When Richard Weese was living in Severn, he served on one of the township’s advisory committees.
“I enjoyed being part of the process. You got to find out what all your neighbours are thinking,” he said.
Now he wants to know what his neighbours in Orillia are thinking.
Weese, 71, who retired in 2002 after 22 years as a rides maintenance technician with Canada’s Wonderland, is seeking election as a Ward 4 councillor in Orillia.
While he is “impressed” with a lot of the work the current council has done, he feels some of the smaller details have been overlooked.
“They let the little things get away,” he said. “We have someone come by and spray-paint trip hazards on the sidewalks, but they never get fixed.”
Speaking of sidewalks: “Snow plowing is a problem,” according to Weese. He said the plowing of both sidewalks and roads is “inconsistent.”
He wants the city to start clearing snow from bus stops, too – something that was considered but ultimately turned down by the current council.
“They don’t clear the bus stops properly, and that’s a problem,” he said. “The buses could make some improvements, but mostly it’s (about) clearing the streets and making sure the stops are clear so people can use them.”
He would also like to see better line painting on the city’s roads.
“Some intersections are a free-for-all until they get the lines painted,” he said.
Weese is on the fence when it comes to the potential sale of the Orillia Power Distribution Corporation to Hydro One.
“I’m not sure about the sale of hydro. I think they give too much credit to Hydro One,” he said. “It might be a good idea, but I haven’t seen any evidence it would be good for the people of Orillia. I don’t know why you’d get rid of the goose that lays the golden egg.”
While he is excited about the new recreation centre that’s set to open next year – “You can see that it’s going to be a real boon for the city” – he is worried about the amount the city is spending overall.
“I am a little concerned about where the money comes from,” he said, adding he wants to learn more about that as a councillor. “I don’t want to see them waste money and get into too much debt.”
Weese moved to Orillia in 2016 with his wife, Rita, who died in May. The two would take day trips to different cities and towns, where they would dine, visit local attractions and meet with real-estate agents to help them determine where they wanted to move.
“Orillia was the best we found,” he said. “It’s such a nice, friendly, easy pace of life.”
If elected, he is ready to make his job as councillor a full-time one.
“I’ve got all the time in the world.”
Editor’s Note: This is the last of OrilliaMatters’ profiles of candidates running for Orillia city council. We will be profiling the two trustee candidates who are running to represent the area of Orillia, Ramara and Severn at the Simcoe County District School Board. The first profile will run Friday.
