Former Mayor of Hamilton Charles Gosling admitted that his election loss came as a shock — but said he had no regrets about his performance over nearly three years in office. Mr Gosling, who is now back at the helm at Goslings Limited, spoke with The Royal Gazette about the highs and lows of the job during a politically turbulent era for the City.By Jonathan Bell“I have to confess, I was surprised,” admitted Mr Gosling of his May 10 defeat to challengers Team Hamilton. “We’d been through a lot of canvassing. There was a large group who said, don’t worry, you guys are in, and gave various reasons why the other side would not be successful in the polls.”He added: “Apart from being reelected, nothing was insurmountable.”In an election made historic by Hamilton’s first universal adult franchise, Mr Gosling’s team was swept from power by maverick candidate Graeme Outerbridge.Hamilton businesses lost their vote, while Salvation Army Shelter residents gained a voice. Less than a third of registered voters took part overall.Mr Gosling defended the incumbent team’s decision not to run “a negative campaign”.However, reflecting on the City’s new mayor, Mr Gosling said: “He has gone from being a voice of the opposition to a voice of the establishment, whether he likes it or not.”He added: “The Municipalities Act made two significant changes to the governing of the City. One was changing the franchise, and the second was who can run for office.“It’s open to any Bermudian on the Parliamentary Registrar’s list who is nominated and seconded by residents within the city. It does not make any sense at all to give people the right to serve without giving them the ability to serve.”One consolation for his loss, Mr Gosling said, was that “a couple of previous mayors like Lawson Mapp and Graham Gibbons have been in contact and thanked me for my service”.“One of the major things that has enabled me to get over this thing so quickly is that fact that so many people have said such kind words to me,” he said.Although Mr Gosling had little to say about the City’s incoming council, he warned against Team Hamilton seeking salaries for their positions.“You really don’t want it to be a salaried position, because that implies you’re there on a regular basis,” Mr Gosling said. “Getting involved in the day to day business operations of the Corporation would be a huge mistake. You’re there for oversight, but most certainly not to interfere.”[In response, Mr Outerbridge and new alderman Donal Smith both said he did not intend to get salaried, and councillor Larry Scott said: “Even under Charles’s administration they considered whether or not to create salaried positions. I’ve said we would consider it the same way if it came up.”]Saying he’d take his time before “ foolishly stepping back in to public office”, Mr Gosling added: “I feel your right to complain is directly linked to your willingness to participate and find a solution.”In Mr Gosling’s case, it was the implications of the looming Municipalities Act which originally settled his decision to run for Mayor.He recalled: “At the time of deciding to run, both John Harvey and I were sitting an councillors, the municipalities were threatened with being taken over completely by Government and their operations being put in various Government departments.“John and a couple of voters came up to me and felt I should run, and if I would run they’d support me as we would run together as a team. Very quickly after that, we came up with the entire group to run.”Continued Mr Gosling: “Government did put through a Bill which amended how the municipality operated, most particularly in terms of the franchise, but it remained an elective body. More importantly, it remained.”Even so, he conceded, the passing of the Municipalities Reform Act “took the air out of us”.“There had been so much emotion and mental vigour put into the fight,” he said. “There was a chasm after that.”Another mission was to invite the public into the traditionally insular machinery of City affairs.“As a team, one of our campaign items was to open up transparency within the Corporation, to try and end a lot of the problems that the Corporation had been getting itself into.“We had this group of people responsible for $23 million of the taxpayers’ money, sitting in a closed room deciding how that money was going to be spent. Things were being unnecessarily kept away from the public,” he said.“It’s very easy to talk when you’re in the minority position — you can be a great crusader because you know none of your objectives will take fruition. It’s another thing entirely when you’re able to do it.“I was particularly pleased not just being able to open up our meetings to the public, but also getting participation from members of the public, at the beginnings of meetings making suggestions.“It’s a process which hopefully the new group will continue to work on, because it’s not finished yet.”Good governance was another point of pride.“For too many years, members of the council had been interfering in the day to day operations of the Corporation.“It doesn’t help management if you are constantly challenged in your position by members of the council going behind your back, telling staff how to do their jobs.”Bringing Hamilton’s budget into the public eye “created more accountability — and I think accountability is a great thing for public servants to have”, he said.On the topic of mayoral difficulties, Mr Gosling said: “Many of the issues you have deal with are cross-Ministry issues.“It’s so, so difficult, day after day, to interact with the various Ministries. The issue with vagrancy in Hamilton, for instance, was identified a long, long time ago, and while meetings have taken place, we’re still no closer to a solution today than we were several years ago.”Looking forward, Mr Gosling said the development of Hamilton’s waterfront stood to have a tremendous impact on the Island.“How that is handled is going to be a huge issue for the municipality,” he said.In the run-up to the election, rivals Team Hamilton portrayed Mr Gosling’s administration as elitist and out of touch with the city’s north. Mr Gosling, whose business is on Dundonald Street, insisted it wasn’t the case.The former Mayor’s administration had been examining the development of Front Street’s no. five car park into open space, and Mr Gosling said he hoped to see a recently-purchased lot at the corner of Dundonald and Court Streets turned into a street market or performance space to bring “vibrancy” to the neighbourhood.And citywide, public Wi-Fi as part of Hamilton’s wireless CCTV system, is another development to look forward to.“It will probably be another month or two before there’s a public rollout on that,” Mr Gosling said.For now, the ex-mayor said his work at Gosling’s Limited will keep him busy, with new duty-free services expected this summer.As for a return to some public office, Mr Gosling didn’t discount the possibility.“If something of significance comes up, I will probably jump in,” he said.