Monday evening there was a full crowd of over 400 Niagara-on-the-Lake residents gathered in the Crossroads school’s gym to listen as the three candidates for lord mayor responded to a series of questions posed to them by the Niagara-on-the-Lake Residents Association.

These questions were drawn from the input of residents to the association and offered the opportunity for each of the candidates — Vaughn Goettler, Andrea Kaiser and Erwin Wiens — to provide voters with a snapshot of how they would approach the job of Niagara-on-the-Lake’s lord mayor.

From the onset of the forum, there was one thing that was crystal clear: two of these candidates — Kaiser, with two terms on town council and one term on regional council, and Wiens, with two terms on town council (fulfilling the role of deputy mayor in the second term) — accepted their perceived understanding of the limitations imposed by the status quo processes of municipal government while Goettler as the third candidate, carries no baggage vis-à-vis how it has been done and is prepared to envision how it could be done better.

In short, we have two candidates who, should they become lord mayor, will support and perpetuate the current system and one candidate who is willing to take what we’ve got and work toward something different.

So, how important is experience in municipal politics?

Mr. Wiens claims that municipal finance and accounting is more complicated than its corporate equivalent and that regional amalgamation remains an immediate threat — both requiring experience to ensure that, on the one hand, good fiscal management is maintained while, on the other hand, the threat is staved off.

Certainly the Ford government could resurrect its amalgamation agenda but one wonders: why they would bother?

The provincial government’s restructuring of the regional council has effectively delivered very similar results to amalgamation by placing voting control in the hands of the three large city mayors and bestowing the equivalent of strong mayor powers on an appointed regional chair beholden to Ford.

Further, it is a solution with less political blowback, since local councils remain to give voters some level of voice in their municipality.

As to the issue of municipal finance complexity, one is not more “complex” than the other, however they do follow different accounting standards.

Government accounting follows the Public Sector Accounting Standards with an intended focus on accountability, transparency, and compliance with public budgets and laws.

Corporate accounting follows International Financial Reporting Standards for publicly accountable enterprises or Accounting Standards for Private Enterprises and focuses on measuring profit, financial performance and return on investment for shareholders and investors.

Still, while the financial reports are different, the fundamental principles of budgeting and measuring income versus expenses remain consistent and anyone with a reasonable level of financial management experience can read and understand both.

As a final note on this front, Mark Carney seems to have settled very comfortably into the role of prime minister without ever holding an elected office in parliament.

Returning to a few of the posed questions, when asked to provide three criteria for assessing development applications, Kaiser remarked that she would follow comprehensive zoning bylaws, consider residents’ quality of life and protection of agricultural lands.

Wiens suggested that the new official plan details would be followed and utilized to put “guard rails” in place while focusing on pushing development to Glendale, since space in the other settlements has largely been exhausted.

Goettler’s number one criteria would be assessing whether the proposed development “fit” within the existing neighbourhood or streetscape, then whether or not the present infrastructure could handle it and concluded with was it “best” for residents.

The candidates were asked how many hours per week they were prepared to put in to fulfil the duties of lord mayor.

Wiens replied that it was all about getting the job done; something that could not be captured by specifying a certain number of hours per week.

Goettler committed to “at least” 40 hours per week but also suggested to more if that’s what was required.

Kaiser suggested that she might commit 60 or 70 hours each week fulfilling the role.

All the candidates observed that collaboration with council members and staff would be extremely important.

On the issue of transparency, Wiens claims that all the information related to town governance is currently published and openly accessible.

Kaiser suggests that she would hold more public open houses to obtain voter input on important issues but failed to speak more fully to general transparency.

Goettler had already stated that his policy direction and decisions would be driven by the input of residents however, he suggested that clear communication would be key to that undertaking using the example of regularly publishing a simplified financial statement to keep voters informed.

Speaking to strong mayor powers, Goettler stated that they were an affront to democracy and he will not use them. Wiens remarked that the granted powers were a “tool in the toolbox” and had a place to be used under certain circumstances. Kaiser, while suggesting she was uncomfortable with them, did not rule out their use.

As to the other questions and answers, you will be able to find them on the NOLTRA website shortly and I strongly recommend you access them.

Be informed, make your decision and vote.

Brian Marshall is a NOTL realtor, author and expert consultant on design, restoration and heritage.