Hello fellow Owen Sound candidate, People on Reddit and other local online spaces are already using helpos.ca/council https://helpos.ca/council to research candidates. It has become the most detailed Owen Sound candidate information source I am aware of. Thank you to the candidates who took the time to answer the COST questionnaire. Those responses have substantially improved the candidate profiles and helped fill out the new issue-based comparison https://helpos.ca/council/compare?sort-mayor=information&sort-council=information. The largest remaining gap concerns local representation. While speaking with residents at their doors, I often hear that they struggle to see the local results of their property taxes, receive limited follow-through from City Hall, or lack a clearly identified councillor responsible for their area. Residents also raise recurring concerns involving traffic, roads, lighting, safety, cleanliness and damaged infrastructure. My proposal would keep all seven councillors elected at large. After the election, each councillor would also take primary responsibility for one geographic ward of roughly 3,000 residents. Each ward would have about 10 Local Representatives, each connected with roughly 150 households. The Ward Councillor could meet with them for approximately one hour each month and participate in a public ward mailing list. Local Representatives would help carry civic concerns through City Hall and organize suitable voluntary projects, such as neighbourhood watches, cleanups, traffic-calming requests, approved signs and opt-in camera coordination with privacy protections. Local Representatives could receive living-wage compensation for approved and logged liaison work. Shared-stewardship activities would remain voluntary, with professional and municipal responsibilities protected. Could you please answer: 1. *If elected, would you be willing to take primary responsibility for one geographic ward while continuing to represent the whole city?* 2. *Would you support working with Local Representatives through a monthly ward meeting, ward mailing list and appropriate shared-stewardship activities?* You can reply to each with: *Yes / Yes, with conditions / No / Need more detail* One or two sentences are enough. Modified approaches are welcome. Read the complete Ward and Local Representation Plan https://helpos.ca/mayor/neighbourhoods Your response will be treated as on the record for the candidate comparison unless you indicate otherwise. If possible, please reply by September 11. I will send a separate brief follow-up to candidates whose Open Council position remains unclear. That concerns a searchable public written channel between in-person meetings, with decisions made at formal Council meetings. Thank you, Andrii Zvorygin Candidate for Mayor of Owen Sound HelpOS https://helpos.ca/