ISSUE 16 - Mayor's abrupt resignation launches game of "musical chairs"
A Southwestern Ontario mayor's guilty plea leaves council scrambling to replace him and others
Welcome to another issue of #munipoli Matters, where we discuss all about municipal elections and the often unreported area of local government across Canada and beyond.
There are some mayors and councillors announcing their retirements…and one mayor already left because of some election shenanigans from four years ago. More announcements either intending to run again or not from various incumbents will emerge in the coming months.
From my own tracking of new subscribers, a number of them appear to be from PR firms, non-profits or those that work in the field of politics. If you include managing or advising political campaigns and political candidates as part of your “portfolio”, I hope these updates are helpful to you in finding some potential new clients.
Personally, I just enjoy writing about municipal and local level governance, so here’s what I found going on for this week’s edition.
Southwestern Ontario mayor’s resignation sparks lengthy game of “musical chairs”
The Town of Essex, just outside of Windsor, had to find a new mayor 10 months before the regularly scheduled election after their mayor resigned following his guilty plea for a violation under the Municipal Elections Act.
Mayor Larry Snively (top row, centre) was first elected to council in 2000 and served as mayor from 2002 to 2003 on an interim basis. He won election as mayor in 2018 by only 117 votes, but plead guilty for “procuring” ineligible voters to cast ballots during that campaign by proxy voting.
When he pleaded guilty, Snively admitted to not reading the proxies correctly. The now former mayor has also been fined $10,000 and has 180 days to pay. Even before the guilty plea, Snively declared that he would not be running for another term.
Ontario’s municipal legislation requires that upon a council seat being declared vacant, the council has 60 days to decide whether to appoint someone or call a by-election. And in the last few weeks, this small town near the Windsor-Detroit border has exercised that requirement numerous times.
The Essex town council selected their deputy mayor, Richard Meloche, at a special council meeting on January 24 to serve as mayor until the regular October election. The vacancy for deputy mayor was then filled at another meeting on January 31, and in a vote of 5-2 Ward 3 councillor Steve Bjorkman was appointed over Ward 4 Councillor Sherry Bondy.
Bondy, who plans to run for mayor herself, surmised that selecting a sitting council member for these positions would create disruptions as vacancies created would have to be filled. As of this writing she has been proven correct: Council now has to decide how to fill the vacancy in Ward 3 left by Bjorkman’s appointment to deputy mayor.
Veteran mayor in region leaves after long tenure
Speaking of the municipal political waters in Southwestern Ontario, another mayor has announced his departure, but of his own accord after almost two decades in office.
Stratford Mayor Dan Mathieson announced he would not be seeking a sixth term in the city’s 2022 municipal election. “It’s somewhat bittersweet, but I’ve had the chance to lead my community through five terms as mayor … and I think, when I look at all the opportunities on the horizon, new leadership and fresh ideas should be on the agenda,” Mathieson said in the local Beacon Herald.
“I’m quite happy to take my time, reflect on it and move on to something else, and give new leaders a chance to take the helm of the community,” Mathieson continued, downplayed rumours that he would be running in the June provincial election, saying he’s devoted to finishing his final term.
First serving on council since 1995, Mathieson previously served as deputy mayor before becoming mayor in 2003. During his tenure, his vote total never dropped below 68%, of which he received in 2018. In 2014, Mathieson received 81% of the vote in his bid for a fourth term.
Under his mayoralty, Stratford was declared a ‘Smart City’ and became a testing ground for autonomous vehicles. Despite his popularity at the ballot box, Mathieson has faced some controversy alongside the provincial government when it came to the use of Ministerial Zoning Orders (MZOs), such as requesting one to build a one million square foot glass factory owned by a Chinese company.
Being the home of the world famous Shaw Festival, this city of approximately 31,000 should see a lively and theatrical contest to replace it’s longtime mayor given it’s relatively compact geography makes it easier to campaign across town for this job, COVID restrictions notwithstanding. Personally, I expect sitting city councillors as well as a few outsiders to take a stab at it.
Who is running (and not running) for Hamilton City Council again?
Ward 11 Councillor Brenda Johnson announced she would not be running for a fourth term to Hamilton City Council. She was first elected in 2010 and got 88% of the vote in 2018. A resident of Winona, Johnson’s ward changed under the 2018 boundary adjustment to include only the communities of Binbrook, Glanbrook, Mount Hope and the John C. Munro International Airport.
Being rather distant from the urban city proper, providing services to this fast growing community has always been a challenge according to local journalist Joey Coleman; Binbrook’s population grew by 78% between 2011 to 2016. Coleman also doesn’t pull punches when comparing Johnson’s tenure to those of her colleagues.
“Johnson’s time on Council is likely best summarized as that of a good honest person who found (herself) in a den of self-dealing, self-serving career politicians,” Coleman said, adding that her departure is a loss for Hamilton as a whole. The councillor spoke out against developers bullying city staff, but that’s really the tip of the iceberg in the litany of problems and controversies that have plagued Hamilton City Hall over the years.
If Johnson remained, she would have been one of those who could use her experience to help spearhead reforms if City Council got a complete cleansing of the ‘old guard’ that have been there, literally, since the last century. Former Ward 2 candidate Cameron Kroetsch, a former union president and LGBT activist who gave incumbent Jason Farr a decent run in 2018, announced on Twitter that he would be running again.
Coincidentally, Farr is rumoured to be thinking about running for the Ontario Liberals in June in the Hamilton East-Stoney Creek riding…even though he doesn’t live there. His former council colleague Chad Collins is the current federal Liberal MP for the same riding.
Other incumbents such as Ward 4 councillor Sam Merulla and Ward 12 Lloyd Ferguson had also indicated this would be their last term, although like everything else in life…things can change.
Prince Rupert, BC mayor says ‘sayonara’ to another term
This small city in Northern British Columbia will see a new mayor this fall, as Mayor Lee Brain said he would not be re-offering in the province’s municipal election to spend more time with his family and to ‘experience the next phase of his soul’s journey’...or something to that effect.
More alternative voting options emerge in municipalities
With the onset of COVID-19 and in-person gatherings more rare, the whole idea of going somewhere to cast a ballot during an election may require some innovation. Thankfully, some municipalities are offering alternatives with elections coming up this year.
Since I just mentioned Hamilton, the city is allowing the option to vote by mail for the municipal election. One would have to contact the city prior to the election to request a mail-in ballot. Voters will receive two envelopes, including a stamped returned envelope that can either be sent back to the city or they can place the ballot into a secured drop box located at city hall.
Meanwhile in King Township, they are implementing a ‘Vote at Home’ program as well as increasing the number of advance voting days, and looking at the potential of ‘curb-side’ or ‘drive-thru’ voting. For a sprawling rural area with a few thousand residents, this makes sense…just hope that their Internet holds up.
This US state may have just radically altered housing policy
Looking down south to our neighbours in the United States in the ‘nation state’ of California, as of the beginning of this year enacted perhaps one of the most revolutionary housing policies in history: virtually banning the building of new single family homes.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law that would allow the construction of duplex homes on most properties with one home. The legislation also makes it easier to divide an existing lot into two, potentially allowing four homes to be built on land where previously only one was allowed.
In layman’s terms, according to someone I know who dives much deeper into zoning and housing policy than I do, California will now require every municipality in its borders to come up with plans to build affordable housing. If they don’t, their zoning gets substantially suspended.
As cited in the Realtor.com story, the California Association of Realtors said the median home price in the state rose 144% between 2000 and 2019 to $591,866. Given how dire the situation is with housing in both our countries, this kind of statistic sounds very familiar.
More than 240 California cities under the League of California Cities co-signed a letter to Newsom decrying the undermining of local control.
“We’re disappointed that the Legislature passed Senate Bill 9 and urge Governor Newsom to veto this flawed legislation. SB 9 would undermine the ability of local governments to responsibly plan for the type of housing that communities need, while usurping local democracy and the input of local residents,” their spokesperson said in their press release.
Here in Ontario (Canada)* Premier Doug Ford has been accused of overriding local autonomy when it comes to land use planning, such as the use of MZOs. It seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, but in the case of California, could this be a good thing that would spur on more affordable housing options?
*In case you didn’t know, there is a city called Ontario, California, specifically in San Bernardino County.
Small Maine community achieves this historical first
Finally we take a look at South Portland, Maine, a city which is demographically 90% Caucausian which recently made a historical first.
South Portland Councillor Deqa Dhalac, 53, was selected by her council colleagues back in December in an unanimous vote to serve as the mayor for this city of around 26,000. Dhalac is a Somali refugee who fled the African country in 1990, and actually lived in Toronto in the early 90s before moving to Atlanta, Georgia where she married. She moved to Maine in 2005.
She cited Donald Trump as one major motivation for her getting into politics. Upon Trump’s ascension to the presidency, Dhalac joined protests over Trump’s comments denigrating Somali refugees and participated in matches against white supremacy. She was elected to South Portland’s city council in 2018 and was reelected unopposed for a second term in 2020.
Like many American cities, South Portland selects an elected council member to serve as mayor. As such, Dhalac will serve a one year term. According to the non-profit organization New American Leaders, she is believed to be the first Somali-American mayor in the United States…as well as the first black mayor of South Portland.
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