Provenzano challenges current city leadership

Local lawyer Christian Provenzano (pictured) says the city needs new leadership and he wants to be the one to provide it.

Provenzano will be challenging incumbent Mayor Debbie Amaroso for the city's top elected position, along with fellow mayoral candidates Ted Johnston, Austin Williams, Heather Cook and Robin Coull in the October 27 municipal vote.

"I think it's a shame what's happened with our water, we used to have some of the best water in the country and over the last couple of years of the term of this mayor and council, we've gone through periods where our water's not running, or our water is brown, and that's simply not acceptable," Provenzano said.

"One of the most fundamental things your city does for you is to deliver those essential services like water, so I saw a real issue there, I think there needs to be some accountability there, and frankly I didn't see any leadership coming from the mayor's office in addressing that issue."

At council's last session August 11, Mayor Amaroso plainly and firmly told PUC President and CEO Dominic Parrella the city's water woes are "the number one issue" in Sault Ste. Marie and urged the utility to keep on with its ongoing plan to rectify taste, odour and colour problems with the Sault's water supply. 

"That's a lot too little and a lot too late," Provenzano said.

"You have the PUC spend millions of dollars on a new building and this council supported that, which takes jobs out of the downtown core and puts them somewhere else…while the PUC has these significant water problems, it's focused on other things."

"The mayor, frankly, should have sat on the PUC Board," Provenzano said.

"If I am elected mayor I will sit on that PUC Board."

"It's not enough to call the head of the PUC to council and scold him publicly, that's just political," Provenzano said.

"Leadership is about actually getting into the Board room and getting to the bottom of the issue…it's easy to scold someone after the fact, of course you're going to give the PUC a hard time for that…but our water isn't drinkable, some of the people in Sault Ste. Marie can't drink their water, so the mayor should have directly dealt with this issue."

"If I was the mayor when this was going on, I would have sat on that PUC Board, and if there was no room for me on the Board, I would have went to the PUC meetings, I would have been there."

As for the PUC's plan to fix the city's water, Provenzano said "I'm not entirely convinced their strategy is the right strategy…I don't have all the information at my disposal to make that decision, but I frankly wouldn't trust it at this point."

"The same people who are saying 'here's what we've got to do to fix it' are the same people who actually screwed it up to begin with, so I would take a fresh approach to that and want to see what kind of money was spent on consultants and engineers to come up with that plan and I would test it by seeking my own professional advice on whether the plan is going to work," Provenzano said.

"I don't think it's OK to say we're going to be good by 2017…that's three years out from now and I'm not convinced that we can't fix it quicker."

Apart from the issue of leadership, Provenzano said the city need to focus on taxes. 

"We can't tax people, especially seniors, out of their homes."

"Property taxes in this city have gone up nearly 30 percent in the last eight years…have incomes gone up 30 percent?"

"I would not support, as mayor, tax increases in excess of the rate of inflation."

Provenzano said the city needs to engage taxpayers by asking them how the city can better provide services, and then engage city staff.

"We have to ask the people who work at city hall how we can improve delivery of services and how we can be more efficient, because the reality is we have to get our spending under control."

Concerning control of spending, Provenzano pointed to a decision made by council at a caucus session August 11, which will be brought to council for open discussion September 8, concerning relocating the Churchill branch of the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library into the space currently occupied by Chilly Willy's Bar & Grill at the John Rhodes Community Centre, in order to save nearly $100,000 paid annually by the city in rent to the owners of Churchill Plaza.

Plans are for the city to spend approximately $1.5 million on renovating the space at the Rhodes Centre to accommodate the library, once the restaurant owner's lease expires later this fall.

"I don't think it's a wise decision to spend $1.5 million renovating a restaurant into a library, and I also question why we're spending $100,000 a year on rent on a library less than three kilometres away from the main branch of the library, which is a good building on a gorgeous piece of property."

"All postsecondary students and high school students have a library, and with today's technology, everybody walks around with a library in their pocket, the world is different now, though there are some library services we could provide at the John Rhodes Centre in one of the existing rooms," Provenzano said.

Provenzano said he would not necessarily trim staff at city hall for the sake of saving money, but stated he would like to see a full program review of which city contracts and arrangements currently in place are still relevant and cost-efficient.

"We're spending a lot of money and it's not sustainable…(and) we cannot continue to raise property taxes," Provenzano said.

Provenzano praised groups such as the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre for the jobs generated in the information technology sector locally, but expressed concern over the need for more job creation.

"We saw some activity, but it's stopped, it's quiet." 

"There's no youth coming back to Sault Ste. Marie right now, I don't buy into that…thing are difficult right across Ontario, so we have to be more aggressive fighting for those job opportunities."

Provenzano said as mayor, he would be "the tie that binds" that helps to create the climate focused on entrepreneurship  in order to create jobs in Sault Ste. Marie.

Provenzano's entry gives the mayoral contest a new dimension, as he is a well-known local figure with a political past.

Provenzano ran as the federal Liberal party's candidate in the Sault in the 2006 and 2011 federal elections. 

Candidates have until 2 p.m. September 12 to file their nomination papers to run for mayor, city councillor or school board trustee before the October 27 election.