Ward 1 election forum: Hollingsworth demands council reforms

Ward 1 incumbent Sandra Hollingsworth came out swinging at Tuesday night's candidate forums, proposing major changes in the way the city council operates.

Hollingsworth challenged the city's current practice of setting council agendas at closed-door meetings with no input from elected councillors.

"Why is the agenda being set by the mayor and the CAO [chief administrative officer], and not council?" she demanded.

"I think the agenda review committee should have a council member, if not two."

"That doesn't make sense to me. The whole process of council also has to be reviewed."

Hollingsworth was responding to a question about ensuring continuous improvement and best-in-class municipal practices.

She called for question periods at least twice a year, when members of the public would be allowed to directly ask about municipal issues.

"I could be naive, but we're still a small community. Let's start and continue to be like a small community. So question period."

Hollingworth also said councillors should be allowed to themselves ask about issues not listed on the city council agenda.

"When you look at our agenda, there's supposed to be a question period. But not once are we allowed to just ask general questions, such as why aren't the roads improved?"

"We have to be so tied up to how the agenda is listed. That's not right at all."

Hollingsworth said all phone calls to city hall should be answered before the end of the day.

She also talked about the need for expanded financial reporting and for joint meetings with area First Nations.

Ward 1 candidates are Brent Derochie, Sandra Hollingsworth, Johnathan Lalonde, William McPhee and Sonny Spina.

McPhee didn't attend the live-streamed session, reporting that he has COVID.

Responding to the same question, Lalonde suggested collecting fines and outstanding debts and selling excess property.

"Make data accessible," Lalonde said. "We can collect different forms of data, using software, GIS [geographic information system] monitoring systems to evaluate city infrastructure and put money where it needs to go."

Derochie said he plans to keep taxes low.

"It will be my plan that when we are spending money on new projects, that we will complete public consultation, debate and listen to the experts who will assess the viability of spending and the return on the investment."

"We must also ensure that we do not spend money until all the assets we require are secured to ensure that we can move forward," Derochie added. 

Spina proposed setting key performance indicators for every city councillor.

"Every quarter, we can review those key performance indicators with the councillors to ensure they are meeting the needs of our community."

Spina said any new project proposed to the city should come with an explanation of what the return on investment will be.

"We should never have a community that is blindly accepting a project without knowing what the return on that investmeent will be."    

The forums, which continue Wednesday night, are organized by Algoma University, Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce and SooToday.