answer, on the record, every time.
Our own website and records system. Right now, finding a past resolution, a bylaw, or a council decision means digging through PDFs and links that don't always work, and that's assuming you already know it exists to look for it. Our 2020 service delivery review flagged an integrated digital strategy as one of ten priority initiatives for the four Frontenac townships, worth real productivity gains for North Frontenac specifically, and as far as I can find, it's one of the ones still sitting on the shelf, six years later.
In my first year, I'd commit to two concrete things: a working, searchable public archive of council decisions and bylaws that doesn't rely on broken links, and a real look at whether we're getting value from the software and systems we already pay for before buying anything new. This isn't about chasing the newest gadget. It's about residents being able to find out what their council decided without already knowing where to look or who to call. A township this size doesn't need flashy technology. It needs the basics to actually work, every time, for everyone.
I'd keep it seasonal rather than pick one time year-round, because North Frontenac isn't a one-schedule township. Spring and summer, I'd move regular meetings to evenings, when the trades crew, the marina, and anyone working a weekday job can actually attend without taking time off. Come late fall and winter, I'd move back to mornings, because asking residents -- many of them well over 65 -- to drive our logging roads home in the dark on ice isn't a fairness question anymore; it's a safety one.
Every meeting already has Zoom access, and I'd keep and promote that hard in both seasons, since it's the one option that works for a shift worker in July and a senior avoiding a January night drive alike. This isn't about picking working families over seniors or the other way around. Our population leans heavily toward residents over 65 who can make a morning meeting, and a seasonal split serves them and the working-age households who can't, instead of quietly excluding one group for the other's convenience twelve months a year.
I think the current schedule became mornings-only by habit, not by decision, and I'd want that decision made deliberately and reviewed with residents, not just carried forward because it's what we've always done.
I think there's some truth in it, but I'd put it differently: North Frontenac doesn't have a habit of rejecting people; it has a habit of losing patience when people stop hearing back from the people they elected. That's not unique to us. Across rural Ontario right now, longtime mayors are stepping back, and some townships can barely fill a ballot, mostly because the distance between council and residents has gotten too short and too sour, and neither side handles it well. We have a candidate in every seat this fall, which says something good about this community, but it doesn't mean the underlying frustration isn't real here too.
What I want to be voted in for is simple: follow-through. Finishing the roads and revenue work our own 2020 review already identified instead of letting it sit for another six years. Closing the broadband and cell gaps that keep businesses and young families away. Making council decisions and records genuinely easy for any resident to find, not just those who know who to call. And treating every question asked in public -- whether from a reporter, a resident at the door, or someone at a council meeting -- as one I answer directly rather than manage.
If I earn a second look from voters after that, it won't be because I asked for trust. It'll be because I showed my work.