Therrien taking new approach to appointing

Mayor elect Diane Therrien said she’s interested in sitting on the Peterborough Police Services Board, but she wants to consult with councillors before she decides whether she will take a seat there.

The mayor is offered the chance to sit on the police board; Daryl Bennett’s term will expire at the end of November. Therrien defeated him for re-election last week in the mayoral race.

Meanwhile all of councillors’ appointments to boards and committees are set to expire at the end of November, and at the inaugural meeting on Dec. 3 Therrien will be expected to present the new list of appointments.

She said she will approach the task differently than Bennett did, however: before assigning councillors to different boards, she plans to have them fill out a questionnaire to assess their skills and interests.

She said in an interview Monday that while she’s interested in serving on the police board, she’ll see what that consultation with councillors reveals — and then decide.

The name of the deputy mayor is usually revealed, along with the other appointments. Therrien didn’t say on Monday who she’s considering for that role. Most recently it’s been Coun. Henry Clarke, who was re-elected in Monaghan Ward.

Therrien also said she’s planning a retreat at the end of November for city council.

She said it will be incorporated into a two-day orientation session for council, to be held in the boardroom of the community services office on Wolfe St.; in the afternoon of the second day, a facilitator will help council discuss its goals.

Therrien is planning to hold the gathering in a city building, she said, to save on costs — although she said a paid outside facilitator will likely be involved.

It won’t be a council meeting, Therrien said: “It’s more of a team-building exercise.”

She expects there to be discussion about some of the major issues the city is facing — the shortage of affordable housing, for instance, as well as infrastructure and transit planning.

A council retreat at the beginning of the term used to be done under former mayor Sylvia Sutherland, who served from 1986 to 1991 and again from 1998 to 2006.

Later mayors opted not to organize retreats. Therrien said she will be contacting Sutherland “to see what they (retreats) looked like, in her time.”

Therrien also said she plans to advertise for an assistant to work in her office, soon.

After Brendan Wedley took the new job of manager of communications services for the city in May, it created a vacancy — he’d been the assistant to Bennett.

A mayor’s assistant was hired on contract to expire at the end of December, Therrien said, and there will be an open competition to hire a permanent assistant.

The current employee working on contract is free to apply, she said.

The inauguration of a new city council is planned for Dec. 3.