Councillor Barry Card Is Running for a Third Term
Barry Card is running for re-election. He thought long and hard about it but “there are some things that I’d like to see through to fruition,” he said.
Card served two terms under Mayor Robin Jones, who recently announced that she will retire from public life. “We’re going to miss Mayor Jones. She’s been nothing but great for the village,” he said. In the same breath, Card said that he is endorsing Joe Aragona in his run for mayor. “I know him and I know he's capable.” Aragona filed nomination papers on May 25.
Card said that the village has matured as a municipal government in the last few years. “We’ve come a long way but the catch-up list was long.”
He notes that council nailed down some needed policies and now needs to “zero in on how to do those things.”
He said he’s mechanically inclined and a technical person, and he brings that perspective to the table. “That’s what I've worked at my whole life. I like it,” he said. “It was an attraction in my work, it's an attraction for me as a councillor.”
He was the kind of manager who was out on the floor of the manufacturing company he worked for. In his last five years, he was on their technical team, travelling all over the U.S. troubleshooting production lines. He thinks about process the same way: how to make the village run as efficiently as possible.
He points to the updated Village Asset Management Plan (AMP), which municipalities use to manage the lifecycle costs of infrastructure. That includes everything from roads, wastewater, buildings, vehicles and equipment. It is mandated by the provincial government.
“I look at the Asset Management Plan as a tool and we should use it to the utmost to save money,” he said. “A plan is important but you need good data and accurate assessments — when you actually need to replace a piece of equipment, for example — in order to make good decisions.”
He’d like to see a report to council every six months to track progress. “What have we changed? Have we changed the value of this? Have we extended the life of this?” he said. The answers directly affect budget deliberations and tax and rate increases.
He thinks it is critical to be able to look two years out on budget matters and wants to move from a one-year to a two-year budget cycle. He wants to see more money put into reserves.
He’s not in favour of amalgamation with Rideau Lakes. “There’s nothing in it for Westport. Westport is a settlement area, so if you amalgamated, you gain very little.” You'd still have all the infrastructure debt and operating costs for water and sewer, he said.
“We’ve demonstrated over the past 12 years that Westport can go it alone,” he said. “It's at least as good as our neighbours, and better in a lot of areas.”
He points to improvements in the service level for winter control. But he said cooperative agreements make sense in some areas, like fire services.
He believes there could be $2 million-plus in savings in combining the arena and town hall in a facility with a community hall and year-round pickleball, for example. “I think that's just common sense.”
He says the Watercolour development has been “a magnificent addition to the village…you’ve got the old village and the new village but it’s all the village.”
He also said that the support of village staff gives him a lot of confidence in making decisions — the CAO/clerk is “just a total asset to the village.” Barry said his experience as a councillor also counts for something. “I was probably two years into my first term before I really realized the limitations of council” in the context of provincial and federal requirements.
Card is also the chair and a director with Friends of the Arena, a community role apart from being a councillor that he enjoys.
“I was probably 15 or 16 when I made a decision that this is where I was going to spend the rest of my life,” he said. “I've been offered other jobs in other places, and said, ‘No, I'm where I want to be.’ It’s just a plain and simple fact. I love it here. I love the village.”
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