THUNDER BAY – Allan Mihalcin has been in business in Thunder Bay for 25 years and wants to use that experience to make Thunder Bay a thriving city, living up to one of its nicknames, Superior by Nature.
The married father-of-two is on the at-large ballot in 2022, looking to earn one of five available spots in the upcoming municipal election.
A lifelong resident of Thunder Bay, Mihalcin says he’s running to focus on transparency, growth, economic prosperity and public safety.
He also thinks there’s been a significant lack of leadership at city hall the past few years, something he believes he can help improve.
“We haven’t had solid leadership for the last several years, and as a result, we have all of these issues that are surfacing and becoming very, very significant and need to be addressed,” Mihalcin said.
“The other thing I’ve noticed is city departments appear to be running in silos. There doesn’t appear to be enough communication happening between them. Communication among city departments themselves is incredibly important.”
Mihalcin, who owns and operates Twin City Refreshments, said he also brings plenty of experience working with both private and non-profit organizations, with a strong understanding of fiscal management and responsibility.
The ability to not only make decisions, but the right ones, is what he believes sets him apart from other candidates in the at-large contest.
“I’ve sat on many boards and there are three things that are important when you’re on a board – clarity, transparency and accountability. That’s important and that how I view all the businesses we work with, all the businesses we run."
Does Mihalicin think the city needs an indoor turf facility?
“Absolutely,” he said.
“The city supports baseball, hockey, tennis, swimming. The city supports all sports. We need to have an indoor turf facility. Do I believe the facility needs to be [spending] $45 million? No. There’s been a very similar facility, size-wise, that’s been built in Ottawa right now for approximately $20 million. In Thunder Bay that’s going to cost us about another 20 per cent… so we can build the facility for under $25 million, and there’s about $17.5 million already set aside,” Mihalcin said.
The user groups have also promised to chip in a portion of the cost too, he said.
“So, I think that’s more of a realistic budget and that’s the number that should have been presented to council. There should have been guardrails pushed up.”
When it comes to public safety, Mihalcin said council needs to show leadership and hold police to account, noting it’s council that controls the purse strings, approving the police budget.
While council has limited wiggle room on that front, they can ask the right questions and attempt to steer police in a different direction, he said.
“If I had any influence with regards to police advisory, personally I’m a big fan of neighbourhood policing. I’ve always thought having police in communities is a way of building relationships, a way of building communication,” Mihalcin said.
“It works in large cities. It can work in our city and it will provide people with that sense of security.”
