Ward funds return in spite of promises from Trudeau government

Windsor’s residents may soon see some beautification, safety or technology upgrades to their neighbourhoods now that $400,000 has been approved and distributed evenly to the 10 wards as of last Monday.

The city council meeting, which lasted approximately four hours had many highlights including the expropriation of two households near Windsor Airport, a denied request from the Essex Windsor Solid Waste Authority to increase recycling pickups and heated debate about Windsor’s continued contributions to the Detroit Auto Show and Windsor-Detroit fireworks.

By the time the ward funds issue was brought up nearly three hours into the meeting, most of the councilors were exhausted but some still tried to fight it.

Ward councilors Chris Holt and Irek Kusmierczyk asked why council diverted from its 2015 plan to go in a new direction by removing ward funds from the budget as well as why the vote could not wait until after the Federal Government releases its Infrastructure Stimulus plans for cities throughout Ontario in March.

Dilkens responded swiftly stating it has always been the council’s discretion to cut or set aside ward funds in the budget and dismissing Kusmierczyk’s proposal to someday use the $400,000 to try and leverage more infrastructure dollars from the Trudeau government to put towards larger city projects.

Following Kusmierczyk’s failed motion, the council voted to immediately release the funds to the city’s ward councilors, an amount of $40,000 each, to put towards as many projects as possible and for any money not used to carry into 2017.

City Treasurer Onorio Colucci said the funds are to be put towards the individual priorities of each councilor with some input from residents and must create some kind of lasting value for the city.

“Forty thousand tends to be at the upper range of what we’ve had in the past but we believe it will be a useful way for councilors to complete projects which maybe don’t hit the radar across the city but are still really important for each ward and its councilor and constituents,” said Colucci.

For Councillor Bill Mara, he said he remains very in tune with the needs of Ward 8 and knows its current list of priorities which includes more greenery and street lighting in certain areas.

“In my experience the ward funds have proven to be a very successful initiative and I certainly wouldn’t balk at $40,000 so we’ll definitely use it this year and it will be put to very good use,” said Mara.

Ward 10 Councillor Paul Borrelli said he plans to look into the cost of a good-looking, sound buffering fence for some subdivisions close to the E.C. Row Expressway the cost of enhancing a park off of Northway Avenue to see how far he could stretch the extra funds.

“In my ward there’s quite a few things that have to be done where a small amount like $40,000 could be used so I know I’m just going to have to look around and see what constituents want and try to address most of the smaller issues that are out there,” said Borrelli.

While no councilors could confirm any future forums to discuss their plans for the money, many stated they will approach trusted members of the public when the time comes.