So the Corporation of Hamilton is going to have a mayoral election after all. That's welcome news.

The City of Hamilton faces several major challenges and an election campaign will go some way to airing the concerns of residents and users of Hamilton alike.

The bad news is that one of the candidates is missing. David A. White, a long-time alderman and member of the Corporation, dropped out of the election when incumbent Lawson Mapp chose to run again.

Had Mr. White chosen to run, it would have resulted in an interesting and much closer race than the one between Mr. Mapp and National Liberal Party deputy chairman Graeme Outerbridge.

Instead, along with a number of other senior Corporation officials, he has opted out, apparently in protest at Mr. Mapp.

Based on comments from some insiders, Mr. Mapp has been a disaster as Mayor. If so, it is the first the public have heard of it, perhaps in part because of the secrecy under which Hamilton is run. The decisions of Thomas Dickinson and Jay Bluck are perhaps more understandable; they simply did not want to serve again under Mr. Mapp and no doubt hope their departure will be seen as a protest.

Still, their departures, especially Mr. Dickinson's, are unfortunate and will rob the Corporation of experience and knowledge when it is most needed.

Having said that, none, including Mr. Mapp, have expressed much interest in reforming the City's government over the years and the Mayor will now find himself defending the Corporation's practices against Mr. Outerbridge, who is running as a reform candidate.

That Mr. Mapp very nearly fell victim to the gentlemen's club atmosphere of City Hall is beside the point because Mr. Outerbridge's reform agenda goes much further than Mr. Mapp's ever would.

The least the Corporation can do is to open its meetings to the public. The latest argument against it, that members are not protected from libel actions, is easily remedied. Then the public could get a greater insight into the myriad challenges the Corporation needs to deal with urgently. These include traffic and parking, which outgoing Corporation Secretary Roger Sherratt said is the biggest single problem facing the City.

Another is the future of Front Street and the cruise ship docks, which are now so much wasted space. Hamilton also has the opportunity to go some way to easing the traffic problems and helping to ease the Island's housing crisis by aggressively promoting Hamilton as a place to develop residential units, especially in northern Hamilton.

If Mr. Mapp's opponents have a valid criticism, it is that he has done very little to address these problems, at least publicly. It should be a priority of the new Mayor's term.