Making the rounds throughout Greater Sudbury’s 12 wards, Mayor Paul Lefebvre has begun following through on a campaign promise to host an annual series of town hall meetings.
His first town hall meeting was in Coniston earlier this month alongside Ward 9 Coun. Deb McIntosh, and the next meeting is slated to take place in Azilda on Feb. 9.
“I’m there to talk about what I’m working on and what’s going on at city hall, and listen to their concerns,” Lefebvre said of his town hall series, adding that his colleagues on city council have all agreed to co-host their ward’s respective meetings.
“It was a campaign promise, and I enjoy going to each ward and seeing the folks there,” he said. “It’s a two-way dialogue.”
One of the main topics of discussion during his meeting with McIntosh at the Colonial Inn in Coniston was snow removal, he said, which is indicative of what’s top of mind right now.
It was a two-and-a-half-hour event, during which he said myriad of topics were addressed.
McIntosh encouraged Lefebvre to kick off the series in her ward, and said she was impressed with how the meeting was handled.
“It was a conversation, and he said he was open,” she said, adding that Lefebvre admitted they might not always agree, but that he’d run on the platform he promised to adhere to.
“He addressed all the hot-button issues right up front.”
These include the potential replacement or renewal of the Sudbury Community Arena, a report advocating for the consolidation of volunteer fire departments, the police budget and their plan to add 24 new officers to their ranks within three years, and city council’s upcoming 2023 budget deliberations.
“Nobody was angry, and people were so happy to have that opportunity to ask questions and meet the mayor,” McIntosh said of the Coniston meeting.
“He didn’t barricade or dance around the questions, he answered the questions. If he didn’t know, he said he didn’t know, and to be fair, he’s only been there two months.”
More than 50 people attended the event, and McIntosh said she plans on joining Lefebvre for next year’s meeting, which will be held at the west end of Ward 9.
Although Lefebvre co-hosted another town hall meeting alongside Nickel Belt Liberal MP Marc Serré at the Capreol Arena on Jan. 25, he clarified this was a different style of meeting. Another meeting will be held with Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbée later this year.
While the town hall series is broad in scope, the Jan. 25 meeting was targeted to address the community’s expressed need for seniors housing.
“I’d heard that was an issue, that people in Capreol want more seniors’ housing, they don’t want to move away from their town, they want to stay there.”
The topic came up in Capreol during last year’s civic election season, and Lefebvre affirmed it’s a priority for the city.
The direction given in Capreol on Jan. 25 is that the community should lead the project with a not-for-profit group, which the city can partner with for the land, as has been done elsewhere.
“Hopefully that would spur interest in them creating or using the existing Capreol not-for-profit housing corporation or creating their own, and move forward with that,” Lefebvre told Sudbury.com. “There’ll be more talk about housing very shortly.”
A video of the Jan. 25 meeting is available by clicking here.
The next town hall meeting will take place at the Lionel Lalonde Centre in Azilda on Feb. 9 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. During the meeting, Lefebvre will be joined by Ward 4 Coun. Pauline Fortin.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
