KEEPING PROMISES
Next test for new council
Three of the four newcomers set to begin their city council careers Monday campaigned to get multimillion-dollar community centres built in their wards.
Now comes the challenge of delivering on these kinds of campaign commitments amid a sea of competing needs from all 10 of the city’s wards.
“That’s going to be tricky,” incoming Ward 8 councillor Gary Kaschak conceded Wednesday, referring to the challenge of finding money for the three proposed community centres: in Ward 8 (adjacent to Fontainebleau Library); in Ward 9 (a combined library and nature centre attached to Devonwood Conservation Area); and in Ward 2 (a replacement for the closed College Avenue Community Centre).
“That’s something we’re going to have to look at and see who has the greatest need.”
Three of the four new councillors favour an independent auditor general, a hotly-debated issue that divided council last term and is destined to be debated again by the new council. All four rookies want infrastructure investments to address long-standing complaints about crumbling roads, overcrowded intersections and overtaxed sewers. And each councillor has unique demands that may toss monkey wrenches into ongoing city plans.
Ward 2’s Fabio Costante, for example, wants to put the brakes on a Transit Windsor plan to move its west-side terminal to the Hotel- Dieu Grace Healthcare campus on Prince Road. And Ward 10’s Jim Morrison has major concerns about plans to spend $45 million for a new central library in the core, wondering if a smaller community library might do the job instead.
Morrison said he thinks it’s a time to pause a bit on big capital items, like a central library, and focus instead on infrastructure. “There’s a lot of work to be done in this city.”
He said his No. 1 priority is improvements to the congested Dominion/Northwood intersection, a source of numerous complaints from residents. Work is supposed to begin next year and he wants to make sure it happens. “That’s where I will certainly start because it’s something the residents are asking for, almost demanding at this stage of the game, because it’s been talked about for the last couple of terms of council,” Morrison said.
Both he and Kaschak mention the downtown problems of homelessness, addiction and crime as high-priority issues that go beyond their wards.
“We need to help people, it’s not just enforcement, we need to help people to try to improve their lives,” Morrison said. Kieran McKenzie said he talked a lot about infrastructure while campaigning in Ward 9. Now he wants to push for major improvements to busy, narrow roads like the 6th Concession and North Talbot Road, and for pedestrian crosswalks around Cabana Road and Karen Street, and on Calderwood Avenue. His idea for a library/nature centre beside Devonwood was really well received by residents, he noted. Now he has to pursue it, talking with potential partners such as school boards. Leading up to Monday’s meeting, he has met with Mayor Drew Dilkens and administrative staff to talk about many other issues. “It’s been exciting, all of that learning, meeting all the new people and starting to talk to other councillors about what we can work together on,” McKenzie said. The new council meets Friday for an orientation session with senior administrators, followed by a swearing-in ceremony on Monday night.
“To be honest, I’m really looking forward to that first meeting where we’re dealing with business on the 17th,” said McKenzie, who noted budget deliberations start several weeks later. “It’s a deep dive into the deep end, real quick.” Dilkens has met with all four new councillors, briefing them on the big issues in their wards.
“I have great optimism that the new councillors will bring great ideas, we’ll have interesting conversations, but at the end of the day we’ll find a way to move the city forward and keep building on the success we’ve had,” he said. He said that delivering what you promised on the campaign trail isn’t always easy for a new councillor. “It’s the perennial problem. There’s always more great ideas than you have money to implement those ideas.”
When it comes to demands for three new community centres, he said there’s currently a Recreation Master Plan underway that’s supposed to identify whether the city needs more community centres and where they should go. That should be finished before council makes such major financial decisions, he said.
When it comes to the issue of an independent auditor general, there are two years left on Price Waterhouse Coopers’ contract to provide auditing services to the city. None of the three new councillors in favour of an auditor general said they want to rush forward with studying the issue.
“I think it’s really important that we get the auditor general discussion right and get clear options in front of us,” so council is given “the greatest opportunity to have an independent auditor general,” McKenzie said.
In Ward 2, Costante will be fighting for the community centre that was closed in 2012 as part of a financial trade-off to build the downtown aquatic centre. Costante said a community centre is vital to his ward, given the high levels of childhood poverty.
“Is there going to be a fight for limited, finite capital dollars to get this done in every ward?” There will be some “interesting debates” as council sets its priorities, he said.
“We’ll see where the chips fall.”