BarrieToday recently reached out to each candidate for city council in Barrie's 10 wards for a 300-word profile in their own words about their background and why people should vote for them.
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My name is Erin Hennigar and I am running for Barrie city councillor in Ward 1.
I moved to Barrie in 1989 when Barrie only had around 30,000 people. I attended and graduated from Georgian College in hospitality administration. After graduating from Georgian College, I purchased my home in Ward 1 with my husband and we are now raising our family here.
A few of the concerns facing our ward that I will address if elected are aging infrastructure and damaged roads, the increase in criminal activity and how the city will police our area with the upcoming cove of the police station, city departments time and budgeting not been provided to Ward 1 to fully cover our needs, such as the parks and recreation department.
Additionally, I want to work with the city planning to help control our tax rates and services we get for those taxes. I believe we need to focus on securing additional companies to help with the cities employment issues, and not just any company, but those that bring higher paying jobs which will decrease the need for Barrie citizens to commute to Toronto for work.
Another major issue facing Barrie as a whole is affordable housing. Barrie’s average gross income per household is $81,000 a year with the housing market trends continuing to climb we need to work on a program that will entice developers to offer new home builds or rental properties at a lower rate for qualified applicants.
I look forward to the opportunity to work with the mayor and other councillors on these programs and scheduling to increase the quality of life for the citizens in Barrie.
