City, regional council need closer ties: Craitor
Niagara Falls needs a stronger connection between its city council and Niagara regional council, says mayoral candidate Kim Craitor.
He said most voters still are unclear on what services are provided by each level of government, so they bring their concerns or complaints to city councillors, who he said are better known in the community than their regional counterparts.
“I’ve been very frustrated with the whole Region, the way it’s run,” he said, citing recent controversies — the process that led to the hiring of chief administrative officer Carmen D’Angelo, the extension of D’Angelo’s contract by Regional Chairman Alan Caslin without council’s approval, the nearly million-dollar buyout of former police chief Jeff McGuire.
“I don’t think most people realize that the mayor is a regional councillor,” Craitor said.
Craitor, a city council veteran and former Liberal MPP, and challengers Kip Finn and Dinah Mansour are running against Mayor Jim Diodati in the Oct. 22 municipal election.
“If I’m elected, I’m going to be sharing everything with the council” about decisions being made at regional council, he said.
“I’ll say, here’s what’s being proposed. Give me your advice. I want you to tell me what you think … I want to hear from our city councillors.”
Craitor, Diodati and Mansour are expected to take part in the only mayor’s debate scheduled so far leading up to the Oct. 22 municipal election.
It will be held Wednesday 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the YourTV studios, to be broadcast live. Finn said Thursday he has work commitments that night and will likely be unable to attend.
Diodati said he wasn’t part of the committee at Niagara Region that recommended hiring D’Angelo but said it appears “the process wasn’t followed properly.”
When it came to council for approval — before questions over the hiring process were raised by St. Catharines Standard news reports — “the vast majority (of councillors) were very supportive of him.
“I don’t know so much they have a problem with the CAO, as the process through which the CAO was selected,” Diodati said this week.
He acknowledged informal voting blocs have formed among regional councillors — something he says happens on every council — “but then some people try to say oh, there’s a conservative cabal.
“I’m known traditionally as a Liberal, albeit a blue Liberal … because I’ve been a businessperson for a lot of years and I’m very focused on the bottom line.”
Diodati said he read recent comments by Lincoln Mayor Sandra Easton, who said the majority of regional councillors got “played” by the process that saw D’Angelo’s hiring.
He agreed council was “duped,” saying “I wasn’t on that committee, so all we had in the end was a recommendation” to work from.
He hopes the election acts like a fresh start at Niagara Region — “I think it’s going to be like hitting the reset button. That’s exactly what it needs. It needs a reset.”
Meanwhile Finn, in his first run at elected office, said the issues he hears about most in the community are jobs and the number of rundown properties in the city.
“There’s a lot of boardedup buildings,” he said, especially near Bridge Street and around downtown. “It’s a place for people to go and do drugs, and God knows what else goes on in there.
“I think the owners of the property should be held accountable … and if they can’t do it, maybe the city should step in.”
Finn said the lack of jobs is behind an increase in homelessness in Niagara Falls.
“People fall into hard times and then they fall into drugs and homelessness,” he said. “To me, jobs is the major thing.”
Mansour was unavailable for comment Thursday.