Carroll's making mayoral run?

[attach]5677[/attach]Shelley Carroll says she is seriously considering a mayoral bid in 2014.

The Don Valley East rep says she’s been receiving encouragement from supporters to take a run at the city’s top job ever since she was asked point blank about a bid at a recent civic event she attended.

“It’s early days yet, but I said ‘look, I’m not going to be coy about it. Absolutely, I’m considering it.’ ”

It’s not the first time Carroll, Ward 33 councillor since 2003, has been touted as a possible mayoral contender.

In 2010, a faction of supporters asked her to run, but she decided against it. She said back then she had little time to devote to a mayoral bid as she was tending to illness in the family. Carroll also had concerns that she may split the vote in a wide-open race for the city’s top political job.

The situation is different now, she says, but with more than half of the four-year term still ahead, a campaign is not at the forefront of her mind.

Instead, she says, she’s focused more on local issues and governance in this term.

“In any four-year term you want to spend the first two years loading the things you want to get done into the public services workplan,” she said. “And then, the second half of the term is really about implementing it.”

If the former budget chief puts her name on the ballot, it’s very likely she’ll be up against Mayor Rob Ford, who has made no secret about his intention to run again.

On his radio show, Ford recently put out a call to those interested in running as councillors to contact him, which suggests he may run a slate in 2014. In March, after losing his bid at council to build a subway on Sheppard East, the mayor also stated he would make subways a major campaign issue.

Carroll, who has butted heads with the mayor on key matters like the budget and transit, was critical of the mayor’s recent public comments regarding a re-election bid, saying it’s simply too soon.

She said council should at least be waiting until halfway through the term to begin discussing goals past the term and into 2014.

“That’s not until New Year’s day 2013,” she said. “The mayor’s talking that way now.”

With labour contracts mostly resolved and a transit vote complete, Carroll says she now wants to get back to focusing on ward issues like intensification along Sheppard. She’s also looking to do policy work, including the implementation of citywide ward audits, something her office has been doing for the past three years.