More
accountability at City Hall
Toronto
March 31, 2005
Councillor Norm Kelly, Scarborough Agincourt, Ward 40, wants a clearer,
more accountable decision making process and a responsible Mayoralty at
City Hall, not a more powerful Mayor. That’s why Kelly opposes the
recommendations presented by the Council Reference Group at today’s
Policy and Finance Committee meeting.
Among the recommendations that the Council Reference Group
presented to the Policy and Finance Committee are recommendations to give
the Mayor the power to appoint the Chairs of Standing Committees, special
committees and municipal boards. This, according to Councillor Kelly,
would further confuse the decision making process at City Hall and make
accountability even less clear.
In Councillor Kelly’s opinion, the goal should be to give
Torontonians a more accountable City Hall and that means a clearly
outlined executive role for the Mayor and a clearly outlined legislative
role for the committees. The Council Reference Groups has, according to
Kelly, missed the chance to bring meaningful reform to City Hall. “By
continuing to mix the roles of Mayor and Councillors – by converting
practice to policy - these recommendations ignore the real challenge
before us and serve only to further undermine Councillors’ autonomy”,
says Kelly. “They give us a more powerful Mayor, not a more effective
City Hall”, he added.
For
Kelly, meaningful reform at City Hall starts with streamlining the budget
process. He wants to dissolve the Budget Advisory Committee and the
position of Budget Chief, and hand the responsibility for presenting the
annual budget to the Mayor’s office. “The budget should not be the
Chief’s budget. It should not be the Budget Advisory Committee’s
budget, or even the Council’s budget. It’s the Mayor’s budget
reflecting the Mayor’s priorities.”
Let’s make it official. Let’s praise the Mayor for a good budget and hold his feet to the fire for a bad one
