Deputy Watchdog

by Alan Halberstadt
For those who did not listen to the Council discourse on Monday night regarding a deputy mayor, Councillor Gignac asked if this would be a paid position. I answered no.

So those who oppose the move because of cost need to be assured that there would be no more cost. My primary reason for bringing this idea forward is to have a second elected person attend the weekly inner circle meetings that set the agenda for the following week. While consensus is reportedly used to determine which items come forward at lighting speed, which are delayed and which disappear without a trace, the fact remains that Mayor Eddie Francis makes the final call.

A deputy mayor would attend these meetings at no additional salary to lend a second set of eyes and ears to a process that one week can produce an overload of contentious items (see the agenda for the marathon meeting on April 19) and an underwhelming slate the following week (see agenda for April 26), which was handled in less than an hour.

Mayor Francis was out of town on April 26, and as per usual when he is absent, the agenda was paper thin.

Over the next little while it is my intention to put together a list of examples on how certain issues have won favor with the agenda-setting team of senior administrators and the mayor, while other issues have been kicked to the curb. Stay tuned.


Updated

Certain people (read cartoonist Mke Graston) are surmising that is my goal to become Deputy Mayor, since I posed the following Council Question on April 26:


Asks Council Services to report on the protocols and or procedural bylaw amendments and processes required to create a Deputy Mayor position beginning with the 2010-2014 terms of Council, based on the following options:
1. Council selects a Deputy Mayor annually.
2. The Councillor elected on October 25, 2010 with the highest percentage of the vote be named Deputy Mayor for the four-year term.
3. The four Councillors with the highest percentage of the vote be named Deputy Mayor in years one, two, three and four of the 2010-2014 term.
4. Should a Councillor or Councillors with the highest percentage of the vote decline the position, the offer would be made to the Councillor(s) with the next highest percentage of the vote.

Mayor Eddie Francis, in speaking negatively about this proposal, has tipped his hand that he will be running for re-election. His assumption that this is all about him is not entirely true. If he announces in his State of The City Address this month that he is not running for re-election, I would not withdraw my proposal. I believe it has merit no matter who sits behind the mute button.

Getting back to my point about my alleged lust to become Deputy, this would be highly unlikely given the results of the 2006 election. Among the 10 Councillors elected, I finished 6th. Councillor Fulvio Valentinis (37.51%) was first, followed by Councillors Ron Jones (37.41%) Jo-Anne Gignac (36.72%), Percy Hatfield (36.16%), Bill Marra (36.13%) Your Obedient Servant (35.46 %), David Brister (32.50%), Drew Dilkens (27.49 %), Ken Lewenza (24.61 %) and Carolyn Postma (22.69%).

Some people have suggested that it would be counter-productive to have somebody like Counc. Valentinis as Deputy because he is the current Mayor’s back. I don’t necessarily subscribe to this theory. While it is true that Fulvio tends to gravitate to where the power is no matter who is mayor, I have found him to be a fair-minded individual for the most part.

I believe other Councillors could go to him if they had a beef with the agenda setting and he could perhaps prevail upon the Mayor to give fair treatment to issues the Mayor is likely to dismiss as not relevant to his personal agenda.

Getting back to my chances of becoming Deputy, consider my first option whereby Councillors would appoint a Deputy each year, as the school boards do. With the current group, at least, the chances of my appointment would be slim and none. Making friends on Council, or cutting tradeoff deals, have never been objectives of mine.

It is my objective to lend more democratic balance to the process of Windsor’s governance and creating a Deputy position should be helpful to that end.