Jarvis looks at the four rookie city councillors

The game changers included Costante, Kaschak, Mckenzie and Morrison

Four new Windsor councillors changed city government this year. Factions and predictable votes are out, and thoughtful debate — and more progressive decisions — are in.

Here are the four rookies who changed the game:

When lawyer Fabio Costante campaigned for struggling Ward 2, some people questioned, does he have the mettle?

He’s proved he does.

His methodical and exhaustive grilling of the recreation master plan consultant on the recommendation to close the pool and ice rink at Adie Knox Herman Recreation Complex was like a cross-examination.

Council voted to save the pool and rink.

He lost his bid to keep the west side bus terminal on College Avenue, but another meticulously argued case got him noticed.

Costante has also signalled that he won’t accept the continued destructive impact of student rental housing on his neighbourhoods, requesting a report on a comprehensive strategy to deal with it.

Gary Kaschak was the mystery candidate no one saw coming in Ward 8.

He’s been the same as a councillor — not flashy, but solid.

He’s a smart but common sense, independent swing vote.

The biggest thing is he’s open to ideas, and he listens. He also does his homework.

When downtown councillor Rino Bortolin wanted money for a program to develop vacant lots, Kaschak toured the core to see the vacant lots and agreed. When sidewalks near Bellewood Public School in South Windsor were hotly debated, he drove to that neighbourhood, across the city, to see it. He also toured Ward 2 with Costante to see the impact of student housing.

He promised he’d be a fulltime councillor, and he is, after retiring from the Canada Border Services Agency.

Kieran Mckenzie, former assistant to Windsor West MP Brian Masse of the NDP, is the left-wing representative for suburban Ward 9. It’s an unusual pairing, as council watcher Daniel Ableser observed. Suburban voters are often more conservative. It shakes up the usual core-versus-suburbs dynamic.

Mckenzie tabled a motion to use $537,000 from a reserve fund to pay for programs for homeless people when the provincial government reneged on a promise to pay for them. He tabled another asking for a report on how the city could continue the Healthy Kids Community Challenge after the Ford government stopped funding that.

Residents wanted a pedestrian crossing on Cabana Road. It didn’t warrant one, according to the criteria, but he stubbornly fought for it anyway, even trying to use his ward funds to pay for it. That’s his job as a ward councillor — to advocate for his constituents.

And, thankfully, he’s backed off the grandstanding.

For an older, white, retired banker, Jim Morrison in Ward 10 has a healthy disregard for the status quo and sacred cows.

At the new council’s fourth meeting, he requested a report on hiring an auditor general.

The issue had dogged three previous terms, polarizing politicians and undermining public trust. But it was a campaign promise, and he wasted no time delivering.

Now there’s an auditor general. This stood out, too: Morrison made the motion for sidewalks on Labelle Street and Northway Avenue near Bellewood Public School. Residents opposed sidewalks. They would lose part of their driveways and front lawns. But Morrison didn’t buy the notin-my-backyard argument.

Kids’ safety trumps everything, he said. And if you want walkable neighbourhoods, you need sidewalks.

When the consultant recommended closing the rink at Adie Knox, Morrison pointed out that two rinks at the WFCU Centre are used less than the one at Adie Knox. Maybe we should consider decommissioning one of those, he suggested.

Mayor Drew Dilkens has become adept at ending up with partial wins on issues he can’t win outright because he no longer controls the majority.

The latest was the decision to keep the pool and rink at Adie Knox. Dilkens opposed that, but then council approved a motion for the city to explore an agreement with the University of Windsor to use its new pool — which could result in closing the pool at Adie Knox.

He posted on Facebook, “Now that we have ... voted to keep the ice open (no mention of the pool) ... I look forward to engaging the University of Windsor in talks to figure out how we can maximize the delivery of aquatic services on the city’s west side.”

Three BIAS were permitted to donate money to an appeal of the planned location of the new hospital after Dilkens told them they couldn’t. But the city is drafting “guidelines” for a “more robust budget template” and expenditure reports for BIAS.

The mayor quelled a tempest after city staff opposed the planned downtown location of a cannabis store. He proposed that council decide the merit of future locations. Meanwhile, it was too late for the store planned for downtown, something the mayor has opposed. The city’s position had already been sent to the province.