Fawcett criticized for blaming staff

Incumbent Jeff Fawcett repeatedly shifted the responsibility onto city staff for controversial decisions raised during Friday night’s mayoral debate.

The debate between Fawcett and challenger Len Isleifson — held at Brandon University’s Lorne Watson Recital Hall with about 80 people in attendance — covered a range of topics including growth, taxes and transparency.

When asked about 78 committee of the whole meetings since October 2022, most of which were closed to the public, Fawcett responded by clarifying that he “once again, (is) not a city clerk.”

“The city clerks set all those up using the Municipal Act,” he said.

He added that “clerk staff … set these up, politicians don’t set them up, our clerk’s office does.”

Debate panellist Kelly Saunders criticized the incumbent candidate for shifting the blame.

“With all due respect, you are the mayor,” said Saunders, a political science professor at Brandon University.

“To blame the clerks because of how they schedule meetings, it’s your job to make sure the public is kept informed, that meetings are as open or accessible as possible,” Saunders said.

“You might want to rethink that strategy a little bit moving forward,” she said.

Isleifson, a former city councillor and Brandon East MLA, said he has a “different philosophy than the current mayor, obviously, when it comes to staff at city hall.”

“I have 14 employees where I work. I don’t hire them and say, ‘There you go, you’re on your own, never come see me again,’” Isleifson said.

In Fawcett’s opening remarks, he drew a distinction between the role of city management and the role of the mayor.

“We have been electing a lot of people, who have done really good jobs, but they’re really in the weeds with the management teams and Brandon needs that opportunity to actually have someone running as mayor,” he said.

Staff’s role in decision-making later became a topic again during the debate, which was organized by BU, The Brandon Sun and WCGtv.

In response to a recent Globe and Mail article on derelict buildings in Brandon, Isleifson said he would like to “start enforcing these bylaws” when it comes to “safety issues” and “eyesores” with abandoned buildings.

“We do have a responsibility to make sure it’s cleaned up … I would really have to have a look at the bylaws … Then let’s support our people that are enforcing those bylaws,” Isleifson said.

Fawcett said that implies city staff aren’t reviewing bylaws.

“We do have bylaws, they are enforced. Some buildings do come down, because they have to. So, we’re making a suggestion here that the city staff aren’t doing their jobs, and they are doing their jobs,” Fawcett said.

“If (a building) is at the stage of structural collapse, which again that’s staff, and if they are at it, they’ll do it,” Fawcett said. “The mayor won’t go and put a pin up there and say, ‘I’ve looked at it, it’s at the state of structural collapse.’”

Debate emcee Kerry Auriat later brought up the number of full-time city employees almost doubling since 2005, from 450 to roughly 750.

When Saunders asked the audience whether they felt they received good value for their tax dollars spent on increasing staff, a few audience members shouted, “No!”

Fawcett defended the series of consecutive annual property tax hikes during his term by highlighting the city’s accomplishments.

“Because we are taxing people more, we need to supply more. So, we’re doing that, but we’re still fiscally not in sort of the safest spot, we need to do a bit more work,” Fawcett said.

“We added additional pothole crews,” he added. “We have 300 kilometres of roads in the city — we worked on 40 kilometres in the last three years, maybe not on your street yet, but we’re always working those things,” he said.

Isleifson said if he’s elected, he’d aim for “steady, predictable” taxes.

“Tax predictability is important, but we also need to be realistic and not commit to a firm number for a four- or six-year period, because you never know what’s going to happen,” he said.

In his closing statement, Isleifson urged residents to vote in the election.

The municipal election is slated for Oct. 28.

» rgerrard@brandonsun.com