Council Candidate Kathy Cottingham Talks Chatham-Kent Sports

CKSN asked all candidates running for Chatham-Kent council and mayor, to give us their backgrounds in sports and recreation, and describe their goals and views for not only sports and recreation in Chatham-Kent, but making Chatham-Kent a healthier, and more active place to live.

The Chatham-Kent Municipal election day is October 27, 2014.

Here are council candidate Kathy Cottingham’s responses. Cottingham is running for council in Ward 1 – West Kent.

1. Background in sports and recreation:

Thank you for the opportunity to share my experience with sports in our community. Though never involved in competitive sports myself, I have enjoyed lifelong sport and physical activities including golf, swimming and dance and therefore value those activities that keep people active and involved -no matter their age. I currently try to maintain a healthy lifestyle through daily exercise..

My three now grown sons were involved in sports programmes including hockey, swimming, soccer, golf and football. Now I get to enjoy sports through the next generation. My grandchildren have all been involved in football, soccer, dance and/or gymnastics. My step-grandson, Nolan, is involved in hockey and aspires to a career in the NHL. We are watching and enjoying his progress toward this very attainable goal. I currently drive my granddaughter Kyah to her dance classes with the Windsor Competitive Dance team, It has again become apparent to me how much commitment (both financial and time) it takes to support an athlete’s dreams. Watching them work towards their dreams makes me realize the sport implications to the saying, “it takes a whole community to raise a child”. It is my hope to expand the opportunity to realize such dreams to more of our Chatham-Kent children regardless of their economic status.

Volunteering

As a member of the Tilbury community, my sports involvement includes

• serving in the past on the board at the local golf club, as an organizer for the lady’s business league, and for a short time as a coach/assistant coach for gymnastics and basketball teams when I was teaching.
• volunteering for the youth program as the local golf course.
• as the president of the local Rotary Club, working with the principal and staff of TDHS to determine the school and local community’s soccer pitch was their priority. Our local Rotarians then took on improving the soccer fields as their community project.
• applying for and acquiring two grants for the soccer project- one from South Kent Winds of the CK Community Foundation and one from our Rotary District.
• currently applying to our Rotary District for a second grant for this ongoing project.
• working on another Rotary project to construct a splash pad as our community project in 2011-2012.
• working to support the Mayor’s Youth Group’s skateboard pad project.

Support for Programs

I firmly believe that keeping children involved in sport is an incredibly important part of their development, but it doesn’t stop there. We need to be committed to providing opportunities for all ages and economic levels to stay active and involved through sport and physical activities all year round. I see sports and athletic programs as imperative for a community’s health and financial development as these programs benefit existing residents, attract new residents and play a huge part in keeping our young people here.

In rural communities with limited access to transportation, it is important to make opportunities and facilities available to everyone from our seniors to young families while finding ways to lessen the financial and time burdens on these vulnerable populations. We need to work with our local associations and get rid of the discrepancy in fees for membership in all forms of sport to improve availability all across the municipality. Our urban centres need to meet the needs of the community in providing not only facilities for those who wish to compete at higher levels but also for the community at large to enjoy higher level sporting activities, while doing so in creative ways that do not overburden our tax payers..

In addition, I financially support sport and recreation programs. Our family business, Cottingham Tire, has children and community activities as its priority and has long financially supported hockey, soccer, swimming, baseball, and golf.

2. What specific ideas or goals do you have for Chatham-Kent, to improve or maintain recreational programs and facilities, and support our athletes and sports organizations? Or to help build opportunities for future growth in these areas?

Having been lucky enough to travel to many different parts of Canada and the world, I am always amazed at the sports facilities in even the smallest communities. My goals for sport and recreation in CK involve:

• working toward making our recreational facilities become the centres of community life.
• making optimum use of the facilities we have available by offering more than just organized sport programs but potentially such things as library services, cultural activities, exercise and health classes etc..
• making us more efficient.in our search for funding (both private and public) to ensure we keep our facilities up to date and/or plan responsibly for new ones as needed
• finding ways to lessen the tax burden through a long term comprehensive facility infrastructure plan involving a multitude of partners including our citizens and local sport celebrities.
• expanding programs throughout all seasons of the year (such as indoor swimming) by working into our long term plan the covering of existing local pools in each community where possible.
• advocating for facilities being open for the maximum amount of time each season.
• expanding more affordable recreation programs to our smaller communities to promote healthier lifestyles while respecting their need to limit expensive travel to access them –especially for seniors.
• re-evaluating roles and services of recreational staff to free up funds for maintaining recreational facilities and programs.
• having Chatham-Kent more aggressively promote the great opportunities for sport and healthy lifestyle choices.

3. How will you work to make Chatham-Kent a healthier, more active place to live?

I think the best thing I can do is be an active voice in supporting sport and physical activities by:

• encouraging the development of partnerships with the all levels of government, the private sector and community organizations to make sure we have new and well-maintained facilities as needed.
• encouraging groups by supporting their “can do” attitudes when it comes to their activities in promoting health, sport and physical activities.
• working toward a paradigm shift in how CK is being perceived (by some) as a hindrance to those promoting sports and other community activities. I’d like to see CK be seen first as a facilitator for initiatives being presented.
• supporting groups by making sure they get information they need to manoeuver the system and find out about available grants and funding to achieve their goals.
• helping foster a healthy environment by promoting tree coverage and supporting development of all of our parks, beaches and waterfront opportunities.
• most importantly by working co-operatively together with my fellow council members to meet the needs of all areas of Chatham-Kent, not just the larger centres.

4. Anything else you’d like to add?

Though I am 64 years young, I want to ensure the constituents of Chatham-Kent and my ward that I am motivated and have the passion, time and energy to work with a positive council to meet the needs of our municipality whether it is for sport, health, recreation or any other aspect of community life. My work with The Tilbury BIA, The Tilbury & District Chamber of Commerce, The Rotary Club of Tilbury, The Tilbury Interact Club at T.D.H.S., Create CK, The Land between the Lakes Cultural Action Team, The Tilbury Golf Club, the Chatham-Kent Women’s Centre, the Canadian Cancer Society. IODE. Heart and Stroke and various committees with the municipality attest to my abilities as someone who has vision and can get the job done. I look forward to the honour of being able to serve my community in this very important capacity.

What did you think of Council Candidate Kathy Cottingham’s responses? Let us know in the comments below!