Watson to push city council reforms

Ottawa mayor-elect Jim Watson has yet to take office, but he's already promised to shake things up by pushing forward a number of recommendations passed on by the city clerk's office.

The 2010-2014 Governance Review, tabled on Wednesday, called for the creation of a separate transit commission, like Toronto's, to run OC Transpo, freeing up council to focus on other issues.

It also recommends the appointment of an integrity commissioner, the creation of registries for both gifts and lobbyists and the institution of other accountability measures, including requiring councillors to post monthly expenses on ottawa.ca.

It calls for splitting of the planning and environment committee into two committees giving each a higher profile and the combining of the audit, budget and finance committee and the corporate services committee into a new finance and economic development committee.

It also recommends replacing the current deputy-mayor rotation with two permanent deputy mayor positions.

The report, prepared by the City Clerk and Solicitor, came from consultations with members of the outgoing city council but bears the heavy stamp of Watson, and includes many proposals on governance that he laid out during the municipal election campaign.

Council has long discussed creating a separate transit commission, but Watson said this time it is going to happen.

"I'm glad that it's in the report," said Watson. "We can move on this literally within the next few weeks."

Returning councillor Maria McRae also welcomed the transit proposal from the City Clerk and Solicitor report, and said the city needs to find a better way to deal with public transit spending.

"I will absolutely be voting on this, how we do it remains to be seen, but in terms of wanting to proceed with this, absolutely I'm there," said McRae.

The recommendation to replace the current deputy-mayor rotation with permanent deputy mayor positions got a lukewarm reception from some councillors, who expressed concern over how it will be handled.

"I'll need to see who [the deputy mayors] are," said Jan Harder. "And I think that most members of council other than the two that are recommended will want to know that as well," said Harder.

Watson said in a statement the recommendations "will help us become the effective Council this city needs" and said it would be the new council's first order of business on Dec. 8.