For major Ward 13 decisions, I would publish a plain-language brief that answers six questions: What is Council deciding? Why now? What does it cost? What are the realistic options? When is the vote? How can residents participate while there is still time for that participation to matter?
The Issues · City Hall Accountability
City Hall said it would be done. Was it?
Residents should not need a stack of agendas and PDFs to find that answer. If a department, project or program had a job to do, show what was promised, who was responsible, when it was due, what it cost and whether it actually happened.
Start here
I’ll start with my own office. Then I’ll keep asking City Hall the same question: what happened?
Position
Where I stand
If a major file affects Ward 13, you should be able to see what was decided, how I voted, what it cost, who is responsible, when the next step is due and what happened afterward.
Action
What I would do myself
Every month, publish a Ward 13 report: what I worked on, what Council decided, what moved, what stalled, what it cost, who owns the next step and what happens next. I do not need Council’s permission to explain my own votes or report my own work.
Action
What I would push City Hall to publish
Make the basics easy to find: which projects are late, what they actually cost, why a consultant was hired, how Council voted, who owns the next step and whether the promised result ever showed up.
Authority
Who controls what
I control what my own councillor office publishes and how clearly I explain my own votes. Broader City-wide reporting standards need Council approval and staff to carry them out. The City Clerk maintains the official agendas, minutes and records. My commitment is to make my own office transparent immediately and use Council motions to push the wider standard.
Plan
What this looks like in real life
You email about a City problem, get forwarded to another department, wait two weeks and still do not know who owns the file. Or Council approves something, six months pass and nobody can tell you whether it started. My standard is simple: one named next step, one expected date and a public explanation when that date is missed.
Result
What residents should see
My important votes would be explained within 48 hours. A monthly Ward 13 report would appear on schedule. Major files would show an owner, deadline, cost and next decision, and overdue projects would trigger a public explanation instead of disappearing into an agenda.
First moves
What I would do first
Day one: explain my important votes. 30 days: publish the first Ward 13 report and put forward the broader reporting standards. 60 days: update Commitments. 90 days: lock the monthly reporting rhythm in.
Before the vote · After the vote
Explain the decision before the vote. Report back after it.
After the decision, I would report back with the result: What passed? How did I vote? What happens next? Who owns the next step? When should residents expect the next update?
Transparency is not dumping more documents online. It is giving people the answer they actually need.
Capital project oversight
An emergency-services investment still needs an accountable price.
London’s proposed Emergency Services Campus is an example of why large capital projects need plain-language public reporting. I support proper police and fire training facilities, but I would request a reconciled cost schedule, clear distinctions between approved and planned funding, contractual commitments and the long-term municipal financing exposure before supporting further major discretionary approvals.
This is a request for transparent oversight, not an allegation of financial wrongdoing. Read my approach to taxes and major spending.
Why this matters
Make the important parts of a City decision easy to find.
City Hall already records votes and posts expenses, but residents often have to work through long agendas, reports and PDFs to reconstruct what happened. A Council committee voted down, 0 to 5, a motion requiring a public update on where $2 million in federal Reaching Home homelessness money went. Residents got the 8.7% tax bill before they got the plain-language explanation. London — unlike Toronto and Ottawa — has no independent Auditor General. When a project is late, no one answers for it.
Sources. The Reaching Home motion failed 0–5 at the Community and Protective Services Committee on June 9, 2025, and went to full Council on June 24, 2025 — the funding was approved in 2021 and split between Atlohsa, Unity Project and London Cares. CBC News. The 8.7% increase is the 2024 municipal levy adopted in the 2024–2027 Multi-Year Budget — City of London. Toronto and Ottawa both maintain independent Auditor General offices; London has an Integrity Commissioner but no Auditor General. Verified August 13, 2026.
I would put forward five ways to make City Hall easier to check:
What I would change▹Automatic 30-day overdue report.Any capital project 30 days past its approved date auto-generates a public report: original date, reason, who’s responsible, revised date.
▹30-day project close-out record.For major City construction, request dated before/after photos and a short completion video within 30 days of substantial completion, linked to the public project file where privacy, safety and contract terms permit. The record should also show material deficiencies, the responsible department and whether final acceptance has occurred.
▹Consultant one-pager.Before any consultant contract over threshold: scope, cost, why it can’t be done in-house, what the City is buying, deadline — on one public page.
▹Names on decisions.Each member’s recorded vote on significant items, with a plain-language reason, within 48 hours. I can do this for my own votes on day one.
▹Project responsibility record.Use the City’s existing performance information to show who is responsible for a major project, whether it is on time and on budget, and who has to explain it when it is not.
When a project blows its deadline by 30 days, the City tells you automatically — you shouldn’t have to file a freedom-of-information request to learn your own City Hall is late. You can find out how I voted, and why, within 48 hours — starting day one — and, once the reforms pass, how anyone on Council voted, in under a minute. No big plan gets announced without the money behind it shown. Before the City hands a consultant six figures, residents should see one page explaining what it buys and why staff can’t do the work.
Where to go next.
BISSON13 · Ward 13