Left to Right: Belleville Mayor candidates Paul Fleming, Incumbent Neil Ellis, Don Metzger on the stage at the Empire Theatre.
The Belleville Chamber of Commerce hosted a Municipal Candidates debate at the Empire Theatre last night.
The full crowd was able to hear from candidates running to be councillors in ward one, and three out of four people running for the mayor’s seat.
Incumbent Mayor Neil Ellis, was joined by Paul Fleming and Don Metzger, in the most relaxed, respectful and thoughtful mayor’s debate in recent memory.
Affordability, infrastructure, and transparency were among the overarching themes to the six main questions that the candidates responded to.
Ellis stressed that his goal is focusing on core infrastructure including the wastewater plant to help foster growth and investment.
Fleming said that for him it’s about transparency and accountability. He is pledging to create an Affordable Belleville working group that would have residents and non profit agencies at the table.
Metzger agreed with many of Elli’s commitments on infrastructure and affordability, but shared concerns about the long timeline for water and sewer work to extend to Marshall Road. He added that if he was elected Mayor, he would give 20% of his base salary to agencies that address food insecurity and affordability.
The full meeting will be made available on YouTube, Thursday. More at Inquinte.ca
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