Showing posts with label Seguin Facts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seguin Facts. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Voter Eligibility

Seguin Township Office

I swung by the Seguin Township administrative building today to find out a thing or two about voter eligibility. As I will be surveying Ward 1 people for their direction on my council voting, I want to be sure that I'm talking to people qualified to vote.

Here's what the Municipal Elections 2010 Guide states:
A person is entitled to be an elector at an election held in a local municipality, if on voting day he or she is:
  • a Canadian citizen;
  • at least 18 years old;
  • residing in the local municipality or an owner or tenant of land there, or the spouse of such owner or tenant; and
  • not otherwise prohibited from voting.
The following cannot vote in a municipal election:
  • a person serving a sentence of imprisonment in a penal or correctional institution;
  • a corporation; or
  • a person convicted of a corrupt practice for an election held within four years of voting day.
If not on the voting list, you can fill out a form to get registered at the Seguin office in September. As it is a mail-in voting system, trying to do this on Oct 25th (voting day) could be problematic to say the least.

The form merely requires a potential voter to declare on the signed document that they occasionally 'reside' in Seguin. Their word is taken for granted.

So, for the purpose of my 'Perfectly Seguin' survey, an 18 year old who visits a family cottage for one weekend out of the year has the same right to vote in a Seguin Township election as a 60 year old who has lived in the township since birth.

Should I wonder who takes the trouble to vote?

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Seguin's Official Plan: The Questionnaire

Here's the scan (as promised) of Seguin's Official Plan Questionnaire sent to Seguin landowners in 2004. The Questionnaire is eight pages in total. Click the images for a larger view (so you can actually read it).

After the questionnaire, I include scans of the 'Official Plan Survey Overview' (four pages) dated Jan. 2005 as provided to me by the Seguin planning department on March 17th, 2010.

My next post will include my brief analysis of both the Questionaire and the Results Overview.


SEGUIN'S OFFICIAL PLAN QUESTIONNAIRE:


page 1


page 2

page 3

page 4

page 5

page 6

page 7

page 8


SEGUIN'S OFFICIAL PLAN SURVEY OVERVIEW:



page 1

page 2

page 3

page 4

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Seguin's Official Plan

In my effort to better understand municipal politics in general and Seguin Township in particular, I've read Seguin's Official Plan. This plan, serving to direct the affairs of the township for the next fifteen years, is an essential read for anyone living in Seguin, I feel.

You can read a copy of Seguin's Official Plan online (click here).

Also available to read (same webpage) is the lengthy Zoning By-Law passed by council in 2006 which is derived from the Official Plan in order to set elements of the plan into Seguin municipal law.

I've heard a number of complaints from different people in Ward 1 about negative impacts resulting from the official plan, though various politicians or municipal staff are blamed for one reason or the other. Yet the actions of staff or councillors are most often constrained or directed by the principles set forth by the Official Plan and the Zoning By-Law derived from it.

In a very real way, the people of Seguin and their government are limited by the constraints of the Official Plan. At least, that's my understanding at the moment. I'll be the first one to admit I don't know everything.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Seguin Facts

Area 700 sq. kms
Permanent Population 4,280
Seasonal Population (approximate) 15,000
No. of Lakes 186
No. of Households 4,678
No. of Commercial Properties 105
No. of Industrial Properties 49
Assessment $2.3 billion
Municipal Maintained Roads 290 kms
Private Maintained Roads 174 kms
Bridges/Structures 24
No. of Tonnes of Waste in 2008 2339
No. of Tonnes of Recycling in 2008 543
Emergency Calls in 2007 420

Municipal Office 1
Township Libraries 4
Township Fire Stations 4
Fire/Ambulance Base 1
Community Centres 4
Arena 1
Airport 1
Public Beaches 7
Boat Launches 19
Parks 2
Museum 1
Sports Fields/Fairgrounds 5
Cemeteries 5
Nursing Station 1
Landfill Site 1
Waste/Recycling Transfer Stations 7

Post Offices 1
Golf Courses 2
Marinas 13
Provincial Parks 2
Schools:

Public

Private



1

2

Churches 7
Private Fairground 1

SOURCE: http://www.twp.seguin.on.ca/376/seguin_facts.htm