BIOGRAPHY
My name is Mike Niesen and I am currently running at large for South Bruce council. I have served two terms on council (2014-present) and am seeking a third term. I have lived in South Bruce all my life on a generational dairy farm, where I currently reside at 488 Concession 10 East, Mildmay with my wife Rhonda of 27 years and where we raised our two daughters. I graduated from the agricultural business management program from Centralia College and have owned and operated our dairy farm for 21 years and a paintball business in South Bruce for 10 years. I started volunteering 30-plus years ago in the community as president of the Mildmay Curling Club, with the Mildmay-Carrick Agricultural Society (with two years as their president), Stout n’ Kraut Festival, Formosa Homecoming, Mildmay-Carrick’s upcoming homecoming and two horseshoe leagues. With eight years municipal experience, I am very familiar with the budget process, fiscal responsibility, daily operations of the municipality and on-going current projects. I have sat on various committees over the past two terms such as the Mildmay Community Health Foundation, Recreation Advisory Committee, South Bruce Tourism Committee, Bruce Area Solid Waste Recycling, Saugeen Valley Conservation and the Mildmay-Carrick Homecoming Committee. I am forward thinking and would like to see our community grow stronger together through a solid economic development plan and an affordable, balanced budget. I have the municipal experience and knowledge to effectively make challenging decisions that is required to be an effective councillor.
BIGGEST ISSUE
The forefront of a lot of people’s mind, is the deep geological repository (DGR). It is a huge project and not to underestimate the tremendous positive impact that this can have on our municipality, however, the focus should not just be on the DGR project, rather on all the projects and ongoing issues that the municipality faces everyday, one being fiscal responsibility. With or without the DGR, the budget should always be at the forefront of municipal decision making. It takes both knowledge and experience to understand how to maintain and create a balanced municipal budget, what the everyday operating costs are and what the asset management plan looks like to make responsible budgetary decisions. Each year, balancing a budget without major increases in property taxes or decreases in services or programs becomes increasing difficult. With the cost of living rising at an astronomical rate, increase cost of supplies and operating expenses combatted with a decrease in government funding, reduced tender bids, and decreases in the supply chain, all of these factors continue to drive the operating expenses up, makes budging increasing difficult. We need to continue to prioritizing needs from wants, support staff to continue to apply and seek out new grants, collaborate regionally and share resources, partner with neighbouring communities and with the County. All of these actions are going to be needed to keep a balanced budget going forward. With increasing expenses, we need to generate revenue. This can be accomplished by enticing our youth to stay local, by offering various apprentice programs, continue to support our small businesses, engage our community groups and create vibrant communities. By creating welcoming communities, youth and others will choose to stay and raise their families in South Bruce.
This in turn increases population, creates more jobs, and generates revenue through tax base. With that, maintaining our recreational facilities, our schools, medical services and daycare become increasing important. We need to continue to support new businesses and existing businesses through services like expanding our capacity for natural gas, better rural broadband, apprenticeship grants, good roads and bridges and vibrant downtowns. Businesses look to other businesses to see where success lies. Together, lets make South Bruce attractive for families, youth and businesses alike, so that we can increase the tax base and continue to enjoy programs and services, without making sacrifices, while making South Bruce an affordable place to live, work and play.
