New regional council faces daunting task

When the first gathering of Niagara’s new regional council takes place in December, a lot of introductions are going to be involved.

Monday’s election brought about major change across Niagara. The largest shift occurred in Pelham where no incumbent survived, from mayor on down. It was truly a Monday Night Massacre, with not even the local District School Board of Niagara trustee, Dale Robinson who was also board chair, surviving.

But at Niagara Region, while the carnage was not so complete, only eight incumbents will return to the 31-member body. There will be 24 new faces around the council oval, including West Lincoln’s councillor-elect Albert Witteveen, who earned a narrow 45-vote win over Terry Bell. This will be the first time West Lincoln has a representative besides its mayor at the Region.

Of those eight who are returnees, five are mayors, including St. Catharines’ Walter Sendzik, Niagara Falls’ Jim Diodati, Welland’s Frank Campion, Lincoln’s Sandra Easton and Fort Erie’s Wayne Redekop.

The three returning non-mayoral councillors are Brian Heit and Tim Rigby of St. Catharines, and Bob Gale of Niagara Falls.

Upon considering this list, the first question that comes to mind is who will the next regional chair be? The options seem limited. Of the newbees, St. Catharines councillor-elect Jim Bradley, the city’s former MPP, seems the most likely candidate, assuming he wants the job. Among the surviving incumbents, the returning mayors are out, leaving the unlikely trio of Gale, Heit and Rigby.

Beyond selection of the next chair, this large batch of rookies face many formidable tasks in the days to come. Not least among them is dealing with the ongoing ombudsman’s investigation into the hiring of Region CAO Carmen D’Angelo and the controversial extension of his $230,000 annual contract by out-going chairman, Alan Caslin. Whether or not D’Angelo remains CAO, whatever conclusion the investigation comes to, is an open question.

Then there’s Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, whose board has largely been made up of sitting regional councillors. Campion and Diodati are the only two Niagara regional council NPCA representatives left. Fort Erie Coun. Sandy Annunziata, the NPCA board chair; Pelham’s Brian Baty, the NPCA Foundation chair; Grimsby’s Tony Quirk and St. Catharines’ Bruce Timms are all gone.

Turning NPCA around so it can achieve the recommendations laid out by Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk’s detailed report will be a major challenge.

And of course there’s the usual to-do list facing Niagara Region council: delivery of core services including road maintenance, water and sewers, public health, social services including regional housing and more. A particularly vexing issue will be the financial situation involving Niagara Regional Police, which appears headed towards another budget deficit year, the third in a row. And all that leads to tax levels.

But most important of all is the need for the Region to regain public trust. There have been too many scandals, too much back-room manoeuvring, too many unanswered questions over the past term. Residents have lost faith in their leaders, and the result is the massive turnover we saw Monday night.

Regaining public faith in the Region as an institution has to be the primary focus of the incoming council, rookies and vets alike. They need to reassure Niagara’s residents they are aware of the errors of the past and are committed to forging a new path.

Without the tax-paying public feeling as if they’re partners in government and represented by people who will listen to them, there can be no success.

That is the task ahead for regional council. Best get started quickly — it’s only four years until the next election.