“I want to listen to the people.”
Robert Gottardi was a previous Halton Hills Mayoral candidate back in 2018 when he first decided to run in the municipal election. A retired banker, Gottardi has been involved in the finance business starting well into the early 80s. Gottardi grew up in Toronto, however, his business required him to travel back and forth between Canada and the United States. In 2007, Gottardi settled down in Ontario and decided to retire, now he spends his days with his daughter who has cystic fibrosis.
Gottardi joined Acton UP in an interview where he discusses the significance of this year's campaign. “Since 2018, I have kept in touch with many people regarding the situation within the town and a lot of the issues I ran on in 2018 are still present today. There has been no advancement on how things are being handled.” Gottardi continues, “accountability and transparency are lacking, something has to be done about that. We have to find a way around these no-camera meetings and secret dealings.”
Gottardi has extensive experience with finance and business practices and believes his past involvement will benefit Halton. “I was in the service industry for many years and I know how important service is, the town council is a part of the service industry, it is meant to service the town.”
It is extremely important to Gottardi to find solutions for the problems that the community is having within Halton, “people need to have somebody to hear their concerns.” Gottardi says, “we need somebody to make these hard decisions to ensure that the town is run properly.” For Gottardi, in order to properly run a town, there needs to be some sort of collaboration between council, residents, and businesses, “we need to work as a team,” otherwise according to Gottardi reaching a goal will be very difficult.
One way Gottardi plans on challenging is property taxes, “property taxes have outpaced inflation in Halton Hills and sometimes two to three times the inflation rate over the last ten years. This has to stop. Nobody can sustain that, the people of Georgetown cannot sustain that. People need a break.” Gottardi continues, “one area we can fix that specifically is we can cut the taxes or at least keep taxes at an inflationary rate or less. Something has to be done.”
Gottardi also believes that some development is necessary for growth, it just needs to be done thoughtfully and carefully. “We need someone who knows how to manage that development.” Gottardi believes that with his previous years of financial and social business experience alongside his passion and love for his town he is someone the people can depend on to run Halton. Gottardi concludes his interview with, “this election needs to bring on some change, and I hope to be that change.”
Comentarios