Windsor mayoral candidate Fred Francis is pledging a major culture shift at city hall if elected mayor. Francis laid out the first detailed section of his platform Wednesday, focusing on government accountability, transparency and public access. Among his proposals are detailed public reporting of in-camera decisions, monthly news conferences, annual audits of closed-door meetings, publishing all council voting records online, and moving council meetings from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to ensure more public engagement. The platform includes the following: Francis says residents have increasingly told him they feel disconnected from city hall and don’t believe their concerns are being heard. “We wanted to make it more open, more accessible, and we want more public involvement, more residents involved, more business owners involved, more labour representatives involved,” Francis said. “We want to open up city hall where everyone feels welcome and everyone feels that their voice matters and what they say is actually being considered in the decision making process. So if people want to say it’s a huge culture change, I welcome that.” Francis pledged once again to eliminate strong mayor powers on his first day in office, adding that he believes councillors should play a bigger role in governing the city. “We’re an 11 person council and I can tell you it is not that difficult to get five other people to agree with you if what you’re pushing for is reasonable,” he said. “If you can’t get five other councillors to agree with you, then you have to probably go back and rethink what you’re pushing and how you’re pushing it and how you’re communicating that.” Francis says many of the measures could be implemented quickly and with little cost. He argues voters face a choice between maintaining the current direction at city hall or electing a new administration. “If you’re satisfied with that, then you’re going to get four more years of the same thing, right? If you’re unsatisfied with that, if you don’t like what you see in your neighbourhood, if you don’t feel safe when you go downtown, if you’re looking at the cost of doing business at the city, if you’re looking at the cost of your property taxes and you’re asking yourself, I can’t afford this, then you want change. But you want change that works for you. And that’s a change I’m offering. That’s a change my campaign is offering,” Francis said. Francis says further details on the remaining sections of his platform will be released in the coming weeks. The 11 candidates running for Windsor mayor are Benjamin Danyluk, Aaron Day, Drew Dilkens (incumbent), Fred Francis, Dylon Graves, Tara Grayer, Nick Kolasky, Tristan Ty Morencie, Kat Pasquach, Patrick Sutherland, and Louis Vaupotic.
