Coun. Fred Francis took issue with public affairs company hired by the city to review council services.
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With 10 weeks until municipal election day, a mayoral candidate is taking issue with a decision by Windsor’s top bureaucrat to review and modernize city hall operations — and to hire the current mayor’s former chief of staff to do the work.
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Ward 1 Coun. Fred Francis, who is running for mayor, said he and his council colleagues have been asked to participate in half-hour interviews with GT&Co, a public affairs agency single sourced by city CAO Ray Mensour for $24,000.
Andrew Teliszewsky, who served as chief of staff for Mayor Drew Dilkens from 2020 to 2023, is a partner at the firm.
“I don’t feel comfortable doing that,” Francis told the Star. “I didn’t think it’d be appropriate for me to sit across from the mayor’s former chief of staff when the mayor will most likely be my opponent in this upcoming election and discuss my ideas to improve things at city hall.”
Dilkens has not yet announced his plans for the municipal election. The deadline to file nomination papers is Friday at 2 p.m.
Speaking with the Star, Dilkens said he did not direct the city’s CAO to undertake a review of council services, nor did he instruct him to hire Teliszewsky’s company.
“This is simply Fred Francis campaigning and trying to find an issue where none exists, to create doubt, and to make the city or the CAO or the current mayor look bad,” Dilkens said last week. “Regretfully, we’re going to have another 70-plus days of this as he runs his campaign.”
Francis took issue with Mensour’s decision to select GT&Co, arguing Teliszewsky’s involvement creates a “perceived bias.” He also questioned the review’s timing and suggested it should instead take place outside of an election year, preferably mid-term, as does the review of council’s compensation.
“If you’re going to do it in an election year, you’d want to do it pretty early. I don’t think you’d want to do it after March,” Francis said.
In an email to the Star, CAO Ray Mensour said the contract with GT&Co was “sole-sourced” — indicating no other choice existed — “due to the significant workload within council services, which heavily focused on preparations for the upcoming city-wide election.”
Mensour went on to say the company’s experience working with municipalities “brings a fresh perspective and will help ensure the review and recommendations are completed in time for the next council.”
