After announcing his resignation earlier this week, Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis provided further insight into his decision during an appearance on CHCH Morning Live on Friday, July 12, 2024.
Davis said he had reached a critical moment after two terms as mayor.
Aside from an opportunity opening up to pursue a career with the province’s License Appeal Tribunal, he said allegations being lodged against him were “corrosive,” and were diminishing the fire he once felt about local government.
“There was a tipping point,” he said. “And that was a ramping up of the abuse and the harassment that has been in place almost since day one.”
He went on to say he began seeing posters near Brantford City Hall, and in his own neighbourhood, describing him as “leading an administration corrupt to its core.”
“I guess if your definition of corruption is ‘city hall won’t do what I want them to do’, then that’s corrupt,” Davis said.
His first term as mayor in Brantford was in 2018, when incumbent mayor Chris Friel lost re-election. Davis was narrowly re-elected as mayor in 2022. Earlier this year, he made the decision not to seek a third term.
“I run the prospect of becoming a mayor that’s just going to coast and cut ribbons, and I don’t want to be that mayor,” he said.
An official mayoral by-election will likely take place sometime in the fall, pending meetings from Brantford’s city council.
In the meantime, Ward 1 Councillor Rose Sicoli is scheduled to take on the role of acting mayor for the month of August.
