Charlottetown mayor-elect Philip Brown has a long list of issues he wants to deal with.
And, he intends on starting right away when the new city council is officially sworn in on Thursday, Dec. 6.
“I’d like to meet the next day to get approval on the (standing) committees and the roles and (start) working,’’ Brown said Tuesday as he continues efforts to transition into the city’s top elected job.
He’ll have eight returning councillors to work with and two newly elected councillors, Alanna Jankov and Julie McCabe.
Brown isn’t saying who will chair each of the standing committees, but he did give some insight into what they might look like.
“We’re looking at some of them and maybe changing them around to reflect the priorities that came up during the election, (such as) affordable and accessible housing, the reinstatement of CADC or the creation of a new development agency, cleaning up our waterways with Stratford, Charlottetown and Cornwall, infrastructure renewal and transit issues and also the two EI zones.’’
The two EI zones refer to how the federal government split P.E.I. up when it comes to employment insurance: Charlottetown and the rest of the province.
Brown has already spoken to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on that very issue, telling him the current system doesn’t treat Charlottetown fairly.
Back on city issues, Brown is talking about holding a public meeting to deal with the controversial floating dock issue at Victoria Park.
“I heard from other councillors (on) the floating dock for Victoria Park, that a public meeting should have been called. If you look at the Victoria Park bylaw, any change in the use requires public consultation and that’s a public meeting. We did it for the skateboard park (and) we did it for the band shell out there. I’d say there has to be (a public meeting) because we need to get direction from the community on (the floating dock issue).’’
Brown also wants to have a look at the status of the proposed roundabout that takes in the intersections of Brackley Point Road, St. Peters Road and Belvedere Avenue.
“If you look at infrastructure renewal, how many elections have you heard about (that) roundabout . . . or the situation out in Northridge Parkway and on the other side of the road with Norwood Road and how they intersect with St. Peters Road? And that’s just a couple.’’
Brown added that the aging Simmons Sports Centre and Cody Banks Arena will have to be dealt with as well.
“These are old facilities. We have to look at some kind of renewal.’’
Speaking of rinks, Brown wants to have a public meeting to talk about the long-rumoured multi-use sports centre. There have been multiple reports done on a proposed replacement for Eastlink Centre but zero movement.
Brown reiterated that he will be a full-time mayor, saying that he has already spoken to the provincial pension manager about leaving his role as a long-time teacher.
Brown also isn’t saying who he will appoint to be deputy mayor, but that it will all be revealed on Dec. 6.
“There’s a short list, and I’ve spoken to a couple of people on it.’’
