Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, left, and Capital ward Coun. Shawn Menard have a conversation inside council chambers on Nov. 30, 2022.
Ottawa councillors hope they might finally have a workable solution to a fraught issue: whether they can negotiate with developers to get donations for the city.Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, left, wanted to ban councillors from negotiating developer contributions to the city after Capital ward Coun. Shawn Menard, right, worked one out with Groupe Katasa.
"I think we're coming back to them with a new policy that addresses a lot of the concerns that came up when we had the discussion and debate at council," said Coun. Glen Gower, one of the working group members.Under the proposal, councillors would only be allowed to negotiate donations at arm's-length from their role as decision makers.
Cash donations would go into a city-wide account managed by staff, though in-kind donations could be given to a specific ward. Staff would have to give the green light to the deal. If they refuse, the councillor could still go to a full meeting of council to push it through. "Everything that that we did to ensure community benefits would be completely allowable under this process," he said.
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