Ward 12, which includes the Flour Mill, eastern Kathleen Street and part of New Sudbury, only has two candidates vying for the councillor's seat — incumbent Joscelyne Landry-Altmann and Jeff MacIntyre.
MacIntyre said one of the issues in the ward is aging infrastructure in the Mountain and Leslie Street area, which has lead to flooding problems.
He said culverts in the area haven't received enough maintenance, and therefore weren't able to handle the floodwaters.
Landry-Altmann said she had alerted city council to the flooding concerns, and staff are preparing a detailed report on how to deal with the situation, due later this fall.
She said she was present when the flooding occurred this year, and fought for a preventive plumbing funding program residents could access to get financial help in making their homes more resistant to flooding.
The program is now available to those living in the city's flood plain areas on a first come first serve basis.
MacIntyre said people still have to contribute half the costs to participate in the preventive plumbing program, and that is too much cost for some homeowners.
Landry-Altmann said there had been major infrastructure spending in the ward.
She pointed out Lasalle Boulevard and Kathleen Street have been revitalized, thanks to $14 million in infrastructure spending over the last four years.
“These projects were shovel-ready, and that is why they went ahead.”
MacIntyre criticized Landry-Altmann for not being clear about her political platform.
Along with Ward 2 candidate Peter Albers, Ward 4 candidate Richard Paquette, and Ward 6 candidate Chistine Guillot-Proulx he issued a press release criticizing incumbents for not not responding to questionnaires from community groups during the election.
“There is no way to scrutinize what they are standing for,” MacIntyre said. “They can say whatever they want at the door-there is no scrutiny of publicly available positions.”
He said Landry-Altmann failed to complete responses to the Good Green Questions Survey organized by the Coalition for a Liveable Sudbury. He said he responded to the questionnaire himself.
Landry-Altmann said she was working on a response to the questionnaire.
MacIntyre said Landry-Altmann has no web page to outline her platform, nor has she employed the use of social media to communicate with voters, especially youth.
If city councillors want to get youth involved in the political process, they need to use the mediums they use - Facebook, Twitter, blogs, websites, he said.
MacIntyre said community action networks tend to be overly dominated by the incumbent councillor.
“I attended a recent CAN meeting in New Sudbury,” he said. “I was told I only had observer status. I live in the section of the ward where this CAN operates.”
Landry-Altmann denied she dominates any of the CANs.
“Community Action Networks (in my ward) are run and chaired by their executives,” she said.
MacIntyre said if elected, he would propose minimum standards for CANs.
“They should have their own website. They should be chaired and run by residents in the community. The councillor should not be on the CAN executive. They should hold a number of community events to maintain a community presence.”
Landry-Altmann said the CANs in her ward have been very active and communicate well with the ward residents by phone trees and through e-mail. She said she attended the monthly meetings of all three, giving residents ample access to her.
CAN volunteers in her ward have revitalized Ridgecrest and Redfern Parks, she noted. Landry-Altmann said she worked with city staff to get funding for the playground.
“Ridgecrest Park has accessible washrooms, a full ramp entrance and a wheelchair accessible deck where those in wheelchairs can watch the children skate outside,” she said.
“It is the first fully accessible playground in a Greater Sudbury residential area.”
Landry-Altmann said the Uptown CAN was involved in heritage issues and the Flour Mill CAN was active in community based policing programs and beautifying the entrance to the area.
