‘Very unfriendly’ city hall in Mississauga must be more welcoming, councillors say

Several city councillors are concerned Mississauga city hall has become a “very unfriendly” place for residents to visit — and they’re looking to change that impression.

The City of Mississauga, much like municipalities elsewhere in addition to most businesses, restaurants and public facilities across Canada, shut its doors — literally — to people shortly after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.

While city hall and other Mississauga facilities have largely reopened to the public the past two years or so, councillors now want to more fully open the doors and re-establish in-person contact with the people they represent.

“I’m just finding city hall very unfriendly. I’m finding it’s very difficult for people to get up to see us…the (public) parking and our side of the building are disconnected. It just feels like we’re trying to keep the people out,” Ward 5 Coun. Carolyn Parrish said during discussion at Wednesday’s general committee meeting.

She added it’s time councillors sat down, discussed their concerns about public access to city hall and their offices and then take steps to get connected again.

“I think a few of us are getting complaints (from residents),” Parrish said. “I know we (closed things off) during COVID, but we should try to open it up so we become a little more open, a little more friendly…this (city hall) is paid for by the people of this city and they should be able to come in here and talk to us.”

Ward 7 Coun. Dipika Damerla added it’s time to get away from the “appointment-only model” established during the pandemic and let people again drop by city hall to meet with their councillor or access other services and departments.

“We are a house of (the) public and the public should be able to walk in (and meet with us),” she said.

Shari Lichterman, Mississauga’s city manager and CAO, speaks to councillors at the Jan. 24 general committee meeting.

Shari Lichterman, Mississauga’s city manager and CAO, said the city has taken steps to largely reconnect with residents and is “making adjustments to ensure they’re having a good experience.”

She noted a “welcome desk” introduced over a year ago on the ground floor of city hall provides information to people and directs visitors to the department they’re seeking.

Still, Lichterman acknowledged more needs to be done.

“We have been working to make the ground floor a much more accessible and welcoming place; the welcome desk was the first step,” she told councillors, adding city hall has recently seen more and more people dropping by once again to meet with their councillors or seek other services.

She noted the next step “is to take a look as some of the spaces on the ground floor and decide jointly with council what we’re going to do with them, and I think there are opportunities beyond using them for staff areas. I think we need to explore other uses and access by the community to the ground floor because we have the spaces up the tower for staff.”

Moving forward, Lichterman said senior staff will bring specific ideas back to council in the near future with a goal of “ensuring that when a resident walks into the Great Hall (on the ground floor), they get greeted and they understand how to get the services they’re looking for.”