Mayor Shoemaker releases six-month progress report

Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Matthew Shoemaker has released a report summarizing his first six months in office and what the city has done so far in order to make good on a number of commitments made through his electoral platform in the lead-up to last year’s municipal election. 

The six-month report developed by Shoemaker’s office will be released publicly on a biannual basis as a way of keeping the community informed.   

“My public commitments have been clear: we need growth, and we need development, but we also need to achieve this in a managed and prudent way,” said Shoemaker in the report, which was released via his website Monday. “I will work with city council to give residents the community they want and deserve, but in a responsible manner that will show respect and awareness for cost of living concerns.” 

The mayor says the city is building on his pledge to come up with a realistic approach to “keeping property taxes in check” by proposing $780,650 in cost savings during budget deliberations — a move Shoemaker says helped to lower the municipal portion of tax increase to 2.99 per cent. 

City council also approved tax relief for residents unable to pay because of sickness or extreme poverty this past January in order to provide tax relief to those most in need. 

Another platform commitment promised the city would lobby the federal and provincial governments for more support in the establishment of a supervised consumption site. Shoemaker points to city council supporting a resolution asking city staff to review a process for the establishment of a supervised consumption site, while meeting regularly with city staff to determine the path forward and “working with partners on an application and advocating for the support needed to fund it from other levels of government.”

A platform promise to create a fund for building demolition and property rehabilitation was also approved by city council last month, with $250,000 in funding and direction for the Affordable Housing Task Force to develop criteria. 

There’s also work being done to improve traffic flow in the Sault. City council approved a resolution directing staff to review traffic signals and determine “if there ways that can improve traffic flow and any other outcome that will generally make the movement within the municipality easier.”

The mayor says he’s building off a promise to bring Indigenous knowledge and teachings to city hall by meeting with the leaders of Garden River First Nation and Batchewana First Nation and visiting the Indigenous Friendship Centre in Sault Ste. Marie following his inauguration; Shoemaker also worked with staff to include a welcome led by Indigenous drumming for the inaugural meeting of council after his election to office. 

City-run events and grand openings now include smudging ceremonies as part of that commitment, as well as Garden River First Nation’s participation in the Community Economic Development Program.

A weekly schedule for Shoemaker — another commitment made as part of the mayor's platform — can be found at his website.