Retirement plans

 
An outspoken police union president may hang up his gun and throw down the gauntlet in this year’s mayoral race.

Thunder Bay Police Association president Keith Hobbs, on a Facebook group encouraging him to run for city council said he plans to begin the retirement process from the police force and enter the race.

While he’s not 100 per cent sure about the run at the mayor’s chair, Hobbs said realistically it’s more a matter of when, than if, he’ll run for the city’s top elected position. Hobbs, during an interview with tbnewswatch.com, on Thursday said he is in retirement discussions with police administration and could leave the force as early as May 4.

The official paperwork for a mayoral run would have to wait until after that because it would be a conflict of interest to campaign on city issues while still on the payroll as a city employee, Hobbs said.

"I think I’d have to step down to do that properly," he said.

While speaking out about crime and police administration like he did last fall is still important, Hobbs said he doesn’t want to be seen as a one-issue candidate. As a soon-to-be pensioner, he said taxes and the taxpayer are also important issues for him.

"I don’t like the direction the city’s going right now," Hobbs said. "I think it’s time for people at city hall to start consulting the real people in this city and that’s taxpayers."

Hobbs entered the local media spotlight late last year after he publicly blasted the police administration’s response to what he called a major upswing in violent crime.

Given his experience with the local police force, Hobbs would likely make crime and community safety a big part of his platform. But the potential candidate added that the city’s crime rate does have an affect beyond community safety.

"I think the whole crime issue is weighing heavily on a lot of people’s minds," Hobbs said. "If you have a safe city all those other things are going to come. You’re going to have good tourism, businesses will want to set up there… there are a lot of things intertwined with crime."

Hobbs said he isn’t considering a run for a ward councillor’s seat because of who the councillor representing his ward is right now. Red River Coun. Brian McKinnon, who has filed to run again in October, was Hobbs’ gym teacher and Hobbs said he views McKinnon as a mentor.

He added that running at-large or for mayor are both uphill battles, but given the choice between the two, he believes filing to run for mayor makes more sense.

"I think it’ll be just as tough to win at an large seat then it would be to unseat Mayor (Lynn) Peterson," Hobbs said. "I think I can accomplish more in the big seat than as a councillor."

Peterson, asked earlier this week by Thunder Bay Television about Hobbs’s potential challenge, declined to comment, stating she does not discuss other candidates.

Peterson filed her nomination papers in January and will be seeking a third term.