As of Nov. 1, strong mayor powers have expanded to 21 more cities, including North Bay.
While Mayor Peter Chirico has expressed his intent to maintain collaboration with North Bay City Council, there are provincial legislative requirements to follow.
"I am committed to working collaboratively with our City Council, and I have no intention of exercising these powers in a way that undermines our strong team,” stated Chirico in a City of North Bay news release. “However, we must adhere to the provincial legislation, and as such, I am taking these steps to ensure transparency and accountability."
In adherence to the provincial guidelines, Chirico is issuing some Mayoral Decisions — to maintain the existing Committees of Council and, to delegate specific strong mayor powers. This includes delegating the authority to appoint or dismiss a chief administrative officer to the council and to delegate the hiring and reorganization of municipal department heads to the CAO.
According to the provincial legislation, these powers will be exercised in writing, with notifications sent to the city clerk and councillors. These notifications will also be made publicly available.
To ensure transparency and accessibility, the City of North Bay has launched a webpage to house all mayoral decisions related to strong mayor powers. Community members can access this information here.
BACKGROUND
The Better Municipal Governance Act, 2022, received Royal Assent on December 8, 2022. Regarding Mayoral powers, this legislation amends the Municipal Act, 2001, to allow the Mayor to propose, and require the Council to consider and vote on, certain by-laws related to prescribed Provincial Priorities (O. Reg. 580/22: Provincial Priorities). The by-law is considered passed if more than one-third of the Members of the Council vote in favour of the by-law.
The Mayor has special powers and duties under Part VI.1 of the Municipal Act, 2001.
These include powers to:
- Appoint and dismiss the Chief Administrative Officer;
- Hire and dismiss various division heads (excluding the prescribed list);
- Establish prescribed committees of Council, assign their functions, and appoint the Chairs and Vice Chairs of committees of Council;
- A prescribed committee consists solely of members of the Council;
- Propose the Municipality’s annual budget subject to Council amendments, a Mayoral veto, and a Council override process;
- The budget shall be prepared on or before February 1. If not, the Council shall prepare and adopt the budget;
- Submit matters for Council’s consideration, or veto by-laws, if the Mayor believes it will advance a prescribed Provincial Priority; and
- Direct Municipal Staff in writing.
The Mayor is required to exercise these powers in writing and make them available to the public, subject to the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Mayoral decisions are available online.
The powers and duties of the Mayor are further described in O. Reg. 530/22 and O. Reg. 580/22.
In August, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario's conference that the Ford government would offer incentives for meeting housing targets to the tune of $1.2 billion, and expand the strong mayor powers. The municipalities included in that expansion of the program are all projected to have a population of 50,000 or more by 2031, including North Bay.
See related: Ontario adding more 'strong mayors,' creating $1.2B in housing incentive fund
And: Strong mayor? Don't care, say many small-town mayors
"North Bay has already taken proactive measures by developing a Housing Action Plan and a strategy that supports the expansion of the local housing supply with targets that — with federal support — would exceed those set for our City as part of today’s provincial announcement," said Gord Young, the municipality's communications officer in August.
See: North Bay eyes Ontario's housing target — 1000 new units by 2031
While campaigning in 2022, Chirico and the other mayoral candidates were asked about strong mayor powers and an August BayToday poll showed respondents were strongly against the use of strong mayor powers.
