Rollins blames lack of transparency for resignation from mayor’s cabinet

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This article was published 21/01/2025 (254 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An influential councillor blamed a lack of transparency at city hall for her sudden decision to step down from the mayor’s cabinet on Tuesday.

Sherri Rollins resigned as chairwoman of the property and development committee, a position that gave her a seat at the executive policy committee as part of the mayor’s inner circle.

In a two-sentence letter sent to Mayor Scott Gillingham Tuesday afternoon — minutes after the executive policy committee adjourned for the day — the two-term Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry councillor said she had quit.

The letter didn’t offer a reason for her resignation. While she did attend a scheduled gathering of committee members prior to Tuesday morning’s meeting, she was not at the meeting.

Later, Rollins told reporters she decided to step down because of repeated instances of council members not being able to access necessary information to inform their decisions about projects and expenditures, including from the mayor’s office.

“The public service, in particular, I’m concerned that their information and the available time that we’ve had in the past to get briefings from them aren’t really getting through to council,” she said Tuesday.

When asked to give examples, she cited a case this month in which St. Vital Coun. Brian Mayes was forced to file a of freedom of information request to obtain a report on federal housing funding because he said it had been withheld from council.

Rollins was elected to council in 2018 and had served on the executive policy committee since then. Her departure leaves an opening on EPC.

Gillingham received her resignation while speaking to reporters and said it would take “a few days” to decide on a replacement.

He suggested the two don’t agree about the city’s response to the provincial government’s strategy to tackle the nagging homeless issue, which was unveiled last week by Premier Wab Kinew.

“I don’t think we see eye to eye quite on how our staff is responding or ready to respond,” the mayor said.

“I will highlight (there has been) no police chief since Labour Day in a public safety crisis, and no momentum on the (chief administrative officer) of the City of Winnipeg since Mike Jack’s departure, and that is concerning…”–Coun. Sherri Rollins

Last week, a city report called for the end of a pilot project involving weekly encampment cleanups because city staff said trash just kept piling up and the provincial government was ushering in its own plan. On Tuesday, EPC voted in favour to end the project.

Rollins noted her ward has some of the largest encampments in the province and told reporters neither the city report nor the provincial plan factored into her decision. She said she decided to quit Tuesday, but added there was an “accumulation of concerns” that informed her choice.

“I will highlight (there has been) no police chief since Labour Day in a public safety crisis, and no momentum on the (chief administrative officer) of the City of Winnipeg since Mike Jack’s departure, and that is concerning, especially when I have colleagues that I’m very close to outside of executive policy committee that are saying much the same things that I am today.”

The Winnipeg Police Service has not replaced former chief Danny Smyth since his retirement in September. Deputy chief Art Stannard has been serving as acting chief since then.

Former CAO Michael Jack was named a deputy minister in the Manitoba government in mid-November after leaving the city five months earlier. Sherwood Armbruster has been serving as the city’s interim CAO since.

Rollins said she is not considering a run in this year’s federal election.

The remaining members of EPC are Janice Lukes (Waverley West), Evan Duncan (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood), Jeff Browaty (North Kildonan) and Vivian Santos (Point Douglas).

Lukes said Rollins was “great to work with” but noted the committee is a tough one to sit on.

“It’s a very intense job, and maybe she doesn’t agree with some of the things that are going on,” she said.

Duncan echoed Lukes’ sentiment, suggesting Rollins “potentially had her differences” with the province and city’s strategy.

Browaty thanked Rollins for her time on the committee but declined to speculate about why she left.

Santos declined to comment.

“It’s a very intense job, and maybe she doesn’t agree with some of the things that are going on.”–Coun. Janice Lukes

In July, Gillingham shook up EPC by replacing Mayes, an 11-year member, with Santos.

Rollins said it was “difficult” for the committee to lose Mayes, along with John Orlikow (River Heights-Fort Garry) in 2023, and said it wasn’t up to her to say who should take her seat.

She said she would focus on improving dialogue between municipal bodies and transparency in council procedure for the time being.

“Whether it’s folks being turned away from (the executive policy committee), like my colleague Coun. Mayes, or it’s me withdrawing my labour, I think it’s important to regroup and figure out where we’re at. That’ll be a conversation between me and my colleagues on council here.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

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Malak Abas
Reporter

Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.

Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.