In his first weeks on the job, Niagara-on-the-Lake’s new public works and infrastructure director says he’s paying close attention to how his decisions will affect the people of this town.
“It’s been good,” said Jordan Frost, who started the role earlier this month. “Just on the second week here, learning a lot about how we do things internally. But it’s pretty positive and pretty exciting as well.”
Frost, who’s still getting up to speed on ongoing issues in town, said his plan is to respond to concerns raised by residents, council and staff, while also reviewing existing studies, design work and technical expertise — both inside and outside NOTL — before making future recommendations.
“Every municipality is a little bit different from one another,” he said. “So, trying to stay adaptive and responsive to changing needs, right?”
That approach also applies to some of the town’s most talked-about infrastructure issues, he said.
When asked about issues such as the Rand Estate proposals, the Parliament Oak development and drainage concerns, Frost said his decision-making looks beyond technical details alone, weighing social, financial and environmental factors.
“We want to work collaboratively with the other departments and team members here at the town and the community.”
The goal is to preserve natural heritage while maintaining existing infrastructure and avoid decisions in one department creating problems elsewhere, he said.
“I think it’s about striking a balance and trying to get the right people at the table.”
When it comes to development applications, Frost said public works and planning are working toward the same goal: serving residents.
“I like to think that we’re not two different departments,” he said. “We’re all working for the one taxpayer, the one ratepayer.”
Frost said balancing council priorities and resident concerns starts with listening and clear communication.
“I think it’s about creating this accountable and transparent process, where we bring things forward, we discuss, we provide a response, we actively listen,” he said.
Much of the work done by public works staff, Frost said, goes unnoticed when systems are running properly — and becomes visible only when something goes wrong.
“You turn on your tap, you have safe drinking water — we take that for granted,” he said. “There’s a lot of work, pre and post, for the infrastructure to take shape and be completed.”
He said part of the job is helping residents understand why infrastructure projects take time and why work isn’t always visible.
“Trying to help kind of explain that in a way that isn’t super technical to the public,” he said. “It does take time, but it is a reasonable amount of time — and we’re trying to do things the right way, not the quick way.”
Living in NOTL means Frost brings extra pride to the role, he said, though his approach would be the same anywhere.
“It just adds that, I guess, a little bit of extra sense of community pride — of helping directly where I live and play, right?”
In the short term, Frost said, his first 90 days will focus on learning what is and isn’t working and improving communication.
“Before you can fix any problems or seize any opportunities, you truly have to understand how things are working,” he said. “Because my perspective is one thing.”
Longer term, he said the goal is to meet council’s strategic priorities and bring forward technical documents that help guide long-term decisions, including water and wastewater master plans and the town’s asset management plan, which was presented to council Jan. 13.
“It’s about trying to set us up with some foundational guiding documentation that we can refer back to,” he said. “And then start to build upon that.”
