Heather Wright/The Independent

Petrolia’s mayor won’t be using some of the new powers he received under the Strong Mayors Act.

In the spring, 170 mayors in smaller municipalities were given the power to hire and fire the chief administrative officer and senior staff, propose a municipal budget and veto bylaws they believe will go against the provincial priorities such as housing issues.

Mayors across the province have asked the provincial government to repeal the law saying it goes against democratic principals. In the last three Petrolia meetings, council has endorsed those calls. The first time, however, Mayor Brad Loosley was adamant he was not about to give them up. During that discussion Loosley said: “I will be keeping all the powers at this time.

“I’m still going to keep everything. I’m not saying I’m going to use that. I may never use any of this, but I need more time before I make any changes. 

The mayor added “it was the province that said, ‘Here you go to try to speed up the housing development.’”

Since then, the town heard a two-hour presentation by the town’s Integrity Commissioner, John Mascarin, about the legislation and the mayor’s new responsibilities.

In a news release Thursday, Loosley said he will “delegate the following Strong Mayor Powers” including the establishment of committees and function to council, the organizational structure and the hiring and firing of senior staff to the chief administrative officer – as it was before strong mayor powers were introduced – and the recruitment and dismissal of the CAO to council.

“This is a broad, sweeping change for us and that I strongly felt that a detailed review was important before I made a quick decision,” Loosley said in a news release. “I trust our administrative staff, and I value the input of council and the role that we all play in the continued betterment of the Town of Petrolia.

The news release added the powers that Loosley retained, including vetoing council decisions and presenting a budget, “cannot be delegated.”

While it is clear under the legislation the mayor has the authority for the budget, some municipal leaders have found ways around it.

In Sarnia, using the Strong Mayor Powers, Mayor Mike Bradley asked municipal staff develop the budget as it has in the past, to be brought to council for discussion.

In Lambton Shores, Mayor Doug Cook hopes a new finance committee will spark a deeper dive into the municipality’s finances.

“Originally, it would be my decision to create a budget and not saying it’s the wrong thing to do, but I don’t think one person should have that authority or power,” he says.

But Cook also wasn’t happy with the way council has dealt with budgets in the past. “We have so many different sections of the budget that sometimes we just gloss over…we have some of the areas that we should be discussing more,” he said.

The mayor adds over the years he’s thought the budget “could have just been a report (to council). It didn’t have to be a budget, because in most cases, we’re rubber stamping whatever staff brings to us without any discussion.

With a new finance committee, Cook hopes that changes.

He plans to give staff a spending guideline – say a tax increase of no more than two per cent – and staff would bring a budget to the new committee to discuss.

The mayor, Deputy Mayor Dan Sageman and Councillors Glen Baillie, Scott Ferguson and Jeff Wilcox are members of the committee. Cook says the council members are “the ones that tend to be most involved with council discussion when we do our budgets – some pro, some con as far as their opinions and thoughts.

“That’s why I thought, if you put both them together on a committee, we can hash out maybe some are resolved before it gets to council.”

And Cook believes smaller groups foster better conversation.

“Some of the questions I could ask that count in budget meetings don’t get asked when they should,” he says.

The new finance committee will also work with the mayor and staff on an investment policy for the reserves of the municipality. Cook says here too, the members of the committee have different thoughts on investing the municipality’s reserves to generate income which will lead to good discussion.
Both the budget and the investment strategies will go back to council for discussion and approval.