Four generations of family connection, a farm we are building, and a long-term stake in what this Township becomes.
Chris Johnston for Nipissing Township Council
Decisions are being approved without enough discussion, problems are being fixed after the fact, and residents are left catching up. This campaign is built to change that — with a documented record, specific motions, and a Council plan residents can actually follow.
Council’s job is to set direction, ask questions, and make sure decisions are followed through.
Rooted here. Already doing the work.
My family’s roots here go back generations. My wife and I are building our life here. Our son will grow up here. I will be here to live with the consequences of what Council decides.
That is exactly why I have already spent years paying attention, raising concerns, and building tools to make Township decisions easier to follow. I’m not waiting for election day to care about how this place is run.
Four generations of family connection, a farm we are building, and a long-term stake in what this Township becomes.
Formal submissions, written concerns, public accountability work, and a searchable record built before holding a seat.
Professional experience managing systems, budgets, vendors, complexity, and accountability before projects drift off course.
I’m not asking residents to take my word for it. The governance problems I’m talking about are already documented: changing processes, missed deadlines, repeated approvals, weak follow-through, and too little visible course correction when things go off track.
I raised the issue of the agenda package not being consistently published before Council meetings. Kris Croskery-Hodgins responded in writing: "Thank you for bringing the oversight to our attention. It is our intention to publish the package the Monday before each meeting." A basic transparency standard — established by one request from a resident with no seat.
Read the email exchange →Before the new Council’s first meeting, I wrote formally to flag that staff were re-appointing committee members without the annual Council process the by-law required. I asked for my concern to be included in the agenda package before the vote. It wasn’t — and Council changed the by-law to match what staff had been doing. The concern is in the case study. The email is on the record.
Read the Boards & Committees case study →I submitted a formal written response to the draft 2023–2026 Strategic Plan warning that approving a short-term plan late in the term would leave the Township without a plan heading into an election year. Council approved it anyway. That is exactly where the Township is now — entering an election with no current strategic plan.
Read the Strategic Plan case study →I built nipissing.news to make Council decisions, minutes, and resolutions easier to find and follow. No funding, no seat, no permission required. It exists because residents should not have to dig through scattered PDFs to understand how their Township is being run.
Visit nipissing.news →These are not isolated mistakes. They show a consistent pattern: Council is not leading. They are not setting direction, they are not asking enough questions, and they are not catching issues early. Decisions move forward anyway — and when problems surface later, it's already too late. Plans change, deadlines slip, and residents are left catching up.
A process changed midstream, the role changed with it, and the public never got a clear explanation.
A project estimated at months drifted into years, with repeated approvals and no visible reset.
A short-term plan was approved late, with the exact election-year gap predicted in advance.
Practice overtook policy, Council direction was weak, and the system changed after the concern was raised.
A clear decision was made, the deadline passed, and the change came without the questions being asked.
Council adopted a document by by-law. Staff posted a different version publicly. Council was not informed.
See the full case studies, source documents, and the pattern they point to.
This campaign is built around practical improvements residents will actually feel: a better public record, clearer communication, visible accountability, and a Council that sets direction.
The platform is the direction. The Action Plan is how it gets implemented.
Residents should be able to easily find, understand, and follow Township decisions without digging through scattered files and PDFs.
Clearer updates, better timelines, and simpler ways for residents to know what is happening and when it matters.
Recorded votes, better discussion, clearer ownership, and stronger expectations around follow-through.
Financial information should be understandable to the people paying for it, not just readable to people used to municipal formats.
Better forms, better notice, and fewer barriers between the public and the decisions affecting them.
Residents and businesses understand how Township contracts are awarded, and Council can trust that procurement processes deliver what they promise.
Big decisions should be guided by a longer horizon and better preparation before deadlines force the Township’s hand.
My son will grow up in this Township. That changes how I think about every decision.
I’m not running for a title. I’m running because the quality of local government matters when you plan to stay, raise a family, and live with the consequences. Council decisions shape roads, facilities, spending, priorities, and trust. They should be made with more clarity and more care than residents are getting today.