Council loses co-ordination without him, Mayor says

City Council loses co-ordination and moves slower when the Mayor's away, Sault Ste. Marie Mayor John Rowswell says in a recent memo to Ward 4 Councillor Lou Turco.

Writing to Turco as chair of a committee reviewing the structure of municipal government in the Sault, Rowswell says he needs a dedicated deputy mayor and he should be allowed to pick the person with whom he is most comfortable.

However, Rowswell acknowledges that other members of Council are likely to perceive that as unfair, so he's recommending instead that all councillors serve as acting mayor on a rotating basis, and that a new Council Policy Advisor be appointed to co-ordinate the rotation and support the acting mayors.

Meeting last night

Turco's committee held a public meeting last night to discuss the future form and structure of municipal government.

Just four people made presentations.

Rowswell wasn't one of them, but his remarks were included in a small package of four written submissions distributed at the meeting.

Leave the ward system alone

In his memo, writen one week ago today, the Mayor recommends that the present ward system be left as it is.

He believes that wards could be made 50 percent larger so that the City would be served by just eight councillors instead of 12.

But eight councillors wouldn't be enough when there are hot ward issues, Rowswell believes, and they couldn't handle the heavy load of committee obligations faced by each councillor.

Text of Mayor's remarks

The following excerpt is taken from the Mayor's memo to Councillor Turco:

******************************************************************** "In the past, with a naturally booming and growing economy, there were minimal reasons for the Mayor to travel, the private sector was driving growth.

"However, since the early 1980s our community has needed a different strategy.

"As the Mayor officially represents the community, there is more need than ever to network and promote the community to higher levels of government and to businesses.

"So today, mobility of the Mayor is important and at the same time Council and community functions necessitate good co-ordination.

"I have noticed that in the Mayor's absence, the multiple matters Council attends to move slower.

"This is because co-ordination is lost.

"Having a dedicated Deputy Mayor could assist here and I suggest that the Mayor should pick the Deputy Mayor, the one he is most comfortable with.

"However, this will be perceived as unfair by the rest of the Councillors which could negatively impact on Council's goals and objectives.

"This lends credence to the fair rotation of of the Acting Mayor's duties to each Councillor in turn.

"But what about co-ordination?

"It is my suggestion that a Council policy Advisor be considered to help with this co-ordination role and support the Acting Mayors who are selected in rotation.

"In summary, I support leaving the present ward system as is.

"No Deputy Mayor should be considered but the rotation of the Acting Mayor be shared by all of Council.

"Consideration of a Council Policy Advisor is made to ensure consistent co-ordination of Council matters in these dynamic times."