The mayor of Windsor is now among those with access to so-called "strong mayor powers" following an expansion announced by provincial minister of municipal affairs and housing Steve Clark on Friday.
The strong mayor powers include allowing mayors to propose housing-related bylaws and pass them with the support of one-third of councillors, as well as override council approval of bylaws, such as a zoning bylaw, that would stymie the creation of more homes.
Drew Dilkens, who was in Toronto for the announcement, says the expansion of Bill 3 to Windsor and 25 other municipalities will enable local governments to implement additional resources to facilitate the construction of much-needed housing units throughout the community.
Speaking on AM800's The Shift with Patty Handysides, Dilkens added that back during the provincial election last year Doug Ford made clear he wanted to empower the municipal leaders in cities beyond Ottawa and Toronto and that's what we're seeing now.
He also explained what some of the new powers entail.
"The Mayor can directly hire the Chief Administrative Officer and fire the Chief Administrative Officer of a municipality. The Mayor can set the organizational structure of the City, and so can determine what committees are important to deliver on the goals of the organizations. And then setting those committees can also appoint the Chair and the Vice-Chair of those committees," Dilkens said.
Dilkens says it also extends to the budget, where the Mayor will now be responsible for preparing and presenting the budget to city council for their consideration and then councillors will have an opportunity to make amendments.
"And there will be a bit of a back and fourth, it's spelled out in the legislation, but there's some tools like that I think make sense. And there are some additional tools that relate directly to what are called 'provincial priorities' and those have been enunciated: those are roads, those are housing related projects, and then how transit interlinks with the three."
He says he's not expecting a whole lot to change, even given the new powers.
"I think a fair and reasonable person, a fair and reasonable mayor, is going to still work with every member of city council and I certainly will to find pathways that help move the priorities of our municipality forward that are good for the residents in our city," he said.
Dilkens says in his time on city council, going back to 2006, he can't think of an instance where council has not acted reasonably in circumstances where the mayor would've had to intervene had these powers been in effect.
The new powers for Dilkens and the 25 other mayors impacted province-wide go into effect on July 1.
- with files from AM800's The Shift with Patty Handysides