 | Saturday, October 23, 2021
By Scott Dippel
Reading this online? Sign up to get this delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. | | A history making election | | |  | Jyoti Gondek is the first woman to be elected Calgary's mayor. (Mike Symington/CBC) | | | Calgarians voted on Monday and that election resulted in the biggest makeover of council in its modern history. In addition to electing the first woman to be Calgary's mayor, there are nine new councillors.
Three of the five councillors seeking re-election were successful (Gian-Carlo Carra, Sean Chu, Peter Demong) and in the final two chairs, there are a couple of experienced ex-councillors making comebacks. Yes, Andre Chabot and Richard Pootmans are back at the table after departing in 2017.
City officials said there were some technical issues with a handful of those tabulators used to count the ballots and there were a couple of tight races in Wards 4 and 9.
However, the city's returning officer announced on Thursday that there won't be any recounts and the results were made official on Friday.
One defeated candidate, DJ Kelly in Ward 4, has announced that he will seek a judicial recount as the margin of victory for Coun. Sean Chu in that ward was just 100 votes. | | |  | Coun. Sean Chu says he won't be stepping down following calls for his resignation from his city council colleagues. (Rebecca Kelly/CBC) | What to do about Chu | The election of a new city council is supposed to be a huge accomplishment and an exciting time, especially for the newcomers. After chatting with a few of them this week, they are still excited.
But that's been overshadowed by the controversy swirling around Coun. Sean Chu. Most of the new council has already suggested that Chu should resign his seat. They cite the revelation of him being disciplined by the Calgary Police for having physical contact with a 16 year old girl back in 1997.
Chu is standing his ground, telling reporters on Thursday that there were no criminal charges and that was he was elected to represent Ward 4 residents.
His unhappy colleagues are already talking about ways of marginalizing him at city hall. The list of possibilities include refusing to allow Chu to serve in the monthly deputy mayor rotation and not permitting him to serve as chair or even vice chair of any council committees. It could be an awkward situation for all concerned.
We only have to look at the last council where questions about former councillor Joe Magliocca's improper expense claims resulted in him being charged with breach of trust and fraud. These matters remain before the courts. At council, he was sanctioned by his colleagues and they placed restrictions on his duties.
Even though Magliocca kept up his attendance through remote participation and continued voting in meetings, he rarely spoke. That went on for 20 long months prior to his electoral defeat this week.
Right now, Chu is looking at four years as a council pariah. A firm believer in term limits for city council, Chu has said winning a third term in this election also means he will not be a candidate again. | | |  | (CBC) | Who's who with the mayor | So you won an election. Now what? There isn't much time to think because there's so much to do.
Like the rest of council, the mayor-elect must hire staff. Of course, the mayor's office staff is larger than the number working in any councillor's office. On Thursday, Jyoti Gondek announced her first four hirings.
Her campaign manager, Stephen Carter, is her chief of staff. Carter is a well known figure in political circles. He helped run Naheed Nenshi's mayoral run in 2010 as well as Alison Redford's campaign for PC leader in 2011. He then briefly served as chief of staff in the premier's office.
Amie Blanchette is the deputy chief of staff. She is currently a manager for the City of Calgary and before that, she was with the Canadian Home Builders Association in Calgary.
There is just one week from election to the swearing-in ceremony. In touching base with Gondek on how the transition was going, she suggested the handover period just might be a bit too short for modern times.
"I would say in the future, we may want to consider making that transition period a little bit longer. I know that in 2017, a week was really, really rushed," said Gondek. She's thinking a two week changeover might be more appropriate given all of the work that needs to get done.
It's also worth noting that it's not just defeated and retiring councillors who are leaving.
The people who worked for the elected officials were hired by the councillors, not by the City of Calgary. So those folks are also dusting off the resumes and looking for their next positions. In the past, some experienced staffers have been signed up by incoming councillors but most end up outside of city hall. | | Where are the washrooms? | The orientation sessions for the new councillors are underway. And yes, even Chabot and Pootmans are being put through this even though they previously served on city council.
Sure, they come back knowing the geography of city hall and where their parking spot is located. But some policies and procedures have changed since 2017 when they were last on council.
These orientation sessions will actually run during the next two months. For example, on Friday the newcomers were being briefed on the proper use of credit cards and the City's expense policies. There was also media training taking place. The deep dive sessions are coming.
One of the newcomers to council is Jasmine Mian, who was elected this week in Ward 3. After getting those election signs picked up, the former Olympian jumped into hiring her office staff.
On Thursday, Mian was issued her new phone and other technology by the city.
Although she's been watching council meetings over the past couple of years, a councillor can only sort out some things by being at city hall. "Figuring out where the washrooms are is tougher than understanding some of the different policy committees that I know exist," said Mian.
And then, there are the various meeting rooms. And the acronyms. So many acronyms. You do these jobs, you do have to know the difference between CMLC, CADA, CED and the CPA.
The new council will be sworn in on Monday, Oct. 25. The orientation continues and then they'll get their committee assignments on Nov. 1. The real meetings start the following week. And that's also when the adjustments to the 2022 budget will be released. Busy days are ahead. | | | 4 more municipal stories you shouldn't miss | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
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