A damning poll just came out that found most Winnipeggers don’t trust city hall.

While the results may not be surprising, they also mean that the council elected next fall has a lot of work to do to rebuild trust with the public. Here are a few ways they can do just that:

First up, there’s a good piece of draft legislation in Ottawa right now that calls for cutting off government pensions for any Member of Parliament or Senator who is convicted of committing a serious federal crime while in office; things like fraud and breach of trust. Great idea. The City of Winnipeg should adopt the same policy for both council and city employees.

Next, several councillors were aghast when allegations surfaced last fall that the former CAO received a golden severance for quitting. But has anyone done anything to prevent such a possibility from happening in the future? No. It’s time to pass a motion banning the practice.

Third, let’s see a council motion banning members of council from starting businesses with senior city staff or selling companies between each other. The optics look terrible and it makes it hard for council to hold senior administrators accountable if they’re business partners.

Fourth, all members of council should have to disclose their properties and businesses anywhere – not just in the City of Winnipeg. This is important to ensure business relationships are known between members of council and people whose proposals they vote on.

Fifth, David Soknacki, a mayoral candidate in Toronto, has promised to disclose his schedule if elected mayor so people know what he’s doing. Great idea. Winnipeg’s council should do the same.

Sixth, city hall should create an informal “freedom of information committee” to meet as needed to review concerns by citizens and organizations who feel like they are getting the runaround when trying to get info from the city. A strong directive to the administration to be more open in the first place could help cut a lot of problems off at the pass as well.

Seventh, when council gets elected there’s a swearing in ceremony and reception at night. Why at night? Because that’s when council members’ family can actually get down to city hall. So why not hold monthly council meetings in the evening too? That would make it more convenient for members of the public to attend.

Eighth, instead of voters finding out after the election who made big donations to candidates' election campaigns, why not require all donations above a certain threshold to be made public a few days before the election?

Ninth, why not have a “question period” with the public every three months. Such meetings could give the public an opportunity to ask the mayor, committee chairs and senior managers questions rather than being restricted to simply making presentations.

Finally, it’s time to see some kind of penalties for those that oversee projects that go $1 million or more over budget. The time for shoulder shrugging is over.

Council has a long way to go when it comes to improving trust. Implementing even some of the aforementioned ideas would be a step in the right direction.