City manager arrives to unhappy council
When I read Mayor Marianne Meed Ward’s lengthy letter to colleagues, I grinned, instantly thinking of a late jovial council colleague, Ward 1 councillor Jack Cowman.
He regularly urged us to follow the K.I.S.S. principle: “Keep it simple, stupid!”
The mayor’s long letter was sermonlike — a lecture, two councillors said. She has lost support from councillors and the public. Worse, city followers will carefully check the dynamics between her and our new city manager, who doesn’t need this rain cloud.
From what I know of Hassaan Basit, who was to arrive Monday, he’s his own man, with a stellar reputation for improving organizations, but he arrived to an unhappy council.
We wish outgoing city manager Tim Commisso a fulfilling retirement. He was the right man at the right time, and led council forward through the rough COVID-19 years. With the city from 1988 until 2008, he had ever-expanding managerial roles, and returned as city manager in 2019. His foresight and long corporate memory will be missed.
The April 16 council meeting was not the mayor’s finest hour. Three delegations asked her to return eligible strong-mayor powers (SMP) and a petition was presented by Lynn Crosby, signed by 633 people.
Software engineer Michael Bator was clear and impressive. The issue, he said, is that you don’t put all your eggs in one basket — there’s too much risk because a person can make a mistake.
The motion last week asked the mayor to delegate eligible powers back to council. She’s open and transparent, she said. She delegated the city’s organizational structure, and hiring and firing of key staff to the city manager and kept the power to hire and fire him (or her). Preparing a budget is done by a mayor under SMP. She agreed to allow council to establish committees.
There is too much misinformation circulating, she said (probably because so much is done behind closed doors, with little followup information issued).
The council meeting was confusing, with points of privilege, points of order and ruling challenges. Meed Ward stuck to her position and her arguments were specious. Two attendees used the word “spin” later. Could this issue affect 2026 local election results?
Councillors said months ago they had pledged to accept 29,000 new housing units by 2031 (about 4,000 a year), unaware councils agreeing to pledges would be automatically assigned SMP. Only Angelo Bentivegna and Paul Sharman supported her. Now we have an (unnecessarily) unhappy split council, and a province inserting itself into local democratic decision-making.
As a result of retirements, firings and voluntary departures, Burlington has several vacancies at the top. Besides Commisso, in the past six months or so it lost the chief financial officer and three executive directors: strategy, risk and accountability; community planning; and human resources.
Last week, Commisso announced the pending retirement of a fourth: environment, infrastructure and community services. All 19 people on the leadership team, he said, are new, and most managers are young. That seems light for a city with 1,100 employees. A strong mix of experience and new blood, plus institutional memory, are important. The Spectator recently reported on a Winona Ontario Land Tribunal decision in a predominately singlefamily area, which ruled against a monstrous LIUNA Gardens development, and supported residents. LIUNA had planned several tall dense towers, multiple townhouses and an amenity building.
Why are OLT’s decisions so different in Burlington? Answer: there’s no approved official plan. In 2020, Burlington approved a new OP, developers flocked to appeal the city’s vision and four years later it still sits, partly dealt with. Hamilton’s is in force.
Blame the provincial OLT for delays to building housing. And in Canada, only Ontario has this backlogged undemocratic tribunal where one provincial appointee can overrule elected councils.