Well, the voters – at least four out of every 10 of them who bothered to cast a ballot – wanted change on Chatham-Kent council, and they got it.
At a time when council downsized from 18 representatives to 15, seven announced they were not going to seek re-election, and two more opted to run against incumbent Darrin Canniff for mayor.
That guaranteed at least nine elected officials from 2022 would be out of office this time around.
Michael Bondy takes over as mayor, having defeated Canniff, and Lauren Anderson, among others.
Marjorie Crew is out, placing third in Ward 7 voting.
All told, there are seven new faces on council who weren’t there over the last four years. We’d say seven of 15 qualifies in serious turnover.
Change has arrived. OK. So what next?
Bondy has encouraged people to “buckle up” for the next four years as he said he wants to review all municipal operations in the quest to find efficiencies and cut away largesse.
Wages comprise a huge chunk of the municipal budget; employees are very well compensated, with attractive benefits and pension packages. Without being able to break contracts with the unions, of which the bulk of municipal staff are part, change there – unless there are serious layoffs, which would impact services – is likely not an option.
Top managers are under contract. Delete any of them and we’d have to pay out the rest of the value of those contracts at the very least.
At the staffing level, it’s hard to see where change will come from.
We wonder if many voters just fell in love with the idea of change, but aren’t really aware of the options.
More money into infrastructure? We all want that. But where does that cash come from to pay for it all?
Change could very well mean borrowing money.
It could also mean divesting some of the inventory of buildings owned by the municipality. Fewer buildings means lower maintenance and operational costs.
There are many options for change and many pros and cons for all of them.
We’re glad we’re not on council having to make these decisions, but we wish those who are the best of luck.
Residents in Chatham-Kent collectively (again, four in 10 of them) placed our trust in those who were elected to make those tough decisions.
