Name: Barry Jeske
Party affiliation (if any): None
Education: Apprenticeship and Trade School
Occupation: Funeral Director and Embalmer, self-employed in Abbotsford and Mission
Previous political experience: None
Residency (city/neighbourhood): We live in the Newton area of Surrey. I work at our business in Abbotsford and I help out at my wife’s business in Mission and am planning to relocated to Mission
Community involvement: Being self-employed we work so very hard but we find time to volunteer at church
Marital status/children: Married to a wonderful lady with four grown up children and three grandchildren
Email: bijeske@telus.net
Social media: on Facebook now!
Issues:
Three issues I believe residents of Mission are concerned about:
1. Crime and Safety
2. High Property Taxes
3. Waste of taxpayers’ dollars
Crime and Safety can be addressed in the new agreement with the RCMP. Working closer with the RCMP and developing a stronger community policing presence are a start. The addition of more RCMP members is essential. More emphasis on the downtown Community Policing office and also perhaps a Citizen Patrol program like in Abbotsford need to happen.
High Property Taxes needs to be addressed. A lot of people I talk to say their taxes are too high for the level of services they receive. I believe so strongly in the ability to lower residential property taxes by 5% that if elected I pledge to donate half of my councillor's wage to local Mission charities until this goal is obtained.
Mission’s high taxes possibly can be related back to Municipal waste of taxpayers’ dollars. I have noticed a number of RFPs being rewarded to out of province consulting firms. Why? Did we even need the RFPs to begin with?