Mauro walks away from Economic Standing Policy Committee meetings

By Tim Kalinowski on May 13, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDtkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com

On the Day Three of Economic Standing Policy Committee Capital Improvement Program deliberations Coun. Joe Mauro decided to withdraw his participation from the meetings for the rest of the week.
Mauro said 20 years of frustration with the process is behind his decision to refuse to perform this duty of an elected council member in this instance.
“We (on council) have served this community and this term for 44 months,” he stated. “We are elected to serve 48 months. We are now passing a (CIP) budget where we are handing over to the next council to have to be accountable and responsible for the decisions this council makes. To me that has always been an unfair process, and I have stated that every time we had a budget. So this should come as no surprise to anyone.”
Mauro also went on to state he longed for the time when councils only passed one year budgets, and he expressed his frustration that every time he or others suggest a change in process they seem to get voted down.
Alternatively, instead of him withdrawing, Mauro proposed a motion to postpone all current CIP decisions until at least Nov. 1 when the new council can consider them at that point.
Coun. Belinda Crowson pointed out in response that any decision, budgetary or otherwise, made by one council can be revisited by a simple majority vote of the next council, including all funding allocated within the CIP 2022-2031 cycle plan.
“I think we on council agree there is a frustration of having the operating budget and the capital budget divided,” she said, “and that’s why on May 18 (council meeting) there is actually a motion brought forward that we have been looking at and discussing how we reorganize those. And yes, it would be much better if those two more often went hand in hand. But we are now in this (CIP) process, and this is the process we have. I think we should move forward. But I think we should be very clear in making sure the next council understands they are never constrained by what we have done. They can always re-open budgets.”
Prior to the vote on the Mauro postponement motion, Coun. Blaine Hyggen sought to create a compromise by having Economic SPC members instead recommend for city council approval that a five-year plan be adopted for the CIP between 2022-2026, but with a caveat that funding would only be guaranteed for projects started in 2022. This would fulfill all the basic governance requirements of elected members within a municipality under the Municipal Government Act.
Fearing additional confusion in the process by making this change, a majority of SPC members voted down Hyggen’s amendment by a vote of 5-4.
Coun. Mauro’s motion to postpone all current CIP deliberations was also then defeated by a vote of 6-3. At this point, Mauro indicated he would be discontinuing his participation in CIP deliberations for the rest of the week, and leaving it up to his colleagues to decide what would be recommended for funding in the 2022-2031 CIP cycle.
Mayor Chris Spearman said later he was disappointed by Mauro’s decision.
“I think every councillor represents a community point-of-view,” he said. “There are people who would feel the same way Coun. Mauro does. I think it is important for him to be part of the discussions, but he has made a choice. And, as I stated during the meeting, we will miss his participation.”
Spearman said Mauro’s frustration with the fact he has lost past votes on the issue of changing the budget and CIP process was natural, but municipal governments, like other democratically elected bodies, decided policies by majority vote.
“That’s the way democracy works, and that is the way it has always worked,” confirmed Spearman. “I can’t imagine how a different process would work.
City council will still have to approve the recommendations for 2022-2031 at the May 18 regular meeting following this week’s Economic SPC deliberations; at which time anyone on council could revisit specific decisions prior to a final vote.

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