Governance report recommends smaller council for Simcoe County and Collingwood

The governance committee at the County of Simcoe has made its recommendation to reduce the size of council to 21 members in the next term, so now the process can start to see if all 16 member municipalities will get on board.

“Modernization of our governance model is an important consideration as we have not made changes in several decades,” said County of Simcoe Warden George Cornell. “As populations increase, complexity of government and residents’ needs increases, and overall expectations for what services can and should be afforded to our population increases, council feels these are important considerations.”

Currently, Simcoe County council is made up of 32 members: the mayor and deputy mayor of all 16 member municipalities get a seat at the table, with the warden and deputy warden positions elected from within those ranks.

Barrie and Orillia do not have a seat at the county council table as they are separated cities.

Under the new model, one representative from each member municipality would get a seat at the table – either the mayor from each municipality or a member chosen by each municipality at their municipal table, for 16 seats – as well five regional councillors which would be elected who don’t serve on any other municipal council. Future wardens and deputy wardens would be elected from the regional councillor pool.

“County staff were directed to review geographic areas that reflect current and future populations, keeping in mind balance,” said Cornell. “We also took into consideration some of the existing shared services and partnerships among our member municipalities.”

The five regional boundaries will be split up as follows:

• Ward 1: Innisfil and Bradford West Gwillimbury
• Ward 2: Essa Township, Adjala-Tosorontio and New Tecumseth
• Ward 3: Clearview Township, Collingwood and Wasaga Beach
• Ward 4: Springwater, Tiny, Tay, Midland and Penetanguishene
• Ward 5: Townships of Oro-Medonte, Severn and Ramara

“As the county grows in population and demand on county services increase, there is a need for dedicated political representatives that are focused on county business,” said Cornell. “This structure will allow for closer relationships and synergies between the county and the provincial and federal governments.”

Costs of the change, voting structure and compensation are some details that will be worked out over the coming months should the initial plan be approved at the March 10 council meeting.

“Council may provide additional direction,” said Cornell. “Further details about the governance change will be determined over the coming months, and a fulsome report would require Triple Majority approval before being adopted.”

Triple Majority approval requires a majority of all votes on county council are cast in favour of the change, a majority of the councils of all 16 lower-tier municipalities have passed resolutions consenting to the change and the total number of electors in the lower-tier municipalities that have consented to the change from a majority of all the electors in the County of Simcoe. A public meeting must also occur.

Cornell said the goal of the county’s governance committee is to have the approved changes in place for the next municipal election in 2022.

“This would be the first major change to county council’s composition in 50 years, but given the evolution and growth of our county, we believe that this is the right time to evaluate these changes for the future,” said Cornell.

While the staff report at the county level discusses not wanting to get involved in the governance structures of the lower tiers, there is a suggestion made at the end of the report that local municipalities consider sizes of five or seven councillors.

As a council of nine, Collingwood exceeds that number. Mayor Brian Saunderson said this week he was aware of the suggestion but didn’t have plans to address it at this point at the Collingwood council table.

“This is not a priority issue for (Collingwood) council and we currently have some important issues we are working on including the community-based strategic plan refresh, the future of the grain terminals, the economic development action plan and the proceeds from the recent asset sales,” said Saunderson in an interview with CollingwoodToday.

“We expect the Judicial Inquiry report will be released in the next eight weeks. If it contains recommendations dealing with the size or composition of council, we will give those recommendations due consideration,” he added.

The governance committee recommendation will be coming before County of Simcoe council at their March 10 meeting to be ratified.