It appeared to be a mostly rosy outlook as Mayor Paul Lefebvre gave what looked to do be his first state-of-the-city address on the one year anniversary of his election.
The speech, entitled 'Moving Our City Forward', focused on some of the goals Lefebvre is hoping Greater Sudbury can achieve in a bid to reach his goal of reaching a population of 200,000 by the year 2050.
"My vision of Greater Sudbury is an inclusive and affordable community, with cultural and recreational amenities and a supportive economic environment for both small business and large industry," he told the crowd.
"Greater Sudbury is an amalgamated city with many communities and a sprawling legacy of aging infrastructure to maintain. We have a massive infrastructure across the city with a large service area to cover – 3600 km of road lanes, enough to get us to Mexico. We have 14 arenas that range in age from 30 years to 73 years old. Of the five city-run pools, the youngest is 40 years old. In addition, we have 181 playgrounds, 24 emergency service stations, 90 lift stations… and so much more.
All of this infrastructure with low density," said Lefebvre.
Mayor Lefebvre says a larger residential and non-residential tax base will help pay the costs of maintaining and improving the city's infrastructure.
In an interview with CTV News, Lefebvre confirmed that is his biggest challenge moving forward.
"We have not put in the capital that is required to address our capital needs -- look at our roads, look at our recreation facilities, right? So how do we work to ensure … this won't happen overnight? We have a plan over the next 5, 10, 20 years to address that as we modernize our city, as we invest in our city, as we build our city. We haven't had that conversation since the last 25 years. It's about maintaining what we have. There comes to a point where we have to look ahead, we have to look ahead at the next 25 years. How do those investments work? What are we going to get for them? How much is it going to cost us? And how are we going to pay for them? Those are conversations we're having with Sudburians and that's why today was a step in that direction," he said.
One of the big issues that will have to be addressed is housing and the mayor revealed in his speech that the housing supply strategy is nearly complete.
"The strategy will provide a roadmap of how we will build the mix of housing we know we need – from purpose-built affordable rentals to multiplexes and seniors' housing to single detached bungalows. We have already seen the analysis of projected residential supply and demand and begun reviewing zoning and bylaws,' he said from the podium. "I am very confident we will meet the local housing target of 3,800 new housing units that was set by the province – and I am hopeful we will even exceed this."
The mayor says the city has also heard from Economic Development Staff and the Chamber of Commerce on the need to reduce red tape.
"Council has also made historic investments in community safety. Our completion of the Emergency Stations review earlier this year resulted in the first investment in new infrastructure for fire services and paramedics since amalgamation, almost 20 years ago," he said.
It's hard to address the situation of community safety without mentioning the downtown core and Lefebvre says he's heard similar comments from the ten town halls he's so far had around the city. People complaining that they don't feel safe downtown.
OPEN DRUG USE
"Open street drug use has also become more commonplace, a situation that is distressing to many residents who witness this behaviour. Overdoses continue to stretch the capacity of first responders. We are far from the only community to experience the devastation of the opioid crisis and the rising mental health epidemic. Many cities across the country are also recording greater numbers of individuals experiencing homelessness," he said.
But he countered that with Greater Sudbury's community spirit and how it's risen time and time again to help the city's most vulnerable.
"Personally, I walk through downtown every day – I will pass through Memorial Park on my way to grab a coffee. I will have dinner at one restaurant with my wife, Lyne, and then we will meet up with friends, our kids, or my parents to see a show at the Refettorio or Place des Arts. We already have so many wonderful things going on downtown, imagine if we could change the narrative and draw even more people downtown," said the mayor.
He spoke about his support for the plan of moving the Sudbury Multicultural and Folk Arts Association and the downtown library inside Tom Davies Square itself.
But downtown has also presented its challenges for the mayor's office. The city's only supervised consumption rate, as it continues to struggle with one of the highest opioid fatality rates in the province, is at risk of closing due to a lack of a commitment from the provincial government.
Lefebvre says he supports the work Reseau Access Network is doing.
"The province has basically said that they are studying it and I don't know how long that will take, we're looking at other options maybe with the federal government and other options that are out there. Council has to decide if they want to renew that, again, the Reseau Access, the great work that they do on the supervised action site. That was done on the premise that the province would step in, that has not happened, so the question for council is at what point do we offer health services? If our emergency services at the hospital goes down, do we step in and fund that as well? We are already stretched to the limit with the tax rates that we're looking at doing just to provide the services that we're obligated to do, that we're mandated to do and that is the challenge that we have as a community. It's not that we don't want to see it succeed, we need to make sure where do we put our resources, what do we do," he said.
When asked if he'd like to see it continue…
"Yes, but it's a health service not done by the city, it has to be done by the level of government that is responsible for that level of service," said Lefebvre.
As the city inches closer and closer to property tax time, he admits it will be a challenge. While he's only one vote, he says the city is likely looking at something tied to the rate of inflation.
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"We're going to be making some tough decisions … we're not the only ones look at this, if you're looking at growing your community," he told CTV News. "Other municipalities are looking at 10 per cent rates, 12 per cent rates, 8 per cent rates. We're not even close to that. At the same time we're looking at what rates do we need and what more do we need to address our infrastructure needs. Roads, when you talk to Sudburians, they want to see us having a real plan to address our roads and we're on the cusp of doing that, that's why …it is challenging, every budget cycle is a challenge, there's no doubt about that," he said.
He was reaffirmed his support for a plan to build or renovate the Sudbury Arena, but to keep it downtown.
"The work that we're doing now is necessary. It's something that is happening. The way it's going to look we don't know yet, we're going to work to have that information and we'll be able to communicate that with the people of Greater Sudbury along with a plan to say this is how we're going to build it, this is how we're going to pay for those costs," he said.
INTEGITY COMMISSIONER
CTV News also asked Mayor Lefebvre to address some of the challenges he's faced around the table, particularly when it comes to having a fractured council and integrity commissioner investigations underway, what would he say to those Sudburians to convince them that progress is being made and this isn't the same-old city hall that some might suggest they've become accustomed to.
"My question is if we're not going to be doing those investments who will? What will the city look like if we don't do those investments? That is a risk that I'm willing to take. I campaigned on that, I'm a year in and I'm still forging ahead with that plan to say we need to invest in ourselves, we need to invest in our children, we need to invest in our future, we need to invest our city and we need to show the private sector that we're willing to do that and that's the only way we're going to be able to address our infrastructure needs," he said.
He did appear to show support for the city's CAO though – by saying staff deserve to be protected while at city hall and respected. A reference to those integrity commissioner complaints in which the CAO singled out three councillors in letters, saying they should have done more to stand up for staff at a town hall for Road Surface Recycling.
Overall those in the crowd, which was mostly city staff but did have some other invitees, appeared to like the mayor's message.
Lefebvre was even applauded on that commitment to build the library, art gallery and folk arts centre inside Tom Davies Square.
"I think it was great. It's amazing to see the leadership of the community so excited about the possibilities of downtown. Downtown can be a real economic driver for the entire community and we've seen those points being made that lets us get there," said Jeff MacIntyre, co-chair of Downtown Sudbury.
"I'm very confident with what the mayor said today. It takes time to develop a strategy and implement it so it can take route and I think he set the table so the downtown can flourish, not just the downtown but the whole city is going to flourish. I think we have a plan and we just have to nurture it, water it and watch it grow over the next few years," said Dario Zulich, owner of Zulich Enterprises and the Sudbury Wolves.
