Election Feature: Council’s Legacy of Infighting

Mayoral candidates Drew Barnes (foreground) and Alan Rose (background) speak with constituents on Wednesday in Riverside. (Photo Alex McCuaig)

About 100 residents of Riverside and a handful of council candidates turned out to a barbecue at the Elks lodge Wednesday with proposed roadway changes and the upcoming election top of mind.

While the proposed redesign of Third Street cutting through the heart of the northside community is a well-defined issue for the neighbourhood, the legacy which the outgoing council has left is fuzzy.

“I don’t understand why they would put a bike lane in for .3 per cent of the population,” said Marla Howard, Wednesday’s event organizer, regarding the proposed Third Street redesign. “This is a seniors’ neighbourhood. I don’t see people riding their bikes very often – very little.”

Howard’s quoted statistic comes by way of the city’s Transportation Master Plan released earlier this year which cited a more than 50 per cent drop in Hatters using a bicycle to commute to work between 2016 and 2021. But that same plan includes an expansion in multi-use paths built in the city.

It’s not that residents don’t feel there are issues with Third Street traffic, said Howard, pointing out the city intends to maintain the roadway as a designated truck route. But narrowing the roadway by adding a multi-use path doesn’t improve safety.

“To me, it’s a very huge safety issue. You’ve got people opening car doors with trucks flying by,” said Howard, adding she’d like to see proof narrowing the street improves safety. “We’re voting for the people who can see we don’t want to spend that kind of money (on the street redesign).”

The proposed redesign of Third Street and the Transportation Master Plan have unfolded over this current council’s term. But asked what the biggest legacy which will be left by the current council, Howard took a lengthy pause.

“Their legacy is the infighting. It is and I think we all feel it as a community,” said Howard.

There were some positive comments towards incumbent councillors Shila Sharps and Robert Dumanowski who had their bids for re-election announced earlier Wednesday. But many of the Riverside residents struggled to name one notable accomplishment of the current council.

Riverside residents, who have rallied in opposition to proposed roadway changes, at a community barbecue Wednesday. (Photo Alex McCuaig)

Darcy Wotherspoon, a 25-year resident of Riverside, said she won’t vote for any incumbent.

“I don’t think they should come back. We had a council for four years and all they did was fight,” she said. “Why would they even want to come back.”

Like Howard, Wotherspoon paused to think when asked to name an accomplishment of the current council.

“They didn’t accomplish anything,” she said. Though, she added, holding off on proceeding with the council’s own Transportation Master Plan could be seen as an achievement.

Greg Bueckert has been a vocal critic of that Transportation Master Plan as well.

But it’s just one facet of a legacy of controversy which the current council that has been dominated by infighting will leave.

“The result of that will be a push for a cohesive council of like-minded people, possibly more business sense to try to get this city on track from where it is right now,” said Bueckert. “We’ve brought national attention to us but not good attention.”

He said there has been a few positives when it comes to building economic development in the city. However, he’ll be looking for candidates will business sense and who will continue the decades long push to turn the Wildhorse border crossing into a 24-hour port of entry.

“We need to become a corridor. We could be a hub if we had some political will, political strength,” he said.

Bueckert added he believes municipal administrators are out of control as, “they seem to be doing whatever they want, whenever they want.”

The air needs to be cleared regarding the future of the currently suspended city manager Ann Mitchell, who Bueckert doesn’t anticipate will return.

 The next council will need to, “set the standard for an administration that knows that they are employed by the city, by the taxpayer.”

Council candidates also in attendance at the community barbecue were mayoral candidates Alan Rose and Drew Barnes along with councillor hopefuls Laura Butterfield, Brock Hale and Bill Cocks.

Rose said this year’s election campaign will be different than 2021’s if not for any other reason than pandemic restrictions which prevented events like Wednesday’s won’t be a factor.

“When you’re trapped and don’t have a way to get out and people aren’t real familiar with you, they don’t understand, see your passion, don’t see your thinking, it’s hard to communicate that,” said Rose, who ran for mayor in 2021.

Post-pandemic, that landscape has changed with campaigns able to actively recruit volunteers and engage in in-person events.

Rose said while incumbent candidates may have a core constituency to rely on, the wider reviews of this council’s performance is substandard.

It’s a position he shares, pointing out the current council’s inability to move on from infighting.

“I was disappointed with a few of them not showing up in a leadership position. And they keep tearing the scab off,” said Rose.

 He said there is a current crop of new candidates that can move past the issues which have dominated the last four years of the current council.

“I think we have a lot of talent in here and people who can do major changes and who can bring this city out relatively fast,” said Rose.

First-time candidate Laura Butterfield at the Riverside Barbecue.

First time candidate Laura Butterfield was a bit more resistant to criticize the current council, noting the challenges which were before them.

“Coming out of COVID, it was a big change. Everybody wanted a change in council, and they got it,” she said.

That change sought transparency and accountability from the current council, said Butterfield.

“I think there were multiple things that came on the forefront for them, and I think they did the best with what they had in front of them,” she said. “I can appreciate that for them.”

But, like all those the Owl spoke to at Wednesday’s event, Butterfield struggled to name an accomplishment of the current council. That is, outside of the cascading turn of events which started with trying to hire a city manager, suspension of the mayor and a municipal inspection report.

“I’d just say they had a lot to deal with and they did the best they could with what they had,” she said.

The municipal election will be held on October 20.