Matthew St. Pierre

The porch welcomes a candidate from Redcliff, Matthew St. Pierre is hoping to be re-elected to town council. Brian and Matthew discuss the issues facing Redcliff including infrastructure spending and the need for economic development and how the town wants to grow.

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Transcript

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And again, you can't, try and persuade her or his or her decision making and stuff like that. So. And again, that's all comes with time and learning and, and I, you know, I feel I just start scratching the surface in four years. So. This episode of Bring Back the Porch brought to you by Bernie Leahy, River Street Realty. Let's get you home. There's an election underway. You've probably heard about it in Medicine Hat or Cypress County, but the town of Radcliff is also having an election for its town council. And incumbent Matthew Saint Pierre joins us to talk about what's happening in Redcliffe. Welcome, Matthew. Well, thanks for having me. You are the only one so far. And because of the time that we're recording this, you're going to be the only one who's been afforded the opportunity to talk to us about what's happening in Redcliffe. So I'm hoping in the next 20 minutes or so, we can kind of look at what is happening in the little community just to the northwest of medicine that I did. As I mentioned to you when you came in, I looked up the questionnaire from four years ago when you were first seeking election as a councilor, and I thought it'd be interesting to see how we have, some of those issues that have been dealt with over the last four years. So we'll kind of go into that as we go along here. Top of the issue here was somebody asked you about recreation, and I know that is near and dear to your heart in Redcliffe, so I know that you spent considerable money upgrading the rectangle, which looks beautiful. But, what else has happened in Redcliffe over the last four years? Well, I guess you touch base there. Like, for sure the arena. Like we put a new concrete slab and new boards. Come next offseason, the new ice plant is going to be put in, those are definitely some major upgrades. And, we do have to thank the province for that as well. For with, with a grant helping us out with that. We also did put some money towards our, our pool. We put a new liner in here this last summer, on both sides that, that alone was a big chunk of change. About $400,000. So, and then unexpectedly, we had our boilers go down last year, too, at the pool. So that's that was another big upgrade we had to do that was unexpected. In regards to recreation, we like, we'll see. You'll see some minor things coming up. We're hoping this year, we're going to be, getting installed a new outdoor recreation like area. So an outdoor, like an outdoor gym, basically in a it'll be right beside the pool as well. And then finally some lighting, at our skate park. Okay. So, we're hoping to see that, before the end of the year. So there's lots happening in Redcliffe. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I think one of the things that you had campaigned on for years ago was an accessible playground. Yeah. Has that progressed? That kind of stalled this, like I said, these last four years. And the reason being is once I got on, then I, I did learn. Okay, well, the arena needs some major upgrades. The pool needed some upgrades. And then also a lot of our infrastructure, we needed a new, fire truck. A lot of, our services needed to be, repaired or updated. And that's going to continue. When it comes to the accessible play place, it was actually a few people during my campaign four years ago that brought it to my attention. They're like, hey, like, there's an there's nowhere here in Redcliffe that you can really, where their kid can go, you know, wheelchair and go and go play with other kids or anything like that. They have to go into Medicine Hat. So to have something like that in Redcliffe, I think it's then it's including everybody. Right? So, hopefully that's something that we can, I can put on the table for this coming, term. If I get reelected, I think it's, it's definitely something important that, that we, I would personally like to see added to our community, you know, something that maybe has, like, a rubber floor and, different play structures for, anybody that has accessibility issues. That's per se. So there are wish lists. Everybody has one. And I think one of the wish lists in Redcliffe is an indoor pool facility. Yeah. We've and we've heard about that too, so far this campaign as well. That's a, that's a tough one because, one thing I've learned in these four years how much it costs to run even just our facility for two and a half, two months. It's it's it's that we definitely don't generate. It's not a money generating facility, that's for sure. It, we we end up losing money every year. So to put a roof over top, I think it's a I think it's a great idea. I would love to see it, but, the cost involved with it would be, you know, we're definitely looking at seven figures to do that, to put the roof over and, insulate it and do whatever needs to be done to do that. Could it possibly be done with some grant funding, maybe? Grant funding, I'm finding is tough to come by too. So, and with any big project like that, then of course taxes will have to go up. Our mill rate goes up, and. And tempers go up and. Yeah, people don't like tax increases and, and even I don't, I pay taxes just just like everyone else. And, it's, you know, I'm not a big fan of I've seen, like, big, big increases. And, so to do something like that would, definitely we would need some help from, either, like sponsorship or from, from through grants and stuff like that. So but it like, it's not something I would throw off the table, but it would be a hard, hard task to do. Generally speaking. What is, the situation for the town of Redcliffe financially? I'd say going into this last term, I did learn a lot in regards to financially what our town is, how how we are doing. And I have to tip my hat to the previous councils because, you know, sitting next to, our outgoing mayor who's running for council, Dwight Kilpatrick, who has, you know, over 30 years experience, like him saying, in the past, the town being in, in the red for a long time and, and being in, pretty bad spot financially. But they, they dug deep and started to put money away. And now, we're sitting or sitting pretty good with, with money sitting in reserves. To help fund future projects and stuff like that. So, with that, putting money away and being very conservative with our money where we spend it, has definitely helped. Things in the future, like, let's say, any unexpected costs? Like. Like the boiler. Like the boiler. Exactly. And then for future projects for, like, let's say infrastructure for, putting in new roads and new servicing underneath, which has to do one block. But that's another thing I learned just to repave a block and put in new servicing is about one. It's a little over one$1 million per block. So it's it's definitely not cheap. So to try and put money away to do those future projects, it's it. You know, I tip my hat to the previous councils to put us in the position that we're in now. So other services in Redcliffe, include policing. And I know that's near and dear to your heart because that's what brought your family to Redcliffe. Yes. My dad is a proud retired member of the RCMP. He retired in 2001 as the, acting detachment commander in Redcliffe. So the RCMP definitely, for me is, you know, I love the RCMP. I, have a lot of respect for the for them, for what they do in our community. It has been a bit of a challenge I've seen in the last four years, when it comes to staffing and stuff like that, it's trying to maintain for the, for to watch them try and maintain a, a full, for the full number of staff. It's definitely it is tough and it is frustrating, I know for some residents and for myself, to see, they like to see it what we what would appear a lack of of, policing and Redcliffe. But, when we are fully staffed, it definitely you can see the difference a little bit and, like I, I got to know the our current detachment commander, Michael Cordy, staff Sergeant Cordy and a lot of respect for him for what he does. And, yeah, I think I, I'm proud to have the RCMP in Redcliffe. It is a difficult, ask for the RCMP because not only the town of Redcliffe is their responsibility. They have to go from the U.S. border to Sandy Point Bridge from the Saskatchewan border. Over, I think halfway between seven persons and Boa Island. Yeah, that's a big chunk of real estate. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. And they can't always just be in the town of Redcliffe. Yeah. And that's where it's, it's kind of the one thing I've learned again, these last four years is, you know, we we asked the town pay for a certain amount of officers, Cypress County, pays their, their share. And then also the province supplies a certain amount of officers as well. So it you know, if our officers have to go out to, let's say, Dunmore, you know, okay, that's those are our officers go in there that we're paying for. But again, it's reciprocated when the provincial officers or the county Mountie has to come in and and we'll respond to a call, let's say, in Redcliffe. So it, it it kind of balances itself out. So it sounds like you do in Redcliffe need to cooperate with the other two administrations, the city of Medicine Hat and the county of Cypress County as well. Yeah, definitely. So that requires a little coordination. From the council, leadership. Is that, something that you pride yourself on? Like like with being on council, you mean, or. Being on council and making sure that everybody is, is, you know, focused on the problems at hand and they don't go down the rabbit hole. Yeah. Yeah, I'd say so. Like, like it just being on council itself this, this last term in regards to like leadership. You know, that's I'd say, you know definitely Dwight Kilpatrick her married you know, he definitely showed and taught, you know, myself and James Allen who who was also a new, councilor this year. Definitely kind of steered us in the right direction. And, and not just not just white. Everyone else that was on council this past term that, have been there prior and, so, I guess you can say probably like the last two years, he once I started to feel a little bit more, confident, let's say I don't want to say comfortable, but, more confident, you know, than I. And and starting to learn the ropes then. Then. Yeah. Like, excuse me, going in and seeing, like, and speaking with our CEO and stuff like that because, and talking with her and, and I guess in the can't really say give direction, but, just to my guards, to any questions that she may have or it's trying to be there and to help answer those questions, because that's one thing is a lot of people don't, don't know is, and the same thing goes for Medicine Hat. Same thing goes for Cypress County. We only have councils, only have one employee, and that's a cow. And it's not like, where a resident can come to me and say, I'm having a bylaw issue. I can't go to our bylaw officer and say, hey, like, this resident is isn't has this issue. I have to go to the CEO. And then in turn, she directs, who she needs to go to. So I guess that's more of like, I guess you can say leadership kind of thing, but, It's not like I would never go tell her what to do or anything. So it's governance. It's. Exactly. And because you can't you again, you can't, try and persuade her or his or her decision making and stuff like that. So and again, that's all comes with time and learning and, and I've, you know, I feel I just start scratching the surface in four years. So you mentioned learning. I'm wondering if, you had some preconceived notions that got popped once you got onto the town council exam. Yeah, yeah. Like and. Easy. From the outside it is. And, you know, and and I don't want to speak bad of anyone else, but, like, going into, like my, my first term, you know. Yeah, I would, I would love to do this. I'd love to do this. But going into this term, I learned that I'm only one vote and one vote out of seven. I'm not going to promise. Make promises I know I can't keep. And, yeah, hearing, hearing some different, candidates. Not, not. And I'm not saying saying Redcliffe or anything, but, just a that's how. How do I put into a politician. Because actually I don't seem. To get elected. Exactly. And, all I can do is advocate, I can support, like if, if I will, you know, something like definitely support. Lower taxes. And that's something I always support because I would love to see lower taxes, to recreation. That's something I will support. I cannot make promises that, so yeah, when you say like, a bubble popped, it's like, well. Oh, I didn't know that. I didn't know that. Yeah, I. Could do this. Yeah. So. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. A good friend of mine, David Carter, former MLA, speaker of the House of Alberta Legislature, advised me that he said you don't have to be a politician. He said, you just have to listen. Yeah. Probably one of the biggest skills that you need if you're running for, public office. Yeah. Complaints. I'm sure you get lots of them in Red bluff. And I think one of them maybe traffic. It's hard to believe that in Red cliffs there would be a traffic issue. But there is a an intersection, I think, of Mitchell and Broadway. That has been a bit of a burr under some people saddle. Yeah, yeah. And you I, I hear it every once in a while and, it was part of my campaign four years ago. But again, it's, it's my, my perspective of Broadway and Mitchell has changed. It definitely is probably our busiest intersection. And and that's because it feeds out of, your new residential area, I believe. In a sense, yeah. Yeah, I guess. Yeah, that's the only access to it. If unless you go all the way around through the city of through the West side. But, eventually, when if we look at our, like, our master development plan, in the years coming up, you know, if we can be lucky and get some development over on the east side, like ninth Avenue, East side, East side, like that road will eventually go all the way out to Sammy's Drive. The old highway. The old highway. So that in turn, will alleviate traffic at Broadway. Mitchell. Citizens, drive, which is the gravel road behind the police station. Eventually we would like to see that paved, but again, we don't want to throw, a slab of pavement over top. Then all of a sudden, boom, we get all this, development in that area. Which means you have to. Tear it, tear it all up and put servicing it, you know? So, that's that's where it's it's tough. Because, you know, people would like to see it, but we don't want to waste some money doing it, and then, you know, because then, then it's just it is a waste of money to dig it all up and, and put servicing in again. So, in regards to that, that intersection, I think if we were to do something today and it would cost, you know, quite a bit of money to put a set of traffic lights, I don't think four way stop it really is the answer, because during Radcliff rush hour, you know, in the morning and in the evening, I think that it would bottleneck either going, going west or east, like west in the morning, east and in the evening that start stop, start stop at a four way stop. Honestly, like if I need to cross going straight on, on that road, if it's busy. Yeah, I might wait for a minute or minute half, but eventually I get across and I would just not like to waste money right now on that. If we can, if we know down the road we're going to alleviate that, that traffic. Yeah. Down the road. How do you grow the town of Radcliff? Well, that's, that's something we as a council I know have have, talked about in the last four years and fairly recently, like we, we've offered, like, tax incentives for new builds, let's say, and even just this year, we have seen some progress with that, with some new builds, like I have my memory, stands corrected. We've seen over ten, like, double digits for new built. If my memory sounds great, I know, I know, all I know is that we it, people have, started to utilize this tax incentive, to to to to build new in, in Radcliff. So, I think that's a great start. You know, trying to attract more business is, it's definitely it is a challenge. It really is because you you look at the cost of what it's going to cost to build a new facility for, for any it's a, a lot of money, you know, buying property, buying, like, all the supplies to, to build it and then so like with that is do we look at maybe, deal when it comes to offsite levies, let's say, so anything to attract new business. I think we all are on the same page anyways, because we all would love to see the town grow some more. So do you have elbow room to grow? Oh, I think so. Yeah, yeah. The Lockwood Industrial Park still has valuable spots for an industry to come in. Remind me what, Lockwood? I have never heard. The Lockwood, I believe, is, it would be north of Broadway and east of, the Trans-Canada highway. North of Broadway. Is there. There are a lot of oilfield companies. Oh, yeah? Yeah, yeah. I can't remember any of the names of the roads, but, I used to see them every day when we were at chat television. Oh, yeah? Yeah. The other stuff, if my memory sounds correct, there's still some room right around, up on the, like the northwest side there, kind of where, Iron Horse is now along that, that road there. Yeah. And then we do potentially have, inc all that, land that's north, north of that and the, kind of northwest, like right up to where, like the mess at Speedway is and just west of that to, there's some stuff that may be in the works that I can't really talk about right now, but, Confidentiality. Yeah, but, but, it that and, you know, hopefully we, we have our fingers crossed it could be exciting times for Redcliffe, too. So many fish in the boat. And so but it's, it's dot in the T's and dot in the T's and crossing the i's, so. Yep yep, yep. So residentially, you mentioned that. I think it's, the east. You call the East side development is. Yeah. The name of that is. There's still room for housing in that area. Oh, lots of room. So, we one thing, myself and the others on council, I, pretty confident, say most of us, if not all of us, have advocated and and help is is a new school to go on the east side. So that is still in the works. So the with the new school we're hoping is going to spur some more development in the East side and we're in the plan is to hopefully, do some more development to accommodate those to like that's that school development as well. Right. So again, it's everything takes time. So it's, hopefully it's, it's something that I can that's an and that was another big reason why I was, I wanted to run again is because I want to see that project come to fruition. It's a new school. And then, hopefully servicing more sites to, to spur that development for, new housing, garbage collection. And Redcliffe has always been one of those that people have opinions upon. How has that been going over the last couple of years? It's been pretty quiet, I'd say on that front. Anyways, people. Have gotten used to the system. We they, they do like the big bins majority, I'd say a large majority, like the big bins. I know I like the big bins. We are learning though, the cost of these big bins and the costs associated with them, and they're not getting cheaper. And, you know, I try and encourage everybody like everybody, you know, is when you put your garbage in there, close the lid because those, those bottoms are rotten. Again, I didn't know this until I started doing this, but these bottoms are rotting out because of the and the rain and stuff like that and that. So the town will try and fix the bottoms the best they can, but, these bins aren't cheap anymore. And and they're for, to my knowledge, I believe they're getting harder and harder to come by too. So, I hate to say it, but, you know, maybe eventually, we're going to have to, maybe look at doing a change. It's a change that I don't want to see, like. But again, because I do like the convenience factor at the big events. And, I would say a majority of Redcliffe does still as well. So what about recycling? That would take some of the load off of those bins. Yeah I agree, There is a provincial program and I'm trying to remember the name of it now, where they're going to be rolling out the, the small recycling bins. And I believe that's like a provincial thing that's going to be happening, when that happens again, not too sure yet. So hopefully that would alleviate some, some of the waste going into our bins and then maybe coming into our compost facility, let's say, and we can only hope that they're utilized correctly. Right. So and there's been, you know, some other ideas tossed around in regards to recycling to, to help alleviate what's going into our landfill. But, nothing really is, besides the, the provincial program that's coming in, nothing has really come to fruition yet. So I'm trying to remember here, but I believe a couple of years ago, there was, a plan for, some upgrades for, some of the facilities and rentals, and, and the rectangle was one of them. But I think there was also some thought of doing something for the museum. Is anything happened there? Well, actually, we did do a few years ago, a, it was, six figure, kind of, I guess you could say a renovation. So if you actually drive by the, the front of it is no longer that that yellow, The mustard colored. Yeah. It was a mess. So they knocked all that down, and it's. And it's almost like a like a brick again and did a facelift there. And, they did some, some more like, I guess cosmetic, you can say, like up on the roof and stuff like that, stuff that the public can't really see, but, it, it was, it was an upgrade that needed to be done, because, you know, like the building, there was a big crack in between the, in between the two because it's actually two buildings. The old town hall, I believe. Town hall, the old police station. Yeah. And, so we got, we, we made sure that was, that was all put together, but put back together. Just, backup until a couple years ago, I started sitting on the the board of directors for the museum as well. And so, yeah, there are still some, upgrades we would like to see again. It's going to have to come in time. And then, when the funds do become, let's say, available. Right. So yeah, it, but it is a great little building and I, I think it's, it is an important piece to Radcliff as well as as a museum. And I encourage everybody there does even live there. And who does live there to just go check it out. Go check out the old jail cell that used to be the original jail cell in there. So, yeah. My grandpa would never mind. That's part of history. You don't want to leave? Yeah. When we look at, the history and crime and whatnot and crime prevention, and one of the things that always comes up about Radcliff is your street lighting. Is our program to replace some of the older lights to give a little more light on the streets? Well, the. That seems to be like, a weird subject I've learned because, the street lighting is is associated with the City of Medicine Hat as well. Okay. So, it's I think eventually it's going to be going to old LED because the, like, fluorescent bulbs that are in there, they're they're obsolete now. And so, and I've already seen it in a few, few lights around town that they've actually changed the head on it and made it to an LED light. So I guess that's kind of where it's going right now. That's that's probably the only real, upgrade so far that is happening. There are some streets in Red Cliff that don't even have, have, have lighting. So I have thought like so friends of mine, they, they let me kindly let me put up, a campaign sign, on their lawn. And every few days I take a drive around and. Yeah, I, I drive down their street and they there's like, one streetlight for two blocks and that's where it's, it's tough because they have the power lines going down there, but it's actually you're actually not allowed to put street lights attached to power lines anymore. Okay. So you actually have to put all new standing structures up. So again looking at a cost of that. But maybe there's a ground for that somewhere. And you know, that's something, you know, maybe we can look at it as a, as a new council if, if reelected, that, we can, we can upgrade, you know, especially in the northwest side of Radcliffe that doesn't have that lighting or, even down, like, if you look down Mitchell Street, all all the lighting down Mitchell Street is all attached to, the, power lines. Right. So, Lots that we did not know about the town of Radcliffe. Is there anything else, heading into this, vote on the 20th that you wanted to bring up? Just, I guess, advocating for, some of the the projects that, citizens have brought forth to me, like at a meet and greet that I had heard that I was involved in last, last week there, you know, a pedestrian lighting lighted crosswalk at sixth Street and Broadway, because it's a very, very busy intersection. And sometimes you just don't see the pedestrians standing there waiting to cross. So, I've, myself and and a few other candidates have been asked that question, and I think there's, there's pretty good support for that. Also, some people that are like their fur babies or, you know, they would like to see some upgrades to our current dog park or maybe even an upgrade to a new one. So that that was actually part of our discussion yesterday at our last council meeting is, the dog park and, as well as, the, the Broadway, crosswalk there. So, you know, just, you know, language shouldn't say little things, but, They're big things to to. Make things tough. Yeah, yeah, I got two dogs myself, and, I like to utilize the dog park when I can. But it, And I'm the first one to say to there that it definitely is in need of some upgrades to, to, because you can use it after it rains, because it's, it's all muddy and stuff. So, you know, it's things like that. So and maybe supplying some water and, and some shade and stuff like that so that we'll see how it goes. Yeah. It's been said the mills of the gods grind slowly. So you had four years on council and you would like to have another four to complete some of the things that we've talked about. Yeah. And, and definitely, just, you know, be, be a voice for and, and support these ideas. Right. So, to the best of my ability, like I said, I won't make promises I can't keep, but I will support them. So Matthew Saint-Pierre, candidate for Redcliffe Town Council, October 20th. Thanks for the. Visit. Thanks for having me.