Bowman to introduce proposals next week to keep campaign promises

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This article was published 28/11/2014 (4146 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s been a little more than three weeks since Brian Bowman was sworn in as mayor but he is now acting on some of his campaign promises.

Bowman’s office released a flurry of announcements Friday afternoon, saying the mayor will make good on his commitments to establish greater transparency at city hall, eliminate political severances, cut his salary and those of members of his executive committee and several other campaign commitments.

Bowman said he’ll bring a series of motions to the Dec. 3 meeting of executive policy committee, that he hopes will be forwarded to council for final approval.

The motions include:

• Creating the Office of Policy and Strategic Initiatives.
• Cutting the top-ups paid to councillors appointed to EPC by 50 per cent, 50 per cent cuts to the top-ups to Speaker and Deputy Speaker, and an equivalent dollar reduction to the mayor’s salary.
• Reducing the number of eligible councillor expenses.
• Elimination of severance packages paid to councillors who lose an election or who decide not to run for re-election.
• New lighting and landscaping standards for downtown surface parking lots.
• Ways to incorporate artistic components in all new municipal capital projects, with an emphasis on Indigenous arts.
• A plan to develop an online service to help community centres coordinate volunteer scheduling.
• Endorse United Way Winnipeg’s proposal to end homelessness in Winnipeg.

“For too long now, we have experienced a disconnect between the work we do collectively and the work Winnipeggers need us to do,” Bowman said in a prepared statement. “I am confident that by creating (the office of policy and strategic initiatives) and by consolidating existing positions, we can realign the efforts of council and the public service and move forward on the priorities of Winnipeg.”

Bowman said the political salary cuts he’s proposing will save city hall more than $100,000 annually. He added that politicians don’t deserve a severance package – which he said should really be called a payout.

“I believe most Winnipeggers don’t have jobs where when they quit they are rewarded with a hefty payout,” Bowman said. “I will never collect a severance payout on the backs of Winnipeggers and will continue to do all I can to end this practice at city hall entirely.”

Councillors now are entitled to a severance of three weeks’ pay for every year of service, up to a maximum of six months worth of pay. Bowman’s office said the eight outgoing members of council were entitled to receive, collectively, more than $400,000.

Veteran Coun. Russ Wyatt said he was pleased with Bowman’s money-saving initiatives and he plans to support them.
“This is going to be a tough budget year,” Wyatt (Transcona), a former member of EPC, said. “The mayor is leading by example and I hope all members of council support him.”

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca