Sendzik says new regional council must hit reset button
Newly-elected regional council members must work together quickly to change the reputation of Niagara Region, says St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik.
“The Region has a very poor reputation across the province. I say that not as a corporation in terms of the people who work for the Region, but the actual regional government itself,” Sendzik said during an interview Monday, adding it’s something he’s faced when he’s met with mayors from outside of Niagara.
“The first thing they’d ask me is, ‘What’s going on at the Region?’ and that’s embarrassing. So I think there’s a strong appetite for the newly elected and those coming back as well, to say, ‘Let’s hit the reset button on this.’
“This is not a four-year exercise. We’ve got to hit the reset button and change this reputation immediately.”
Sendzik was speaking about the new makeup of regional council during his monthly online video chat #AskSendzik at The Standard.
Sendzik, who won last week’s mayoral election with more than 71 per cent of the vote, is one of only eight faces returning to regional council. The body has 31 members, plus a chair to be elected by those councillors.
“Great opportunity for a fresh start and, boy, is it needed when you look at the last four years and the struggles that we had,” Sendzik said.
“The public could feel it through The Standard and what The Standard was writing about, but when you’re actually in it, and you just feel the negatively, you feel the teams, the camps that had formed, it’s a frustrating way to govern.”
Sendzik said he’s hoping that with a majority of new faces around council chambers, they’re going to come in with an appetite to work co-operatively and push back on any kind of “us or them” mentality.
As to how the new council will avoid forming similar “camps,” Sendzik said the public is watching regional council much more closely than it ever has, so they’re going to hold members to account.
“I think a lot of the newly elected folks realized that they were voted in on an opportunity to go in there and positively change the climate at the Region,” he said.
“If they start to form those camps early and it starts to become us versus them, I’m very confident the media will pick up on that quickly and hopefully push back on that as well.”
One of regional council’s first tasks in December will be to choose a regional chair.
Sendzik said it’s an opportunity to look at who’s coming back, who has experience and who can help steady the waters.
He said Jim Bradley — the city’s former longtime MPP who came in first of 23 St. Catharines candidates for regional councillor — could steady the waters and is a consummate statesman, true to his word who gets something done when he says he will.
“I think we seriously have to look at who wants the job and the job must be repairing the reputation and steadying the waters of the regional government,” Sendzik said.
“I think there’s only a few people around that council chambers that can do that.”
Sendzik also touched on other issues during the chat including the election, his priorities for the four years ahead and the city budget.