Leduc uses strong mayoral powers to change Bradford committees

While Bradford Mayor James Leduc said in November he had no plans to use his powerful mayoral powers, those plans have changed.

On Thursday afternoon, July 18, Leduc issued a mayoral resolution to create a new strategic initiatives committee, made up of all council members, to meet on the fourth Tuesday of each month (or more if necessary) , which aims to replace two previous ones. advisory committees for strategic projects as well as community and traffic safety.

The mayor explained that this will reduce the monthly meeting schedule by one and consolidate those meetings into a day when staff and council must already be available, while also including all council members at a “critical time” for the new project of town hall and as the traffic mitigation strategy is nearing completion.

“This was done because it creates efficiency,” Leduc said. “The bottom line is we get a better system for everyone involved.”

Council members have been discussing the potential change since April or May, according to the mayor, who said he followed up on email correspondence in June and hoped to work with the council to pass the changes at the next meeting on Aug. 6.

Although he felt the majority of council and staff supported the idea, after “a few” councilors expressed their “firm” opposition, the mayor said he did not want to “waste time” arguing at the council table and decided to use the mayor’s powerful powers so that “we can carry on with business as usual”.

The province initially granted strong mayoral powers to Toronto and Ottawa in September 2022 and gave those mayors authority over various areas of council and staff, including hiring or firing department heads, determining the organizational structure of the municipality, proposing or vetoing bylaws and proposing or veto the municipal budget, among others.

For Bradford, the mayor’s strong powers came into force on 31 October. They came as part of a package of services that gave the city access to Ontario’s Building Faster Fund after council passed a pledge last August to help create 6,500 new homes by 2031 as part of it. from the province’s goal of seeing 1.5 million homes built in Ontario by the same year.

While Bradford Today reached out to all nine board members for comment, only some responded in time for publication.

Deputy Mayor Raj Sandhu, who was chairman of the strategic projects committee, is being named chairman or the new joint committee and said he supports the decision.

“How we use that power is really important and we’ve had no problem because in my mind, it doesn’t take anything away from councilors, it gets all of us involved,” he said. “I look forward to us all embracing this and moving forward.”

Sandhu hopes having the entire board involved in the “percentage” of decisions will negate the need to draw up and debate previously debated points, which are sometimes sent back for more information, leading to delays.

A previous council used a similar system in 2010 to expedite work on the library and recreation center, according to Leduc, who said “the process worked very well” and, based on his experience as a councilman since then, Ward 1 , Sandhu confirmed that “no Help.”

Section 5 con. Peter Ferragine, who was chairman of the road safety committee, is appointed vice-chairman of the new joint committee and also supported the merger.

He highlighted the opportunity for the whole council to be involved in the new traffic strategy and the implementation of a “holistic approach” to safety.

However, Ferragine would still have preferred the idea come to council for discussion and a vote.

“I’m a fan of what was done; I’m not a fan of the way it was done,” he said.

Section 2 Con. Jonathan Scott said he was of two minds about using strong mayoral powers to change committees.

“I understand the logic of wanting the whole board involved in strategic projects, especially new facilities,” he said via email. “However, I liked having a dedicated road safety committee to forward concerns and make recommendations.”

Other councilors had strong words of opposition.

Section 4 Con. Joseph Giordano suggested the board should have been given the opportunity to vote on the matter and asked if the change would impact the allocation of speed camera revenue, which has been earmarked for use by the safety committee.

“In a world where democracy is slowly being destroyed, I have a fundamental problem with the powerful powers of the mayor being taken and used by anyone. We need less power for the elected and more for the people,” Giordano said via email. “Regardless of reasoning (big or small), this is an example of a slippery slope where one person’s ideology trumps the majority. This is not a democracy.”

Section 6 Con. Nickolas Harper contested that the decision was being used in a way that was not directly related to housing and claimed the mayor was trying to “dismantle” the safety committee “because it has been too successful” and “strongly opposes his wishes”.

This spring, the mayor challenged committee decisions to add speed bumps on Veterans Street and Northgate Drive.

“He’s tired of losing and not being in touch,” Harper said via email. “I’m tired of his outdated egocentric authoritarian leadership style.”

Harper claimed the mayor encountered “cross-party resistance” during internal correspondence and compared Leduc’s “autocratic leadership ambitions” to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s use of the Emergency Act in response to the convoy protests from 2022.

Other mayors also reportedly used strong mayoral powers on issues not directly related to housing, including Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, who reshaped the city’s committee structure, and Aurora Mayor Tom Mrakas, who directed staff conduct an in-depth review of board compensation.

In Bradford, the new meeting schedule should reduce the overall time it takes the council to approve committee decisions, which could previously take three weeks, but should now take no more than seven days before the next ordinary council meeting.

“We’re going to have to make decisions sooner rather than later, especially when working with outside consultants and architects,” Leduc said, stressing the importance of maintaining an opportunity for “sober second thoughts.”

The first meeting is expected to be scheduled for August 27 to discuss the architect and staff reports on a revised layout of the administrative part of the new city hall.