City of Brantford Council provided staff with initial approval to bring forward a report regarding the appointment of Ward 1 Councillor Rose Sicoli as Deputy Mayor of External Relations, during the Committee of the Whole, planning and administration meeting on Tuesday, September 16, 2025.
The Corporation of the City of Brantford announced on Friday, August 1, 2025, that Mayor Kevin Davis had appointed Sicoli as the new Deputy Mayor of External Relations, using his strong mayor powers granted under the Municipal Act.
On Tuesday, Ward 4 Councillor Linda Hunt brought forward a resolution asking staff to bring forward a report with the following information by October 2025:
- The date that the appointment of a Deputy Mayor of External Relations was deemed necessary;
- The selection criteria, education, experience and qualifications that were considered necessary for the position of Deputy Mayor of External Relations;
- When the Deputy Mayor of External Relations was advised of the appointment;
- The exact duties of the Deputy Mayor of External Relations, including what stakeholder relations are being assigned;
- The resources available to the Deputy Mayor of External Relations with respect to staff, facilities and allocated discretionary budget;
- An interpretation of Sections 225, 226, 242 and 284 of the Municipal Act with respect to the appointment of a Deputy Mayor of External Relations. With the support of both the Integrity Commission and/or the Ombudsman if deemed necessary;
- An interpretation of City of Brantford By-law 163-2022 respect to the appointment of a Deputy Mayor of External Relations;
- A jurisdictional scan of the process to appointment a Deputy Mayor of External Relations in comparable municipalities.
Hunt said she wanted to bring the resolution forward because Council’s number one strategic priority theme is to develop strategies to instill trust amongst Council, while evolving the corporate culture. She also added that she felt like it was necessary to have the above information available to the public.
“I want to make it clear to everyone that’s reached out to any member of Council and asked questions, that the nine other members of Council received the same deputy mayor memo as all staff did, and it was 12 minutes before their release to the public on August 1, which I’ll note, was the Friday of a long weekend,” she said. “I believe the Mayor had ample opportunity in advance of the decision to have a dialogue with Council as a whole regarding the need for a deputy mayor to be appointed. Unfortunately, this left nine councilors with the inability to adequately answer constituent questions, leaving us with a basic response of, ‘I have no idea.’ To me, that is not an adequate response to be able to provide a constituent that asks a question.”
Hunt went on to say that the resolution essentially calls for a review to see if the mayor should have consulted council when making his decision, and if he was allowed to do so with or without his strong mayor powers.
Davis then went on to say that he was not against acquiring more information, but that despite other communities appointing their own deputy mayors, there are no rules in the Municipal Act in regards to the appointing such a role.
“The Municipal Act sets out the rules that apply to us as municipal councillors; what we can or can’t do; and I got to tell you, there’s nothing in the municipal act about deputy mayors,” said Davis. “Some cities have deputy mayors but they’re all over the map as to how they do it and what the rules are.”
Some cities allow its mayor to appoint the role of deputy mayor, while others allow the people to elect someone into the role. Some deputy mayors are in the role for the whole four-year term, others are in the role for just two-years, and in Oakville there’s a monthly rotation of deputy mayors.
“Then you have Toronto which has about five or six deputy mayors, and they all have different portfolios,” said Davis. “It’s all over the map because there really are no rules.”
Sicoli said while the topic was a little uncomfortable, she clarified that her new role does not give her any extra authority, additional compensation or additional staff support.
“It’s simply an opportunity to support our city by assisting the mayor in external matters. Building relationships, listening to our partners, and representing Brantford when called upon – these are all tasks that I was doing anyway. …I do believe that the title does help give me, at the very least, a perceived authority when I’m in certain rooms like when I’m sitting around the Ontario Big City Mayors [OBCM] table,” she said. “Government relations needs consistency. It’s not something you can rotate through ten different people. You have to be able to build and foster relationships in the long term.”
Sicoli also added that while she thought the resolution would put staff in an awkward position, she was open to the transparency of a report coming forward.
Before issuing an apology for the way he went about announcing Sicoli’s appointment, Davis explained some of the reasoning behind his decision, saying that since everything that’s been happening with the U.S. President Donald Trump, his workload across the board has doubled and tripled.
“I’ve been having some health issues, which I seem to have on an annual basis, and I was really concerned about being overextended. I was in a difficult situation, I needed help and I needed it fast. The deputy mayor was really more of a title than anything – she has no power, she’s just there to help me,” he said. “It is really because in the OBCM, they do not want councillors attending OBCM meetings; They want it to be mayors, or deputy mayors, and this title was really to give Councillor Sicoli, some credibility or authority in terms of dealing with OBCM or cabinet ministers.”
“All that aside, I made an error in the way I communicated this. I had just come back from the Yukon where I’d injured myself, and I wanted to get it done because I knew the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference was coming up,” continued Davis. “That was a mistake and I apologize to my fellow Council members and residents. There was a better way to do it; it should have been done in a more transparent method rather than getting it through quickly and I apologize for that.”
He also said that he hoped that the report would ultimately help the next council because the mayor needs more help.
Councillor Richard Carpenter, who chaired the meeting, added one final comment before the vote.
“There are all kinds of opportunities to appoint deputy mayors, assistants, or a Mayor of the month, but you always go through your council. Mayors don’t speak for council, they speak with council; that’s the way it should be,” he said. “If we’re going to have a deputy mayor in the future, maybe it should be part of the structure before the next election so that people know what they’re voting for, and they know that this is part of the process. We want to be transparent so let’s put a process in place and let’s review it. Let’s not blame individuals involved or Councillor Sicoli, the process happened and we just want to know if this is the right way to do it or if there’s a better way.”
With that, the resolution was then carried on a vote of 10-1, noting that Sicoli voted against it.
The item will come back to be ratified at the next council meeting on Tuesday, September 23, 2025.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
