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New spirit of cooperation will be his hallmark, Bigger says

The man tasked with the job of bringing profound change to the way city government operates says he will begin making good on his promises at his first city council meeting Dec. 9.
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Elected with the support of 46 per cent of voters in Greater Sudbury, Mayor-elect Brian Bigger says he already sees a new consensus emerging among the newly elected city council. Photo by Mallika Viegas.

The man tasked with the job of bringing profound change to the way city government operates says he will begin making good on his promises at his first city council meeting Dec. 9.

That's when Mayor-elect Brian Bigger will move to repeal bylaws restricting when stores in this city can open and close.

“As far as the referendum, it will definitely be on the first agenda,” Bigger said Tuesday, in an interview at Tom Davies Square, where he's been working since his resounding election victory Oct. 27.

He's confident there's enough support on the new city council – 10 new faces, along with two incumbents – to pass deregulation, something voters supported in a referendum also held Oct. 27. Although falling just short of the requirements to make the results binding, deregulation is something that has long been popular among the public. And if there's one thing Bigger plans to change in his term of office, it's ending the disconnect between public demands and city council decisions.

“Absolutely,” he said. “I think that's really clear, in speaking to all the new councillors – and the councillors that did get re-elected. What I'm hearing from all of the council is that they really got the message. And they want to be that change that everybody wants for the city.”

While his relationship with city staff was sometimes difficult when he was auditor general, Bigger said meetings so far have been positive. Right now, the finance department is working on ways to deliver on his promise to freeze taxes in 2015. They've asked for more time to come up with options, and he's agreed to delay the next budget meeting.

“That's what a staff does – they support the mayor and the elected officials,” Bigger said. “They've been very positive, very supportive … The way I see that is they are trying to truly support that mandate and they're taking that job seriously.

“I had a relationship with staff and worked with them in the past, but now I'm in a new role. And I think everyone is trying to figure out what kind of manager Brian Bigger is going to be – what kind of mayor will Brian Bigger be?”

The last city council seemed tone deaf, at times – for example, firing André Marin, the hugely popular provincial ombudsman, and insisting on keeping direct spending control over their ward funds.

City staff has also drawn the ire of the public, most recently for failing to award the animal control contract before the previous one expired, which ended up increasing the cost of the contract by more than $350,000. And there's still no emergency shelter for the homeless, even though the need for one has been known since last winter.

It's vital, Bigger said, that everyone know their roles. Politicians set the policy and the benchmarks, staff follow council's policy direction and deliver timely progress reports to council.


“They're there to implement, our role is to set that strategy and that direction – but also, perhaps, to better control the agenda of what is coming forward to council,” he said. “Our role isn't to get deeply involved in the administration of the organization, but to ensure the controls and the processes are in place.”

Bigger has already re-started the auditor general's office, and is ready to welcome Marin back to the city. He also supports recording all closed-door meetings, something Marin has long recommended for all municipalities.

“I believe that's a solid approach in providing the information they need to conduct their investigations,” Bigger said. “The thing with closed meetings, if you don't record them, they have to send up investigators and do interviews. But not if we have the audio and video.”

As for the $50,000 ward funds – formally known as Healthy Community Initiative (HCI) funds – he supports the concept, but has long opposed political control over spending.

His audit of HCI funds in 2012 called for, among other things, councillors to surrender their direct spending control, and to limit the funds primarily to capital projects. Some reforms were passed, but councillors kept spending control.

“I believe those funds should be in the hands and administered by staff on whatever projects come forward,” he said. “But I also see that the use of those funds has been beneficial in a lot of areas.”

In particular, the funds offer all wards equal access to money for smaller, local projects that wouldn't make the priority list otherwise. They helped build the dog park in Minnow Lake, and another in Azilda. And they have leveraged provincial and federal funding for playground and other capital projects important to neighbourhoods across the city.

“There's already been a move to direct those funds to capital projects, as opposed to handouts,” he said. “My position is elected officials should not be spending money directly … But if you talk to (returning incumbents) Joscelyne Landry-Altmann or Evelyn Dutrisac, they feel strongly about the need for those funds.”

Bigger picture – no pun intended – the new mayor says he wants to truly engage the public in his Vision 2025 conference that will produce an action plan to guide city decisions for the next 10 years. But Bigger isn't interested in pie-in-the-sky ideas that can't be realized.

It won't be “a 40-year plan of platitudes. I want people to identify initiatives that people can visualize, where they can say, 'Where do we want to be 10 years from now? How do we get there? What do we need to do to accomplish that?

“It's something I'm hoping will (produce) a plan of action we can actually implement … To me, that is the most important thing that could come out of this. And obviously, openness and transparency is a common theme that everybody is supportive of on the council.”

It's early days, but Bigger says he's sees consensus forming already among the new council, which will be sworn in Dec. 2 at an event Northernlife.ca will livecast on our website. He sees a talented new group coming who are determined to make the city work.

“I think the public did a good job in selecting their councillors.”
 


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Darren MacDonald

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