Voters are making a choice in October about something that won’t even show up on the ballot.
On May 1, 2025, the Province made Orangeville a strong mayor municipality.
Council didn’t ask for it. Residents didn’t vote on it. But from that day forward, the office of Mayor came with powers it had never had before.
Strong Mayor Powers give the Mayor authority over some decisions that would traditionally have been made by Council or through the Town’s administration.
They include the ability to appoint the Chief Administrative Officer, make certain decisions about the Town’s organizational structure and senior staffing, create certain Council committees and appoint their chairs, and direct staff in connection with the Mayor’s additional powers.
The legislation also gives the Mayor significant powers over the municipal budget and certain priorities, including the power to veto some Council decisions. The Council can overrule these vetoes with a two-thirds majority vote.
That is a significant shift in where municipal power sits.
And I had to decide what I was going to do with it.
Four days after the Province gave Orangeville Strong Mayor Powers, I made my first decisions about how I would use them.
I chose not to make decisions alone where they could still be made together.
I left the day-to-day management of Town staff with our Chief Administrative Officer. I left the decision about who serves as Orangeville’s top administrator with Council. I left Council’s committees with Council, and I left local boards to choose their own leadership.
In other words, where the Province had given me new authority that I was allowed to share, I chose to put those decisions back where I believed they belonged.
I also supported asking the Province to remove Orangeville from the Strong Mayor system.
It didn’t.
I could not give all the powers back. The budget is one of them.
Provincial law requires the Mayor to start the annual budget process. I have used that authority to ask staff to prepare the budget and then brought it to Council for the usual public discussion, debate and decisions.
My approach has been straightforward: if a decision can still be made by seven elected individuals gathered around the Council table, I believe it should be.
Strong Mayor Powers give one person more authority. Having that authority doesn’t mean I have to use it.
I told the Toronto Star recently that democracy is sometimes a little messy. I believe that.
Around a Council table, people disagree. Someone asks a question you hadn’t considered. Staff give you advice you may not want to hear. Residents bring forward something none of us had thought about. Sometimes somebody changes your mind.
That’s not something I want to design out of local government.
Strong Mayor Powers can make some decisions faster. Other Ontario mayors have chosen to use them for exactly that reason. That’s their decision.
Mine has been to preserve Council’s role wherever the legislation allows.
Orangeville is still a strong mayor municipality.
My decisions about these powers do not bind anyone who comes after me.
The next Mayor gets them too.
They can choose to leave those decisions with Council, staff and local boards, as I have. Or they can make a different choice.
When we elect the next Mayor of Orangeville, we aren’t only choosing a person. We’re choosing who decides how much power one Mayor should have.
