Mike Bradley breathed a sigh of relief when his familiar role as chairperson of Sarnia’s police board came to an end.
Mike Bradley breathed a sigh of relief when his familiar role as chairperson of Sarnia’s police board came to an end.
The city’s longtime mayor has, for years, also served as head of the police board, a run that ended Thursday when fellow board member Paul Wiersma assumed the lead role. Bradley will still be on the board – mayors are supposed to be unless they choose not to and are replaced by another councilor, according to the Police Services Act – but as a member and not as its leader.
Now he has more freedom to offer a dissenting view on hot-button topics such as the police’s budget.
“This will allow me that opportunity because I’m going to be a hawk on spending,” he said after Thursday’s meeting at Sarnia police headquarters.
Bradley said he was put in an awkward position last fall when he voted against the police budget – a $30.4-million spending guide that included an 11.5 per cent hike over 2022, but with the majority of the increase not up for debate due to previous commitments – while the rest of the board approved it. Then he had to go through a similar process during budget debates at city hall.
“I felt extremely ethically uncomfortable with that direction,” he said. “I’m concerned about the spending direction of this (police) service at the present time.”
But he also noted it’s good to have different people take on the top job of boards at times.
“Paul will be an effective chair,” the mayor said.
Wiersma told the rest of the five-person board he’s looking forward to leading them through the rest of 2023.
George Vandenberg, a city councilor recently appointed to the police board in the place of Coun. Dave Boushy, who also voted against the police budget, nominated Bradley for vice-chair, which the mayor declined.
“I would defer to commissioner Ash since she’s been here and has the experience,” he said.
Kelly Ash said she would absolutely accept the nomination.
With the new leadership roles secured, future police budgets and how they will be deliberated was the board’s first debate. City council made a request at its Jan. 10 meetings the board hold its budget deliberations in open sessions and present more detailed budget documents to them in the future.
“Up until this year, we never went (closed door) on budget deliberations,” Bradley said of the board. “Never.”
The board participated in a three-to-four-hour closed-door meeting last year that acted as a budget education workshop, multiple board members said Thursday during the discussion.
“That meeting you’re referring to was very helpful. It gave us a lot of information that should not have been at a public meeting,” Ash said. “I’m good with most of our budget deliberations in open meetings, but there are some things that will have to be discussed in camera.”
Wiersma said they want to be as open and transparent as possible.
“However, the Police Services Act also allows for the option to go in-camera when the need arises,” he said. “I don’t know that we can make a blanket decision not to ever go in-camera for any part of budget deliberations.”
Wiersma, though, added he appreciates Bradley’s point and city council’s motion.
“I think we need to take that a serious advisement,” he said.
The board did not adopt the motion following a 3-2 vote against, with Bradley and Vandenberg voting in favor and Wiersma, Ash and newly appointed citizen member Charlene Sebastian voting against. Instead, it was received as information.