Seniors
Staying in Trent Hills, safely and affordably.
- Aging-in-place housing options and accessory dwelling units
- Getting to appointments without owning a car
- Digital access and help using it
Trent Hills Municipal Election 2026
StevenHaylestromFor Mayor of Trent Hills
Think People, Act Local
Ready to deliver. I know the challenges we face here, I know how to manage projects and people, and I know how to turn practical solutions into results we can all see.
Listen first, set clear priorities, publish the plan with real dates and real costs, then get it built. That is how Trent Hills becomes better connected, better prepared and far more effective for every resident.
Our Voices. Our Vision. Our Action.
- 24 Years in Trent Hills
- Local roots, local knowledge
- Projects and People
- Managed on time and on budget
- Solutions into Action
- Practical results, delivered fast
Our Voices. Our Vision. Our Action.
A Direct Message to Trent Hills
Watch Steven outline his vision for an execution-focused municipality that stops endless delays, manages taxes responsibly, and puts residents first.
Immediate action
The four things Trent Hills should be acting on now
Financial Awareness and Accountability
Most councillors have never managed a capital project. I have spent my career delivering them. Every project gets a real budget, a published timeline, contract management that gets Trent Hills the best deal possible, and plain-language reporting so residents always know what is happening with their money.
Read moreReliable Cell Service
Treat connectivity as essential safety and economic infrastructure, and map the real dead zones with the Cell Service Tracker.
Read moreA Real Transportation Service
Flexible regional connections to Peterborough for work, school and appointments.
Read morePurpose-Driven Housing
Workforce housing, youth retention, and Additional Dwelling Units for intergenerational living.
Read more
Who this is for
What This Means for You
Trent Hills is not one audience. Open any card to see what has not been done, and exactly what I will do about it.
Young Families & Rural Residents
Homes, childcare and roads that work for a working household.
- Right-sized, financially accessible housing
- Childcare and recreation access
- Safe rural roads and school routes
Youth, Young Adults and Students
A reason to stay, and a way to get there.
- Connectivity for school and remote work
- Scheduled route to Peterborough for education and jobs
- Rental options that actually exist here
Working Residents and Commuters
Time back, and infrastructure that holds up.
- Road and bridge delivery on a published schedule
- Cell coverage on the commute
- Transit and mobility options
Farmers and Rural Landowners
Protect the land base, service the concessions.
- Prime farmland protection
- Rural road shoulders, sightlines and winter maintenance
- 100% broadband coverage including back roads
Small Business and Main Street
Occupied storefronts and predictable approvals.
- Practical CIP support for main street
- Faster, clearer municipal approvals
- Local supply chains and agri-food processing
Reality check
The Challenge of Municipal Government: Ending the Era of Endless Studies
The municipality controls building, zoning and bylaws - the things that shape our day-to-day happiness. Yet we waste hundreds of thousands of dollars on research and planning while the action gets kicked down the road.
Four issues residents raise constantly. For each one: the problem as people actually experience it, the practical first steps a Mayor can lead, and the accountability residents should expect.
The problem
Residents want confidence that municipal money is spent fairly. Without visible procurement information, even sound decisions can look closed.
Steven's solution
- Make procurement and contract awards transparent, competitive and decided on merit
- Report on budget versus actual for major projects in language residents can follow
- Review recurring spending regularly instead of carrying it forward by habit
Accountability outcome: spending residents can verify, in public, without having to file a request and wait endlessly. Read Steven's white paper or listen to the podcast on fiscal accountability in Trent Hills and Northumberland County over the last 10 years. Judge for yourself. Feedback would be appreciated.
Read the white paper and listen to the podcastThe second Campbellford bridge
Decades of discussion. Still no bridge.
The second Campbellford bridge has been discussed for decades. People's lives and businesses have been dramatically altered by the delays. We do not need another bridge report. We need to decide, manage our finances, and get to work. Every dollar spent must buy a real result for residents, awarded strictly on merit.
Deciding, budgeting, delivering
Delivering Infrastructure and Financial Accountability
Common-sense project execution means respecting what residents actually want while protecting their pocketbooks. Decide, publish the budget, then put a shovel in the ground.
- Proper maintenance for our gravel concession roads
- Protecting and expanding Hastings wastewater capacity
- Supporting our fire services with the equipment and people they need
- Advancing the Campbellford Memorial Hospital redevelopment
- Every municipal dollar spent fairly, with contracts awarded strictly on merit
Financial Responsibility & Accountability
Taxpayers deserve to know what every major project costs, where the money is going, and when it will be finished. No blank cheques, no open-ended studies, and every dollar spent must buy a real result for residents.
- Publish project budgets and timelines before the work begins
- Report budget versus actual in plain language residents can follow
- Review recurring spending so old habits do not drain the budget
A Decade of Fiscal Decisions: The White Paper
Steven has prepared a detailed review of the fiscal decisions made by Trent Hills Council members over the last ten years. Listen to the audio overview and read the full paper to see why transparent, accountable stewardship matters now more than ever.
Audio overview
Player provided by Libsyn. The audio overview opens in the embedded player above.
The housing we actually need
Housing Built for What We Actually Need
We do not need unmanaged suburban sprawl or Airbnbs on every corner. We need housing built for local people - financially accessible homes that fit our villages, our concessions and the households already here.
It is also important to be straight about jurisdiction. A municipality controls process, planning rules and advocacy. Funding programs and much of the money sit with other governments. This campaign commits to the parts Trent Hills genuinely controls, and to pushing hard on the rest.
Workforce Housing
Decent, affordable homes for the people working in our local shops, farms and healthcare facilities, so they are not spending 50% to 70% of their income on shelter. Nurses, teachers, tradespeople, shop staff and caregivers should be able to live in the community they serve.
Youth Retention
Starter housing options so our young people can afford to stay and build their lives in Trent Hills instead of being forced away. We lose too much talent when the only option is to move.
Aging in Place & ADUs
Fast-tracked municipal permitting for Additional Dwelling Units so seniors can downsize on their own properties and families can create comfortable intergenerational housing, without anyone having to live in a basement.
Intergenerational living is the quiet housing solution nobody is funding. Families here are already trying to do it. Municipal rules should help them, not slow them down.
Keeping Trent Hills connected
Connecting Our Communities
Rural does not have to mean disconnected. A modern Trent Hills needs reliable ways to get around and to stay in touch - whether you are heading to a shift, a doctor's appointment, or making an emergency call from a back road.
A Transit System That Actually Works
We need a reliable transportation service connecting Campbellford to Warkworth, Hastings and straight through to Peterborough. That might mean a minivan, not a full bus, because some residents will see a bus route as too expensive to sustain long-term. It also means exploring by-the-hour car rentals as a county-wide option, so people are not completely reliant on owning a vehicle.
This needs local, provincial and federal investment. As Mayor I will champion this as a county-wide initiative so it gets the attention and coordination it deserves.
Try the concept prototypeFighting for Reliable Cell Service
We are making progress on high-speed internet adoption, but cell service - both voice and data - remains consistently unreliable in Trent Hills. That is not a luxury problem. It affects emergency calls, farm operations, home-based businesses and anyone working or learning from a rural address.
That is why the Trent Hills Cell Service Tracker is live. It runs on your phone, measures the voice and data service you are actually getting, and builds a plain report that feeds an anonymous dead-zone map. When we make the case with evidence, it is harder to ignore.
Open the Cell Service Tracker and check your serviceInteractive concept
Connecting Our Community: The Peterborough Route
A modern municipality should do two things well: move people reliably, and listen continuously. This prototype shows what both could look like for Trent Hills, from a scheduled shuttle linking our communities to Peterborough, to a simple way for residents to report an issue or share an idea.
A dependable route matters most to the people with the fewest options: younger residents without a car, seniors travelling for healthcare, and anyone commuting for work, education or family.
Campaign Concept Prototype - not a live booking or municipal reporting service. All routes, times and statuses shown are illustrative and would require feasibility work, partnerships, costing and public consultation.
Open now - tell us what needs fixing
Report it to Trent Hills
Think People, Act Local starts with being easy to reach. Fill out the form below and your concern, question or request goes on the record - and you decide whether it goes to municipal staff, your ward councillor, the Mayor, or all of them.
Report what you see
A pothole, a cell dead zone, a broken streetlight, a water or waste collection problem, an unsafe corner. Log it here so it is on the record instead of forgotten.
Reach your councillor or the Mayor
Choose who should see your message: municipal staff, your ward councillor, the Mayor, or all of them. No phone tag, no waiting for the next meeting.
Ask for an answer you can follow
Ask a question about a project, a budget line or a service, and get a plain-language answer instead of a shrug. Solutions First, Delivery Always.
Send it in
Every submission is logged and read. Leave your name and email if you would like a reply, or send it anonymously if you prefer.
Community Priorities
One municipality, four distinct communities
Trent Hills works best when each community keeps its own identity and still shares in the same level of service. Pick a community to see what I am committing to there.
Warkworth
Culture & Arts Core
Home for 24 years. Warkworth carries our arts, festivals and main street character, and it needs steady support so volunteers are not carrying the whole load.
- Protect and promote the arts, studio tour and festival economy
- Main street accessibility and streetscape upkeep
- Reliable broadband so home based businesses can compete
- Practical seniors housing choices close to the village core
Community Priorities
The Trent Hills we are working for
Photos from around the municipality - our villages, our waterways and the concession roads in between.
Warkworth in the fall
Community day in Warkworth park
Canada Day fireworks, Hastings
The back concessions
Sunset over the concessions
About Steven Haylestrom
A Record of Delivery
A Warkworth resident for 24 years. Systems automation expert, housing innovation strategist and industrialized construction consultant. Not a career politician. Steven is running for Mayor of Trent Hills because the municipality does not have a shortage of good intentions. It has a shortage of finished work. His career has been spent turning plans into completed buildings, and that is the discipline he wants applied at the Council table.
Steven's Work & Systems Portfolio
Proven real-world execution: capital project delivery, systems engineering and industrialized construction work you can review for yourself.
24 years in Trent Hills
Not a new arrival and not just a name on a sign. Steven and his wife have raised their family here, shopped here and volunteered here for 24 years.
Two Trent Hills advisory committees
In his early years in Trent Hills Steven served on two Municipality of Trent Hills advisory committees, which means first-hand knowledge of how agendas, staff reports and budgets actually work in a municipality.
Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Award, NOD Apiary, Stirling
Research and product work with NOD Apiary Products, a family-run manufacturer just up the road in Stirling, supported their Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Award. Local employer, Ontario-made product, global customers.
Modular and offsite project execution
A working career - listening to the challenges finding the solutions then delivering projects on time and on budget.
Teaching digital skills locally
In the early years started a local business teaching computer and digital skills to local residents, seniors and small business owners right here in Trent Hills.
Founder, published author, CSA subject matter expert
Founder of TheModularSolution.com, HousingAtHighSpeed.com and DfMMA.com. He has outlined and implemented detailed changes to the Ontario and National Building Codes. He is a published author as well as a Subject Matter Expert for the CSA (Canadian Standards Association). More than anything, Steven is a practical, pragmatic person who can listen to the stakeholders - the people - see a problem, outline a solution, then implement and deliver it fast. On time and on budget.
Straight answers
Frequently asked questions
Want to know what this campaign is really about? Start here.
Because he has spent 24 years here and a career finishing complex projects, and he keeps watching good intentions in Trent Hills stall before anything gets built. Roads and bridges wait, cell service still drops, water and wastewater capacity limits what can be built, and housing does not match what residents can actually carry. Steven is running for Mayor of Trent Hills in 2026 to apply the same discipline he uses professionally: define the outcome, publish the plan with real dates and costs, then deliver it and report against it in public. He is not doing this for a title. He is doing it because his family lives here, his neighbours deserve verifiable results, and he already knows how to get work over the finish line.
Share Your Voice
Our Voices. Our Vision. In Action.
Government is here to serve the people and deliver what you want to see in this community. Share your feedback, issues and ideas directly with Steven.
- Your endorsement statement may be used in campaign material with your permission.
- Volunteers get a real task, not a mailing list.
- A coffee meeting can be four neighbours at your kitchen table.