1) Why are you running?
I am running to serve the community, to provide good leadership, and to plan and build for the future. I have a contribution to make, ideas to share, and a passion and commitment to represent our community. It is my distinct honour to have served as mayor of Hanover for the past eight years. I would like to continue to build my vision of
Hanover as a progressive community with a small town character where people feel welcomed and valued. I have always been proud to call Hanover my home and I will continue to move our town forward.
2) Are there any steps municipalities can take to help ease cost of living concerns?
I want to ensure Hanover is the best it can be. I want people to enjoy living and working in Hanover and I want people to call Hanover home now and in the future. To do this Hanover has to be affordable and we need to ensure our infrastructure and assets are continually maintained, updated, and improved. To find the balance to be sustainable but affordable is the challenge and I will work to do just that remembering that my role as mayor is to serve all the people. I will weigh each issue on its own merits and show leadership through thoughtful decision making and forward thinking.
3) What are your ideas for economic development in your municipality?
Hanover’s Innovative People Program is a campaign that drives the recruitment and retention of people, business, and investments to the community. It features four campaigns that will position Hanover for economic growth and job creation. Continuing to support youth, women, and succession planning and matching initiatives for businesses along with concentrating on becoming a welcoming community for newcomers will stimulate positive growth in Hanover. The Community Improvement Program offers a menu of incentives to spur development to increase housing stock, support downtown revitalization, and encourage intensification.
4) Do you think the municipality has a role to play in the recruitment and retention of physicians and other healthcare workers?
Over the past decade the Town of Hanover has supported the Hanover & District Hospital and the hospital foundation with their recruitment and retention efforts with an annual donation. HDH is a rural residency training site that sees resident doctors live in Hanover while they are training. A doctor’s house that can accommodate three
residents is available for these doctors in training. The Town offers turnkey office space for physicians along with two apartments that are used by ER locum physicians. The Town’s amenities, events, cultural offerings, food, shopping and recreational opportunities are all factors that form our community’s unique personality. We need to
be a welcoming community to all who may be considering Hanover as their home.
5) Do you feel Hanover needs to acquire more land in order to grow?
In 2019 the Town embarked on a concerted effort and systematic approach to develop a growth strategy. The Provincial Policy Statement requires that every municipality have a plan in place to accommodate an appropriate range and mix of land uses to meet projected needs for a time horizon of up to 25 years. Over the 25 year planning horizon, Hanover is anticipated to have a total shortfall of 85 gross hectares. In order to meet the provincial policy requirement and for Hanover to continue to be competitive and attractive to a broad range of industrial, commercial, and residential sectors we need to ensure that Hanover has a sufficient supply of serviced and serviceable employment lands. We have already lost two significant builds that would have benefited Hanover
and neighbouring communities. Quite simply Hanover does not have sufficient commercial, employment, and residential land.