Whether to make a run at a seat in Queen’s Park or at Thunder Bay City Hall.

It’s a question that Mayor Bill Mauro continues to contemplate as 2022 will see an Ontario election in June and a Municipal election in October.

“I still have some friends in Toronto who are asking me to run again provincially, but I haven’t made a final decision,” explained Mauro. “The work has been good, it’s been nice to be home, but things have been difficult during the pandemic. The inability to get out and see and meet people, it’s really put a constraint on me in terms of being able to connect with people and have face to face with them. It’s really had an impact.”

Mauro served fifteen years as the member of provincial parliament for Thunder Bay-Atikokan, losing re-election in 2018 to Judith Monteith-Farrell.

A notable moment in 2021 happened in late February where city officials talked about setting up a field hospital in Thunder Bay with rising COVID-19 numbers and the possibility of another lockdown looming.

“We did a really good job here in Thunder Bay,” recalled Mauro when asked how serious the discussions got. “I’ve had national media call me about how did you manage that? How did you do that as a city? Certainly with a lot of partner organizations in the community, we isolated the individuals and we got that number back down.”

Mauro also discussed the 2022 Operating and Capital Budget Deliberations, which will get going in January after administration was instructed by council to start with a Municipal Tax Levy of 2.25 per cent.

When asked about the city’s Infrastructure deficit, “All municipalities have this problem. Bridges aren’t going to crumble and collapse, we’re doing our best on roads, it’s always important to the city of Thunder Bay. Municipal buildings, the (Fort William Gardens) and the (Thunder Bay Community) Auditorium and the (Canada Games) Complex and all of these places need capital investments. Yes there is an infrastructure gap but I believe it is largely overplayed in terms of what it really means in the community.”

The 2021 Municipal Tax Levy was ratified at 1.83% before growth and 1.60% after growth.