WATCH: An old rule might make business in Ward 26 slow down as incoming Councillor Jon Burnside is left in the dark.
TORONTO – Jon Burnside wasn’t too happy about entering his city hall office on Monday to find an empty room without any constituency files.
Although he didn’t expect a welcome mat, Burnside certainly didn’t expect his cabinets to be bare.
Burnside is the only incoming councillor to dethrone an incumbent during October’s municipal election by beating John Parker. And he said, he thinks residents would expect their files to be transferred from one councillor to the next.
“There were no files. It was just a lot of empty cupboards,” Burnside said in an interview Tuesday. “It puts the community at a disadvantage. At any given time, there are a number of files that are on the go, problems that are trying to be solved. The problem is that if I don’t have those files, I don’t know about them.”
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Parker’s office was subsequently cleared out during the transition phase with all constituency files destroyed.
“It is just we’re trying to reach out to let people know we want to work on their issues,” Burnside told the Toronto Sun.
Now, Burnside said he will have to start from scratch and is calling for Don Valley West residents to contact him with any concerns they may have.
City rules state that outgoing councillors can’t pass on constituency information to incoming councillors unless they have written approval from those residents.
Parker refused to comment.
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