Sault mayor highlights city's progress in latest six-month report

Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Matthew Shoemaker believes his city is exhibiting resilience while staring down numerous challenges — including an ongoing physician shortage and a national mental health and addictions epidemic. 

In his latest six-month report, the mayor summarized how the City of Sault Ste. Marie is working towards fulfilling a number of commitments he originally made while campaigning for the mayoral seat in the lead-up to the last municipal election in October 2022.    

“I am fully aware of these challenges and work hard every day to drive solutions,” Shoemaker said in his report, which is made available to the public on his website. “The six-month report concept is directly related to that — I wanted to find a way to let the community know what we’re working on because I know it is easier to hear about our problems than it is to learn about what we’re doing to address them. 

“We can — and we will — fix the problems we face and unlock our promise.”

Shoemaker also took the time to highlight the efforts of a community group and the municipality to save the local YMCA from ceasing all operations as a way of acknowledging the resilience of the Sault. 

"Sault Ste. Marie should be proud of that. I certainly am," the mayor said in the report. "We can be proud of our community while acknowledging our challenges."

Addressing his promise to secure more housing, the mayor pointed to the city exceeding the provincial housing target by nearly 200 per cent, a banner construction year with more than $148 million in housing permits and the city ushering in 'as-of-right' permitting of multiplexes, provided setback criteria is met, in an effort to increase the  housing stock locally.  

Shoemaker also highlighted the reduction of a proposed 7.2 per cent increase in municipal taxes to 4.8 per cent as a way in which he’s making good on his promise to keep the Sault more affordable. 

In terms of his pledge to support public safety and downtown revitalization, the mayor pointed out council’s green-lighting of a pilot program that will see daily security foot patrols downtown seven days per week starting this summer. Expected patrol hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. seven days per week. “The goal of the pilot is to provide an additional level of safety and security in the downtown area, and to help prevent vandalism and crime,” Shoemaker said.

The mayor says the City of Sault Ste. Marie is committed to doing everything it can to ensure irresponsible landlords are held accountable — based on his election-time promise to crack down on negligent landlords. Shoemaker says city staff was able to recoup $616,000 in unpaid taxes from a group of out-of-town landlords that own 201 rental units in the Sault.  

Shoemaker also pointed out actions the municipality has taken towards reconciliation, enhancing the city’s quality of life and lobbying the provincial and federal governments for increased support — among other things — in his latest six-month report, which can be found on the mayor's website.