Welcome to the jungle

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/10/2016 (3616 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

From Mayor-Elect to Mayor

The inauguration was a celebratory event. On the evening of Nov. 3, 1992, I was sworn in as the City of Winnipeg’s 40th mayor. More than 250 people were in attendance, including many close friends and family members. My inaugural address clearly declared that my priority was to work for the betterment of our city. I also made it known that I was going to follow the will of the people. Winnipeggers had made it clear that they wanted a change. I tried to emphasize this in my address: “A model of a well-run, forward-thinking city is one that nurtures its assets and pays attention to the needs of its people.” The citizens of Winnipeg had clearly had enough of “old boys’ club politics” and they were looking for a change. That is what I was elected to do and my mandate now was to follow through on my platform.

One of the best memories I have of my first week in office was how the mayor’s office was transformed into a full-fledged flower shop. I received many, many beautiful arrangements from friends, colleagues, acquaintances, even complete strangers, all congratulating me on my win and sending me best wishes. The messages were heartfelt and joyful. I received countless cards and letters — even one from Prime Minister Brian Mulroney — and was quite touched by the overwhelming response from the citizens of Winnipeg. This of course was a great contradiction to what I was feeling from within the walls of city hall. Political gamesmanship was already starting to rear its ugly head, as councillors and senior administration began to let me know where they stood on my new role.

Once I was sworn in, my priority was to meet with my newly-appointed executive policy committee and get the ball rolling. I asked them to meet with me informally in my office. I purposely held it there in the hopes that my new team would get a taste of what I foresaw as regular informal meetings with this core group. I saw the EPC as the key leadership group for our city government. In recent polls, city councillors had received a 10 per cent approval rating on their performance from the citizens of Winnipeg. Clearly, I wanted to change that. I welcomed them to the meeting and thanked them for agreeing to serve on this committee. I emphasized how important it was that we should all work together to accomplish great things for our city. Over time, these informal meetings got better. I introduced a process whereby we could all discuss matters pertaining to the city in a confidential setting. These meetings were meant to give us the opportunity to discuss, deliberate and if necessary, vent. Eventually, my EPC became a much more cohesive group and they did become the leadership group for civic government and effected significant change. By the end of my six years in office, we had a positive and respectful relationship with each other.

Following the first informal EPC meeting, I invited all city councillors for lunch in a city hall meeting room. I personally paid for this luncheon so that there wouldn’t be any criticism about spending city funds. My intention was to do a round table, with each council member sharing with me what they saw as the top three priorities they wanted to achieve. I saw this as an opportunity to listen and see what my colleagues thought. It started with a number of councillors refusing to eat lunch because I had personally paid for it and they weren’t about to be “bribed” by the new mayor. Seriously! And it went downhill from there. Again… welcome to politics!

Settling In

Physically, the mayor’s office was of significant size. It served as a reception area for dignitaries and guests, and also as a real working office. When I arrived, I found the area to be quite sparse. The walls were bare, the furniture was out-dated and there was one plant in the entire office, and it was barely alive. The desk was very simple — no front privacy panel, more like a long table, really — and it had a matching credenza. There was another credenza on a far wall, which housed a small television set. This is where we could watch council meetings in action, as they were televised at that time. In another part of the office there was a sitting area with a chesterfield and a few chairs.

My first priority when I saw the office was to get a conference table and chairs in there, so that we could hold meetings. I was advised that there was no budget available to acquire the basic necessities for the office. Thus began my quest to give the mayor’s office a “historic” look. This initiative was spearheaded by MaryAnne Rudy, who was the manager for the city’s corporate office and buildings. She was able to create a very eclectic look. She arranged to get various items donated from a number of city departments and over time, collected some of the city’s most historic pieces. The fire department lent me a fabulous brass antique fire bell to hang on the wall. The police department lent me one of the original, solid-iron call boxes, which were used back in the day when officers also wore buffalo coats. Winnipeg Hydro lent me their first electric wall clock… a magnificent piece with all kinds of history. St. Boniface City Hall graciously lent me their original conference boardroom table. Local businesses also helped out.

Air Canada lent me an antique desk from their vice-president of finance. A simple thing such as a decent chair for the mayor’s desk was solved by having one of my employees at Birt Saddlery take my office chair and wheel it down two blocks to city hall. I used that chair the entire time I was in office.

The historic pieces from the city’s various departments gave visitors a definite feel that they were at city hall. As for artwork, there was one piece available, and it hung in the reception area. We had no budget, so we had to use some ingenuity to add items to the remaining walls. Again, emphasizing our goal to make the office a “people’s place,” we began to put up framed photographs of various city events and some of the many visitors to our city. In time, it became a people’s photo gallery. Most of this collection of framed photographs now resides in the City of Winnipeg Archives. To further beautify the office, Wendy Mackie, the floral horticulturist from the city’s parks department, came in and added greenery to our surroundings… no more nearly dead plants. In a few short months, we had transformed the mayor’s office and city hall. With a lot of co-operation and help from local businesses and departments within the city of Winnipeg, we were able to make city hall more inviting for citizens, and more importantly, one that celebrated our history.

I was taken aback that no policy, research or communications positions existed within the mayor’s office. In due course, changes were made, and two additional jobs were created — research co-ordinator and communications manager. I believe these two positions still exist today.

It was shocking to find out that the mayor’s office was not computerized, especially since other city departments were. Apparently, we were “on the list” for computerization. This may have been the first of many discussions I had with my chief of staff about the “state of affairs” in this important office. I made it abundantly clear that if we were to be effective, we had to have proper systems and equipment in place. Shortly thereafter, we were computerized. Over the next three years, members of my staff would be instrumental in developing systems, plans and forms to make the mayor’s office more efficient than it had ever been in the past.

One of the more peculiar things that happened came about when I was asked to sign official documents. Once a week, administration would send over a number of documents that required my signature. This is not so peculiar, but what was odd (to me at least) was that the documentation had “His Worship” printed to the left of where I was to sign my name. When I first saw this, I commented that this would now need to be changed. I was advised that there was a large supply. Clearly, no one ever conceived that there would be a “Her Worship” when formulating these documents. It was agreed upon that until the supply ran out, we would use these documents. However, I did improvise. Many legal documents I signed until the supply ran out had “His” crossed off with a red marker and I added “Her.”

At the end of my first week in office, the reality of politics, power and gamesmanship was more than evident. I didn’t exactly get the welcome I thought I might get when I arrived at city hall. I do savour many happy moments in that first week, but I also remember the share of challenges presented to me as well. I do recall thinking to myself, “Surely, it couldn’t get any worse,” but it did.

Excerpt from Her Worship — Moments in History, Moments in Time, by Susan A. Thompson, with Terry Létienne. In 1992, Thompson became the first woman to be elected Winnipeg mayor. She released her memoir last Sunday at a book launch at McNally Robinson Booksellers