Mayoral candidate Patricia Mills said Tuesday it's time to go back to the original financing model to pay for the new Sudbury Arena.
When he first proposed building an arena on The Kingsway a few years ago, businessman Dario Zulich proposed building a $60-million facility without taxpayer money, through a public/private partnership, in which the city would provide loan guarantees for the project, in return for a 30-year lease to run the centre.
However, city council voted to keep the arena in public hands, and a staff report estimated building downtown or The Kingsway would cost $100 million.
Mills said Tuesday it's time to go back to the Triple P plan.
"Absolutely,” she said. "We had a developer (Zulich) who had 92 meetings across the region two years ago, and he had great vision. And what he told people was it was going to cost them $60 million.
“That plan changed, and the mayor of this city did not tell the citizens the financial model had changed, from a developer paying for it to us paying for it."
Mills had opinion data compiled by local polling firm Oraclepoll Research that found support for building a new arena dropped from 72 per cent to 58 per cent over the last year. And 57 per cent said they don't want tax money to pay for it.
"This tells us the current mayor is doing a poor job of leading this project," she said.
Mills has said she doesn't care where the facility is built, but had some of the biggest opponents of the KED at her news conference, held at her campaign headquarters on Larch Street.
Tom Fortin, who is leading the fight to stop the casino planned alongside the area, was there, along with several other KED opponents, such as BIA chair Jeff MacIntyre, who's group is fighting to keep the arena downtown.
When asked why so many KED opponents are supporting her, Mills said they are interested in what she has to say. And, she pointed out, she has the support of retiring city councillor Evelyn Dutrisac, who voted in support of the KED.
"So I have people from all various camps and they all say the same thing — they want leadership," she said.
She also promised to keep taxes at or below the rate of inflation and to focus on fixing roads. Those are priorities she heard while canvassing in Lively and other areas.
"I'm not an expert on roads, but I do know that the city's current roads program is not working," she said. "As mayor, I will make fixing the roads our mantra. We will test different models to see what will work."
Mills, the only female running to be mayor, also said she's seen sexism in the race so far, with some men accusing her of being negative.
"I'm thinking, they never call a male candidate negative,” she said. “They say he's assertive and a woman is aggressive. A woman is angry and a man is decisive. So I take issue with that. Anybody who knows me, I am not a negative person. I'm completely the opposite.
"I don't think of myself as the lone female. I think of myself as the better candidate."
Mills also promised a line-by-line review of spending to find savings, and to work to attract more businesses to the city, whom she said were fleeing to North Bay because Sudbury isn't business friendly.
Patricia Mills' platform
At today's press conference, Mills unveiled her platform document. The summary provided by her campaign appears below.
This is the commitment I’ve made to the citizens of Greater Sudbury.
Over the past 100 days of listening in the neighbourhoods and communities that make up our great city, I have gained a good understanding of what is important to you, and the priorities you expect your leaders to set for our future. You believe we all deserve a greater say in how our community grows, attracts and retains the next generation of citizens, and in a truly open and transparent City Hall.
Now, I am asking you for the opportunity to take what I have learned and apply it to a municipal government that works for everyone. I am not offering promises. I am offering proven performance. Here is how we’ll make it happen together.
TAXES
Greater Sudbury’s taxes have been increasing above the rate of inflation. For seniors on fixed incomes or for families striving to make ends meet, this is not sustainable. If elected, I will work to deliver a budget that keeps tax increases at or below the current rate of inflation.
SPENDING
We will conduct a detailed review of how every dollar is being spent and re-align the budget so funds go to the highest valued services. We will analyze how much it costs to deliver services in Greater Sudbury as compared to other municipalities. If other cities have found ways to deliver services more efficiently, we will introduce those best practices here. I am committed to working with management, staff and unions to find efficiencies. We will establish a budget plan that is uncomplicated and transparent – a budget that makes sense and we can all understand.
GROWTH
We’ve not taken a hard enough look at ways to increase money and people coming into our city. It starts with attracting new businesses and help expand existing ones. Unlike other regions in the province who have lost their economic base, we have a solid and wealthy base to build from. Mining is still an important part of our economy, and mining technology is taking huge strides forward. We need to build and foster our mining tech base. We also need to share this knowledge in other sectors so that we can become a rich, specialized knowledge and tech centre for the north. Working with our university, colleges and hospital, sectors such as health, education and research can grow and become important economic drivers for our city. We must invest in businesses that are bringing new, innovative technology, and re-establish the City of Greater Sudbury as the major centre in the north.
ROADS
No matter where I go, the message is clear – fix our roads! While I am not an expert in road management, I do know that the city’s current roads program is not working. This past spring made that evident to all of us as we experienced deteriorating potholes and roads. We can’t carry on with the same road program as we’ve had in the past. As Mayor, I will make fixing the roads our mantra. We need to fix what we have first, and fix it right the first time. We will review the roads program to see what changes need to be made. We will subject our work to criteria that we can share with the public and see if it is meeting our needs. If it’s not, we’ll see how we can do better.
NEIGHBORHOODS
There’s more than one downtown in Greater Sudbury. Whether you live in Coniston, Capreol or Copper Cliff, each of our town centres should have their own master plan for future growth and development. We want seniors to stay in the neighborhoods they know and love. Young families should feel comfortable that the value of their house will grow. We want new citizens and young professionals to fully enjoy the community they’ve settled in. I will work with local developers to build affordable housing for our seniors. I will also encourage locally owned businesses to provide convenient access to amenities like shopping and recreational services in our town centres. We will establish fair but firm timelines for property developers so properties do not sit undeveloped for long periods of time. Developers will also be required to maintain properties at a minimum standard.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Major investments in our infrastructure are important for the growth and development of our city. This includes exciting projects like the new event centre. But we need skillful leadership to make these projects happen. The current financing model for the event centre is not a good deal for the citizens of Greater Sudbury. We should not be paying the lion’s share for this project. Other cities have negotiated better cost sharing arrangements with developers. As mayor, I’ll make sure we build it right, and keep you fully informed every step of the way.
ENVIRONMENT
We are known as the City of Lakes. We don’t want to become the City of Dirty Lakes. Clean water and continued stewardship of our green spaces is vital to the health of our citizens and our economy. We will promote the environment that makes Greater Sudbury such a great place to live. We will explore the use of green technology and extend our environmental leadership footprint. We will do that by engaging our local environmental groups and work with them to preserve our environment and direct our resources more effectively. You will be able to measure me over the next four years on the results I achieve, and where I may fall short of my goals. I will make it easy for you to hold me accountable. Here is how we will do it.
RESPECT
For me, a big part of respect is listening. I will hold townhall meetings in each ward in my first year as mayor. This will allow me to bring back meaningful information and questions for staff and council. I will run a respectful council. We have a Greater Sudbury Council Code of Ethics – it will be enforced. As representatives of their constituents, councillors should expect to be held to the highest level of integrity and transparency.
OPENNESS
We will set targets for the services you care about and we will publicly post our performance on the city’s website. Tax rates. Job rates. New jobs. Spending. Snowfall vs. snow removal. Kilometres of road fixed. Did we improve water quality? The city collects these statistics, and they will be published, good or bad.
INTEGRITY
I will ensure responses to the Integrity Commissioner are delivered within the 15-day allotted time limit every time. We will publish the official results of the Wrongdoing Hotline. We will publish the number of Code of Conduct complaints on a year by year basis, and work towards reducing them. We will also work to reduce the number of Freedom of Information appeals. If one is denied, we’ll hold a news conference to explain why. If the media wants publicly available information, we will work to provide it, without making them go through the FOI process.
