THUNDER BAY – During his 11 years on city council, Mark Bentz carried some hefty responsibilities.
As budget chair, the former Northwood representative, who was ousted in 2014 by Shelby Ch’ng, helped steer the city’s financial ship.
As chair of the waterfront development committee, Bentz was a driving force behind the development at Prince Arthur’s Landing, a decision that may have led to his upset loss four years ago.
On Monday night, however, voters chose to bring the 52-year-old Bentz back to city council, handing him the fifth of five at-large spots up for grabs.
A grateful Bentz on Tuesday said he’s ready to get down to the business of helping govern the City of Thunder Bay again.
“The city has a lot of work to do in this term of council. I think it’s been echoed by many candidates, and the mayor, coming in that crime is an issue, infrastructure and just taxation in general, the residential taxes are getting a bit much for people and we’ve really got to look at creative ways to help remedy that,” Bentz said.
Finding ways to cut costs will be paramount to that success. Bentz said that means finding more partnerships and collaborative efforts with existing agencies within the city’s parameters.
“There is maybe some overlap that we can address. I don’t have all the answers, but I know we need to start looking. I know that I’m in favour of an organizational review, just to see that we’ve got the resources in the right place, doing the right things,” Bentz said.
“That can lead to a lot of best practices being implemented. There are going to be a lot of questions being asked. That’s how I see my job, to ask the questions.”
Bentz is one of six new faces who will be seated at the council table between 2018 and 2022, a group that includes mayor-elect Bill Mauro and ward councillors Albert Aiello (McIntyre), Brian Hamilton (McKellar), Cody Fraser (Neebing) and Kristen Oliver (Westfort). Newcomer Peng You topped the at-large competition, Bentz and You taking the seats vacated by failed mayoral candidates Iain Angus and Frank Pullia.
Of that group, only Bentz and Mauro, who he replaced in Northwood in 2003, have previous council experience. There will be growing pains, Bentz acknowledged, but he expects everyone to catch on pretty quickly.
“Anytime you get a new group of people together there’s always the danger of it going off the rails, but I don’t see that happening. I know most of these people and they’re all very socially minded people. They have the best of the community at heart,” Bentz said, promising to be a team player willing to mentor council rookies.
“That’s really what’s required. We all have the same goal, so I think we’re all going to work well together.”
