By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
The special Cobourg council meeting Wednesday afternoon to explain the Strong Mayor Powers that take effect Thursday was chaired by Deputy Mayor Nicole Beatty in the absence of Mayor Lucas Cleveland.
Municipal Clerk Brent Larmer said that gaining this designation did not come with any opt-out provisions. As for understanding what this means for the town, he added, the province has been “less than helpful in helping us understand this process” so it may look different from one municipality to another.
Special Powers and Duties of the Head of Council under Bill 3 Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act 2022 began this process in Ontario municipalities that the province deems fitting.
The purpose was to help municipalities move forward on shared provincial-municipal responsibilities, and the number of Strong Mayor municipalities is always growing, Larmer said – most recently, the City of Orillia got that designation after the ice storm.
The shared priorities set out are two – building 1.5-million new residential units by Dec. 31, 2031, and constructing and maintaining the associated infrastructure in support of housing (transit, roads, utilities, servicing).
“And that’s it,” Larmer said.
The powers fall under three categories – administrative (which can be delegated), and legislative and financial (which cannot be delegated).
Legislative powers include requiring council to consider a matter at a council meeting, requiring votes on bylaws, and vetoing bylaws adopted by council. A Strong Mayor provision can allow a bylaw to be declared as “passed” if it has a few as two votes in addition to the mayor’s.
Administrative powers allow a mayor to appoint and dismiss a Chief Administrative Officer and certain division heads, determine administrative organizational structure, and establish council committees (and appoint their chairs and vice-chairs).
Financial powers centre around the mayor’s power to prepare the budget. Within very strict timelines, there are provisions for amendments, though the mayor has the power to veto these amendments. Again, within strict timelines, council can override the veto with a two-thirds vote (which works out to five members of council).
At any time, Larmer added, the mayor can decide to shorten these timelines.
Questions exploring technical details and scenarios followed, but members of the public can learn more at https://www.cobourg.ca/en/our-government/strong-mayor-powers.aspx
The council motion to receive the report also directs staff to review the various council policies and bylaws in light of the Strong Mayor designation and provide recommendations on amendments where necessary for council review and consideration.
Beatty turned chairmanship of the meeting over to Councillor Adam Bureau in order to make an amendment asking Mayor Cleveland to provide a directive on which Strong Mayor powers he intended to retain and which he intended to delegate.
Though this amendment passed, Larmer told councillors that a mayor can delegate and revoke delegations at any time.
