Letter: Bigger can change city for the better

With what I could only hope will the last closed-door meeting at city hall, councillors have made the way for the citizens of this city to have a real candidate to vote for as mayor.

It took everyone in that closed-door meeting almost two long hours to decide on granting a leave of absence to Brian Bigger so he could run for public office. How could it have taken two hours to make a simple decision of a leave of absence?

When you put the pieces together, the old boys club is scared they will have to deal with Brian Bigger as mayor and what he knows from his past as auditor general and how by-the-book he is. They will not be able to handle that.

Well, I personally feel this was the best decision that has come out of city hall in this term. The people of Sudbury have had the opportunity first-hand to see the old boys club in action in this last term at city hall.

We seen how they just want to hire and fire who they want, as they did with the Ontario Ombudsman.

Look at all the road blocks they put up in front of Mr. Brian Bigger when he was looking into the affairs of city hall. Staff did not want to help him, nor did council do anything to help him out.

He just pointed out a problem with the tendering process dealing with the sewer/water repairs and how it is costing you and I way too much.

Then the city staff tried to whitewash the service as cost-saving and how it is the best bang for the buck.

Well if you don’t treat all contractors on the same playing field, you just don’t want the good contractors to bid anymore. To say this is the only contractor that can do the job was wrong.

We have many contractors that are much more equipped with proper pipe layers to do this contract.

But when you do not tender out, or when you do not provide proper numbers to the other tenders with the real facts of number of breaks, and all the extras that are and were paid out, only the one doing the contract now would know how to bid low and score the extras. That’s where the money is made.

I watched Mr. Bigger’s actions and reports over his term, and as a past city-approved contractor I have seen, watched and dealt with the different departments at city hall, and see he knows what he is talking about.

I look forward to see a new mayor get in that chair and do something that will change the deadly direction the city is taking.

We need some of the others running for mayor to step down and run for a councillor seat and join the people of Sudbury who care about our future and help Mr. Bigger become the next mayor of Sudbury.

Peter Micugh
Sudbury