The potential sale of the Orillia Power Distribution Corporation is the “main reason” Pat Hehn is energized to seek re-election in October’s municipal vote.
Hehn, an incumbent councillor in Ward 4, is looking for her second term.
“I really want to see the Hydro One deal go through,” she said. “This is such an amazing opportunity for Orillia. It will bring so many jobs.”
She said the sale would “change the face of Orillia forever” and allow council to follow through on one of the commitments its members made on the campaign trail four years ago.
“We promised jobs, and this would do that,” she said.
Overall, “there’s still lots of work to be done,” Hehn said.
She wants to see the downtown/waterfront plan come to fruition after the city purchased the Metro plaza on Front Street.
“This is a chance to take advantage of that prime real estate and do something magnificent, and it’s important we do it right,” she said. “I want to be a part of that.”
Hehn, 73, “thought very seriously” about seeking re-election, and this council’s record encouraged her to take the leap.
“This council has been extremely successful. We’ve accomplished a lot,” she said. “It’s taken 30 years to get a recreation centre, and we did it. We actually did it. We’re getting a state-of-the-art, age-friendly, magnificent recreation centre.”
She also pointed to the Orillia Waterfront Centre as a feather in council’s cap. After the port building burned, council could have simply replaced the small facility, but instead decided to make it bigger and better, Hehn said.
“These are all projects that are huge that council has tackled.”
More needs to be done, however.
As a board member with the Huronia Cultural Campus, which wants to turn the former Huronia Regional Centre into an arts and culture hub, Hehn sees potential for the Memorial Avenue property, and she expects the new provincial government will divest of the site during its term.
Other files she wants to see addressed in the next term of council include the downtown streetscape.
“There is a great interest in what’s happening downtown and I want to see us move forward on upgrading our downtown,” she said.
As the debate about whether to offer free parking rages on, Hehn would like to see it solved soon. There is a cost to free parking, she said, adding the burden would be passed on to the residential taxpayers and/or the businesses.
“The merchants have made it quite clear that they do not want to see their levy raised to cover free parking,” she said. “I’m not sure a lot of people are willing to pay that increase to allow free parking.”
Arts and culture are among Hehn’s personal interests, and she enjoyed being on the ad hoc public art committee that developed the city’s public art policy, which gives local artists a fair shot at having their work included in public buildings and spaces. That was borne of frustration after steel fruit sculptures made in the United States were installed outside the library.
“We have a lot of really good artists in this community and it always bothered me that we have those pieces of fruit in front of the library,” she said. “That should have never happened.”
The job of a councillor is a tough one, said Hehn, but she feels her resumé has prepared her for difficult roles. She was the founding executive director of North Simcoe Victim Services, which is celebrating its 20th year. Hehn, also a former bereavement counsellor, retired as executive director in 2014.
“I’ve never picked easy jobs,” she said.
Editor's Note: OrilliaMatters is profiling all candidates in Orillia’s municipal election. They are being published daily, by ward, in alphabetical order. The mayoralty candidates will also be profiled.
