Well, that was short-lived.
Heralded as “a pretty good standout” among over 70 applicants, Michael Bradley assumed the city manager post at city hall on May 15.
Exactly five months later, a media release from Mayor Joe Preston announced, “City to begin recruitment for new city manager.”
Bradley has accepted the position of CAO with the City of Brantford – his hometown – and will depart his office at city hall in mid-November.
Before accepting the post in St. Thomas, Bradley had been the Commissioner of Community Development with the City of Brantford.
He also served for 11 years with the County of Brant, including a stint as CAO from 2018 to 2023.
Bradley became the third city manager after Sandra Datars Bere and Wendell Graves, who retired at the end of February 2022.
In accepting the position Bradley observed, “I look forward to delivering on the city’s priorities to ensure continued opportunity for St. Thomas, the Elgin county community and the broader region.”
We spoke with Mayor Joe Preston on Thursday (Oct. 17) about having to go through the hiring process for the second time in less than a year.
He admitted a level of frustration but quickly added, “. . . but you should also celebrate when people get to go to the job they want.
“I recognize it is where Michael lives and he knows all the players and that’s a great thing.
“It may also be exciting because we get somebody else who can come and see St. Thomas in a different light.”
Preston stressed, “All hiring ideas will come to the table. We had a great team working on it last time and we’ll have just as good a team working on it this time, with some urgency.”
Having the Christmas/New Year holiday season looming doesn’t help matters.
“We’ll make sure we get absolutely the best CAO out there who wants to be in St. Thomas. That’s what we got last time and it’s what we’ll get this time.”
Preston points out that St. Thomas and area is an attractive employment destination since the announcement of the PowerCo EV battery gigafactory which will act as a magnet for an individual seeking a challenging career opportunity.
“There are lots of other choices out there and there are lots of good things we can do and I’ve got a great council that will help me with it. It’s never a perfect time for this to happen.”
“We’ve been cruising along at a pretty good pace over the last couple of years,” reminded Preston, “and although I want somebody great for the job, I need someone who will say I don’t want to muck with what’s working.
“Sometimes the absolute best people want to do bigger things and so we have to watch that we’re hiring the person who matches the city, too.
“There are lots of other choices out there and there are lots of good things we can do and I’ve got a great council that will help me with it. It’s never a perfect time for this to happen.
“I want really good (person to fill the position) and that is not easy to do quickly.”
Bradley is quoted in the mayor’s media release where he thanks those he has worked with during his stay in the city.
“I want to express my genuine appreciation to Mayor Preston, city council, staff, and the wider community for welcoming me to St. Thomas.
“I have fully enjoyed my time here in this amazing city, and while this decision was not made lightly, I look forward to returning to my home community in Brantford.
“I am positive that the City of St. Thomas has a bright future ahead
under the leadership of city council and the dedicated staff teams.”
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A sunny start to the regional transit pilot program serving St. Thomas
WHEN FIRES BECOME FRUSTRATING
Can’t say we’ve heard the word putrid used at any point during a city council meeting.
The descriptor was most appropriate during Tuesday’s (Oct. 15) as Coun. Steve Peters documented his lunch hour the previous Thursday (Oct. 10).
“I could not sit on my back deck, because the smell was putrid and the smoke was right to Talbot Street.
“The cause of this was a fire at the CN Rail yard at the north end of St. Catharine Street. This has been at least the third railway tie fire there this year.”
Peters was in the mayor’s seat for the meeting – with Mayor Joe Preston absent – allowing him the perfect opportunity to vent.
“I’m becoming really frustrated with CN and the risk that they are putting our firefighters through, the risk they are putting the neighbours through and, quite honestly, the risk that they are causing to the environment.
“A special foam has to be used to deal with these creosote fires and that leachate has to go someplace.”
St. Thomas Fire Chief Dave Gregory was in the council chamber that afternoon and observed the stubborn and smoky fire required 53 firefighters over four hours to extinguish.
“So, if you are thinking of the wages alone of our employees, fire prevention officers, the chief, the deputy chief, four EMS were on standby, two St. Thomas Police officers were there, two CN Rail Police, CN workers and city works staff.
“They are looking at a different way of storing those used rail ties. They are looking at a resolution to store them off-site.”
“Just in wages alone for that time it was over $10,000.”
Gregory added about $15,000 in fire retardant foam was required to quell the flames, an expense he will attempt to recover from CN.
We caught up with Gregory yesterday (Oct. 18) to determine a follow-up to the fire.
“Their (CN’s) fire prevention officer reached out to their work crews and the next morning after the council meeting (Tuesday’s session), there was clean up being done.
“They are cleaning up all of the rail yard. This incident was very similar to a fire they had in Chatham.
“They are looking at a different way of storing those used rail ties. They are looking at a resolution to store them off-site.”
As to recouping some or all of the costs associated with the blaze Gregory noted, “I haven’t had any direct dealings with them, yet, I have an itemized budget to send them.
“The overtime costs, I don’t know if that is a recoup. But maybe the cost of the foam and the cost of running the backhoe.”
In the process of fighting the flames, a couple of tires on two vehicles required to move items around suffered punctures, likely from rail spikes.
“I am going to send them the bill and see where it goes from there. This is something we haven’t done before.”
A special thank you to Frank Pelsoczi for the dramatic photo.
FROM FOUR TO TWO ON FAIRVIEW
A major infrastructure undertaking next year will involve the removal of the Fairview Avenue bridge over the former CASO right-of-way, south of Talbot Street.
Included in the project is reducing the roadway from four lanes to two with a two-way centre turn lane, intersection improvements, upgrades to the watermain, storm drainage and sanitary sewers and enhancements to the active transportation network.
This would entail a cycle lane on both sides of Fairview Avenue.
More on that last item in a moment.
The stretch of roadway involved links Elm Street to Talbot Street.
Fairview is a busy traffic corridor with an average annual daily traffic volume of 8,000 near Elm Street up to 18,000 vehicles per day north of Wellington Street.
It’s a lengthy undertaking with work scheduled to begin next spring, and completion in the summer of 2026.
It involves two phases, with the first dealing with the stretch of Fairview from Talbot Street south to Warehouse Street and the removal of the bridge.
Phase 2 would include the roadway south from Warehouse Street to Elm Street.
A public information centre is scheduled for Tuesday (Oct. 22) from 6 to 8 p.m. in Room 304 of city hall.
According to the notice from the city, it is an opportunity to “learn more about this project, view the plans and discuss the proposed improvements with staff.”
The plan was unveiled at the Aug. 12 council meeting, prompting Mayor Joe Preston to question the justification for losing two lanes given the population projections over the next couple of decades.
Coun. Steve Peters pointed out Fairview Avenue was rebuilt less than 30 years ago “and here we are considering spending a significant amount of money to narrow the road.
“If we’re doing this in one, fell swoop it is going to take a significant bite out of the capital budget.”
Since that meeting, the province has potentially thrown a wrench into the works.
Earlier this month, the Ford government introduced legislation requiring municipalities to get provincial approval before installing new bike lanes that would remove vehicle lanes.
“Why are you taking lanes out? You’re building the city as big and fast as you can and then choke down main roads?”
This is the situation with the Fairview Avenue project.
If passed, municipalities would be required to demonstrate that proposed bike lanes won’t have a negative impact on vehicle traffic.
Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria noted, “Too many drivers are now stuck in gridlock as a result (of reduced traffic lanes), which is why our government is bringing informed decision-making and oversight to bike lanes . . . ”
The proposed legislation is to be tabled next week.
Will it only apply to major centres like Toronto where there is significant pushback against the increasing number of cycle lanes?
The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) calls the move “a significant overreach of power.”
AMO notes none of its member municipalities were consulted or shown evidence to justify the veto power.
An interesting starting point for discussion at Tuesday’s public information centre.
Interesting to note the lack of support for lane reductions on Fairview Avenue, based on comments on the city’s Facebook page.
A couple of samples include, ” . . . you have not been out there during shift changes and then the battery plant and thousands more people,” and “Why are you taking lanes out?? You’re building the city as big and fast as you can and then choke down main roads??”
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THE ECHO CHAMBER
In response to our item last week on the closure of the therapy pool at St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital, Valerie Young posted this comment on our Facebook page.
“STEGH is constantly wanting donations and doing 50/50 draws. People passing away are donating thousands of dollars. Why not use some of that to restore the pool?”
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And a reminder, I can be heard weekday afternoons as news anchor and reporter on 94.1 myFM in St. Thomas. As always, your comments and input are appreciated.
