THUNDER BAY -- Mayor Ken Boshcoff is non-committal on if he will exercise his strong mayor powers to choose the next city manager.
Asked on Monday night if he'd enact the measure, given to him by the province, Boshcoff said he likely won't use them to hire outgoing city manager Norm Gale's replacement.
Earlier, at the weekly city council meeting, Gale announced his retirement, saying he'll depart the post at the end of June.
“It's something that I haven't thought about implementing, and I would prefer to go through the normal process which everybody is comfortable with. I'm sure that we'll be able to find someone without having to resort to strong mayor powers,” Boshcoff said.
Gale will be Thunder Bay's longest-serving city manager when his tenure concludes.
He took on the full-time role on January 11, 2016, filling in on an interim basis when Tim Commisso stepped down in October 2015. Commisso went on to leave Thunder Bay and join the City of Burlington from 2019 to 2023.
In November, Boshcoff stated his intent not to exercise three of the key strong mayor powers, instead allowing simple majority votes by council to decide major budget, staffing, and organizational processes.
To demonstrate his resolve, he delegated his new power to hire and fire the city manager to council, where it had always been decided before October 31st.
Boshcoff delegated the power to reorganize city departments back to the city manager.
The mayor also has the power to pass or veto bylaws related to housing with the support of just a third of council, and can direct and appoint members to committees.
The powers were enacted by the province and given to 26 municipalities, joining Toronto and Ottawa.
Thunder Bay was not on the original list of municipalities to get new powers. At the time, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark suggested that was because Thunder Bay had not submitted a housing pledge like those other communities.
In September, Boshcoff had sent a letter to Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing committing to meet the provincial target of 2,200 homes by 2031.
