Will Curt Benson bring a different ethic to the way city hall deals with the public? Will transparency and accountability be real under his watch? Possible with this guy.

By Pepper Parr

August 3^rd, 2025

BURLINGTON, ON

OPINION

When Curt Benson woke up this morning, he was the city’s Chief Administrative Officer (CAO); his predecessor was off to Queen’s Park.

The CAO is the only person hired by a City Council. His job is to be the administrator that includes the running of the city on a day to day basis.  He is served by a number of Commissioners who are responsible for specific areas, legal, planning, finance, parks, recreation, city services and transit.   There are others

The biggest part of the job is setting the tone, creating the kind of administration that the CAO believes will best serve the people who pay the taxes that fund the operation.

Curt Benson was trained as a planner.

Curt Benson was trained as a planner.  The decisions planners make last for a long time.  Once a new road is built, it can’t be taken away.  Once a major development is approved, the buildings can’t be torn down because people don’t like it.

Administrators on the other hand can often change a decision they made six months ago, realizing it isn’t working.

Benson brings a planners perspective to the job he has at least until the election in 2026.

What can we expect of him?  Other than his inner voice – who will he listen to?

What does he have in the way of values?

He served the Region of Halton very well when he worked there as the planning chief.

Burlington was lucky to get him when planning was devolved to the municipal level.

He has been very good at ensuring the city got everything it could get in the way of housing development funding from the federal and provincial governments.  He works well with developers but has never been described as a planner that works for developers.  The two need each other and to date, at least in Burlington, there has never been any doubt as to where Curt Benson stands.

Benson doesn’t fudge his answers.  Pretty straight.

As a planner, he knows that the work he does is being done to make lives better for the people who live in the housing developments his department approved and saw through to their completion.

Tough to say at this point how he will serve as an administrator.  He will hire new people.  Will he choose to find a way to send some of the people currently on staff to something more fitting to their skill set?

Curt Benson: Photograph provided by the city along with the announcement of his appointment as CAO.

Hard as well to say how tough he is.

How would he have handled the allocation of swimming pool space to the swimming clubs? As the CAO he would not have been at the table, but he would have signed off on whatever the negotiators came back with.

How close will he adhere to the principles of accountability and transparency?

Curt Benson has an opportunity to nudge staff into being more accountable and a lot more transparent.  One of the departments that needs the most help is the communications and public engagement group currently under the direction of Jacqueline Johnson, Commissioner of Community Services, which includes  the Community Relations and Engagement people who are responsible for the city brand d and reputation management. Their roles include:

    Developing and implementing public engagement programs

    Developing a variety of communications materials, including print, web, video and social media

    Media relations

City Solicitor Blake Hurley.

The group struck out when it came to explaining to media and the public just what happened. Obfuscation and deflection were the rule of the game this time around.  Reprehensible and just plan embarrassing; a failure at every level   For the first time in my 12 years of covering city hall, I learn that people who are directly involved are told to refer people to city hall if they are asked any questions.  The clubs should have told the city to stuff it.  So much for brand reputation.

Benson is now in a position to tell staff that this is not the way he wants his staff to be doing business.  That might mean reigning in the City Solicitor, who is believed to have led most of the negotiations with the swimming clubs.  He would have certainly signed off on whatever was negotiated.

The city needs a CAO that has little time for lip service, genuinely wants an engaged community, is prepared to spend the time needed to educate the public and realizes that he needs media as much as they need him.

Let’s see how Curt Benson measures up.  I think the guy has got it in him.