New council faces some tough challenges ahead

The campaign signs have been packed away, the ballots from the Oct. 28 municipal election have been tallied and the new council was sworn in on Monday evening.

Now, the realities of the council chamber must come into focus.

As Brandon’s newly elected city council begins its term, its newest members will have little time to reflect on their election wins.

Led by re-elected Mayor Jeff Fawcett, this new mix of returning veterans and fresh faces must quickly get off campaign mode and find a way to hunker down to the difficult work ahead on behalf of their constituents.

The weeks ahead will dictate the trajectory of our city for the next four years, and the mandate before our new council is as urgent as it is complex.

First and foremost, the new council will be tested with a difficult fiscal balancing act as newbies and veterans around the table prepare for budget deliberations. The series of Sun debates highlighted a central anxiety among residents — the rising cost of living is taking its toll on their household expenses, and another significant hike in taxes will not be a welcome addition to the bills in the new year.

It was also clear that Brandonites want to see better municipal services for the money that city hall does take out of their pockets. Understandably, they want more bang for their tax buck.

Council’s immediate challenge will be crafting a budget that funds critical expansions — such as emergency services and the police cadet program — without leaning heavily on the wallets of already-strained taxpayers.

While Brandon recently posted a $2.1-million water and wastewater surplus, utility rates have jumped 79 per cent since 2023. This steep hike was forced by seven years of stagnant rate reviews, leaving the city to pay off accumulated deficits until 2030.

To its credit, the city administration undertook significant construction this past summer, with a water main replacement on First Street, a wastewater and servicing expansion in the southwest corner, and intersection and roadway upgrades in several parts of the city. There were also facility upgrades at Andrews Field and modernization work at the East View Landfill.

But a massive “yet-to-do” list remains.

This is an ongoing process, and digging the city out of past utility deficits while simultaneously investing in aging infrastructure will require strict financial discipline and creative problem-solving, not just simple tax hikes and rate increases.

Meanwhile, the city’s physical growth is outpacing our current civic framework. With Brandon’s population surging past 55,000, we can no longer afford a reactive approach to housing and zoning. Council should consider fast-tracking a comprehensive housing strategy that addresses the full spectrum of our community’s needs, from supportive housing and senior-friendly complexes to affordable multi-unit developments.

We also suggest that downtown revitalization cannot remain a talking point. Long-standing derelict landmarks, like the McKenzie Seeds building, stand as literal monuments to stagnation. It is time for a new council to bring forward bold policies that transform these vacant commercial liabilities into vibrant, safe and populated assets.

This housing push is inherently tied to Mayor Fawcett’s ambitious vision of reaching a population of 80,000 by 2040. If Brandon is to attract the industrial and business investments required to sustain that growth, council must lay the groundwork today.

Yet, structural expansion means very little if the human element of our city is left behind. The incoming council inherits the responsibility of rolling out Brandon’s newly-minted Community Safety & Wellbeing Plan. The city cannot achieve true community safety merely through law enforcement; it requires tackling the root causes of our most visible crises — mental health struggles, substance use and the lack of transitional housing.

These are complex and difficult issues to tackle, so no one should expect quick and easy solutions. And to accomplish any of these goals, council must first fix how it does business. The previous term was marred by public and academic pushback over accountability and a pervasive culture of “closed-door” committee meetings.

Public trust is easily broken and incredibly difficult to rebuild. Council’s earliest priority must be to open the doors, offer transparent communication with local media and conduct the public’s business in the public eye, wherever and whenever possible. The previous council’s overreliance on committees of the whole that included discussions behind closed doors did little to improve the public trust. We hope to see this change under the guidance of a new slate of councillors.

The challenges mounting on the steps of city hall are formidable, but so is the potential of our city. Brandon is growing, changing, and demanding leadership that matches that momentum.

The mayor and our new council have been given a mandate at a critical point in the city’s history. In the coming weeks, we will see if they possess the transparency, discipline and vision to lead us forward. Let’s hope they’re up for the challenge.