Mayor: What a year 2024 has been

In his year-end interview, South Dundas Mayor Jason Broad looked back at the accomplishments of 2024 and ahead to 2025. (The Leader/Comfort photo)

MORRISBURG – “What a year it’s been,” said South Dundas Mayor Jason Broad in his annual year end interview with the Morrisburg Leader.

Growth was the over-arching theme, both personally and municipally for the Mayor now entering the third year in his first four-year term as South Dundas mayor.

“For me, my confidence is growing,” said Broad, who with his election in 2022 was not only new to the role of mayor but entirely new to municipal politics.

“It takes time to understand the topics, understand the departments and understand what’s going on here and at the County council,” said Broad. “Now, I totally understand the challenges and have experienced it all.”

“I’ve loved every minute of being the mayor and I continue to love it,” he added.

Broad wants to take his newfound passion to the next level.

He told The Leader that he will run for SDG Warden in 2025.

He will finalize that decision in August, but barring any unexpected changes, his plan is to seek the seat at the head of the SDG council table. “It’s time to have a Warden back in the west wing of the Counties,” said Broad.

“I’m super proud of the work I’ve been doing at the county level,” said Broad, outlining his instrumental role in the development of an asset purchasing policy that gives local lower tier municipalities within SDG the first chance to purchase surplus county assets.

He is a constant advocate for greater collaboration at that level of government for the benefit of all. He recognizes the political clout that exists in the region which includes a City Mayor, Cabinet Minister, potential future Cabinet Minister, Senator and Grand Chief. “We need to take advantage of this,” said Broad. “I’ve started to build relationships with all of them.” He talked about how the provincial government seems to think that Ontario ends at Kingston. “We need to fix that,” said Broad.

Despite his County aspirations, the Municipality of South Dundas and its growth remains his priority as South Dundas Mayor.

“Water and wastewater capacity is one of our biggest assets,” said Broad. “Credit to all who set us up for that.”

That capacity means that South Dundas is poised for significant development.

“It’s not just about the sale of a property,” said Broad. “You have to get it to the finish line – to the occupancy permit.”

“We are now starting to reap the benefits of things that have sold in previous years,” said Broad. “Our staff has been incredible,” said Broad, talking about how development progress engages every department including planning, fire, water and roads. “Everybody’s involved.”

“It’s nonstop work to get a project to the finish line,” said Broad.

The Mayor is pretty hands on through the process, consulting with the CAO daily and participating in meetings when necessary. “Like when DC&F are in town, I meet with them, because I know they are interested in buying property in South Dundas.”

“I don’t leave any rock unturned,” said Broad.

Having learned from restaurant delays, Broad explained that for all projects they now work off a spreadsheet, “to make sure that everything is getting done for everyone in a timely manner.”

Listing ongoing development projects he mentioned the new three storey apartment building in Iroquois, Phase two for Dutch Meadows, the MorrisGlen affordable housing 17 unit building, the first 200,000 square foot building on the Safavieh property in Morrisburg, the Iroquois Esso expansion, that the restaurants are opening and the newly announced soybean processing plant in Morrisburg.

A property purchased by Sunshine Sky Development Company years ago is about to be included in the urban settlement area, which will allow them to start talking about their intentions for that property.

“In 2024, hundreds of acres of property have been sold to developers,” said Broad. While he is not yet announcing projects for those properties he hinted at both new residential and warehousing projects.

“People want to come to South Dundas. It’s exciting times.”

He spoke about the groundwork starting on the Valecraft Merkley Oaks subdivision that will consist of 319 residential units.

“While that’s all great, there are bigger opportunities too,” said Broad.

David Ross, of Ross Video, whose manufacturing headquarters is in Iroquois recently spoke about that company’s plan to grow, with a goal to double their sales to $1 billion by 2030. “That means more hardware, which is all manufactured in Iroquois,” said Broad. “They are our biggest employer, we have to have them grow here.”

“An important piece to all of that, is the implementation of some form of development charges and we’re getting close on that,” said Mayor Broad. “With all the potential growth happening, development charges are going to help pay for the infrastructure that will be needed.”

“We’re looking at a reasonable rate which is still appealing to those wanting to develop here,” said Broad. “It will just help offset infrastructure costs.”

Settling the 2025 South Dundas budget is the first order of business for council in the coming weeks.

“Municipal budgets for rural communities are really challenging,” said Broad.

“We can’t offset inflation, supply chain increases, and the lack of competition without growth. We need growth, we need federal funding, we need more provincial funding, and we need less requests for other money like social development which can take away from infrastructure – the municipal tax dollar can only go so far. We can’t continue the trend of raising taxes. It’s not sustainable.”

At the first budget meeting, which was held in December, staff presented council with a budget proposing a nearly 12 per cent tax increase. “We could have come in with a much lower number than that,” said Broad, who has been reviewing the document.

He explained that the first document allowed people to see all the work, projects and service levels that council will have to consider as they work towards a more palatable increase.

“We want people to know that it’s council making the decisions,” said Broad. “On January 13, we’re going to come back and start deciding what we’re going to do and what we’re not going to do. My intention is not to have a 12 per cent increase,” added Broad.

At this point he wouldn’t put a number on the increase as he would rather actively work through the process with the council team at the next budget meeting. He foresees relying more on reserves than taxation, until they realize more growth, which takes time.

“We have to have growth every year to offset increased costs,” said Broad who sees the speed of growth as the municipality’s biggest challenge.

“For the coming year, I’m most excited to see the development,” said Broad. “Both the ones we’ve been working on and then working to attract the next developers who are interested in doing business with us, and getting more shovels in the ground.”

For the council team, Broad said that the priority project for 2025 is to get the mall parking lot improvements completed.

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