Mayor, board must be civil and constructive

Mayor Daryl Bennett has shoved Peterborough back into the middle of a province-wide struggle to rewrite the relationship between elected politicians, appointed police boards and senior police officers.

In an editorial last week we discussed the final report of outside administrator Mark Sandler, appointed to help fix a “dysfunctional” local police board, and the clear warning he delivered. That warning came in two parts: 1. Mayor Bennett should never return to the board after having been thrown off by the Ontario Civilian Police Commission (OCPC) and then absolved. Should Bennett return, Sandler advised the province to “consider taking timely and effective action”

2. The board now functions well but should it return to “dysfunctional” mode the OCPC and Solicitor-General “have tools available . . . to act quickly and decisively.”

Bennett has responded by announcing his return. No surprise there. The mayor has repeatedly established that he won’t back down from a fight.

Sandler and the provincial higher-ups are clearly on the same page, a page where Bennett’s name is written in darkest black ink. That suggests “timely and effective action” should be expected.

But the province should not step in immediately. Give the board time to prove itself once Bennett returns.

As Sandler himself pointed out, Bennett is

the elected head of city government and has a legislated right to a seat on the board. The fact that he was re-elected two years ago in the middle of the police controversy indicates a level of public support for what he has done.

Bennett needs to tone down his criticism of Police Chief Murray Rodd and board members

who disagree with him. But he should continue to insist that police spending stay within reasonable guidelines – the issue that started this whole controversy.

The ability of all sides to maintain composure will likely be put to a quick test.

After years of budget increases in the fiveto seven-per-cent range, police spending has come under control. But the board is now looking at a new approach. It would set a budget within the guideline that applies to all city departments, then add on an amount for special projects.

Two of the three city-appointed board members opposed the change out of fear it would guarantee a return to sky-high spending, but agreed to have police staff produce more details on potential projects and their costs.

Bennett would certainly oppose a return to five-per-cent budget hikes. He likely would, and should, insist that any additional costs be largely offset by savings in other areas.

That is fiscal reality, not dysfunction. Bennett and the police board will have to manage it in a civil, constructive fashion. As long as they do, the province should butt out.