THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay’s city council will enter a so-called “lame duck” period as of Aug. 19, restricting its decision-making ability and delegating more powers to administration ahead of the Oct. 24 election.
City leaders say the move will have little impact on council’s ability to move forward key files in the coming months.
The lame duck provisions are laid out as the “restricted acts clause” under Ontario’s Municipal Act, and kick in when it’s determined the new council will include less than three quarters of its current members.
With four of 13 members announcing they will not run again in 2022, Thunder Bay’s city council is expected to hit that threshold on Aug. 19, when nominations close for the upcoming municipal election.
Departing members include Couns. Fraser, Johnson, and McKinnon, as well as Mayor Bill Mauro.
The provincial legislation is intended to prevent outgoing councils from making major decisions that could burden the next council.
During the lame duck period, council will be barred from appointing or removing officers of the municipality, hiring or firing employees, disposing of any property with a value over $50,000, and undertaking any new spending over $50,000 not already approved in the budget.
The Act includes exceptions in the case of emergency.
“This doesn’t mean that council can’t make decisions,” said city clerk Krista Power. “What it means is there are specific items that are restricted that should be delegated to administration to ensure continuity of decisions, and also for protection of the municipality.”
Coun. Kristen Oliver agreed.
“I don’t see the Act really having a huge impact on the decisions council makes,” she said.
Work on policy items like consideration of adding stop arm cameras to local school buses can still move forward under the restrictions, she said.
She also believes it’s possible council could make some progress on a proposed indoor turf sports facility during the lame duck period without authorizing spending.
Coun. Shelby Ch'ng called the indoor turf facility the last major outstanding issue for the current term of council, but expressed skepticism council would make significant progress.
However, she agreed the lame duck period won't have much of an impact on the remainder of the term.
With just three meetings scheduled before Aug. 19, some items like approval of contracts for summer infrastructure work will be prioritized before the deadline, Power said.
When the lame duck period begins, the power to spend over $50,000 on property-related matters will be delegated to senior administrators, with the authority to settle legal matters over $50,000 delegated to the city solicitor in concert with the city manager.
Senior administrators will also be able to authorize debentures for infrastructure projects that have been previously approved by council, and to approve appropriation changes of up to $2 million.
City leaders say the intent is to use those delegated powers as little as possible.
“Administration will do their very best not to use the delegated authority, unless there’s an extreme urgent need to do so,” said Power.
When similar lame duck provisions were passed in the run-up to the 2018 election, administration used its delegated power only once, to approve a debenture bylaw, noted city manager Norm Gale.
“Administration [has] no plans to move significant projects forward within any delegated authority and would only exercise restricted acts authority as required due to time constraints and to protect the corporation,” he said.
Note: This article has been updated with comment from Coun. Shelby Ch'ng.
