Public reaction to proposed changes to the composition of Simcoe County council seems to be mixed, based on public feedback received by the county and brought forward during a public meeting this morning.
The meeting, which began Tuesday at 10 a.m., only saw two people step up to the podium to address council on the matter, which is looking to reduce the existing size of council from 32 to 17.
If approved, council would be made up of only the mayors of the 16 lower-tier municipalities (towns and townships) and a head of council, who would be appointed by county council from among eligible electors who put their name forward — and would only serve on county council.
Currently, the warden is appointed from among members of county council; that person serves both on county council as well as on their lower-tier council.
The proposed bylaw also includes required updates to the existing weighted vote system.
Dave Ritchie, president of Simcoe County Federation of Agriculture, and former member of Tay Township council, said he is against the change, telling councillors residents need “good, fair governance” at county council.
“I have been on county council and I appreciate the commitment and the work that you people do. I cannot see that by shrinking this that the work is going to go away," he said. "We need as many qualified and connected, smart people in these chambers to make good and justified decisions.
“Our concern is when you move numbers down to 17 with the weighted vote we will lose the rural and agricultural component in these chambers," Ritchie added.
Bradford West Gwillimbury Coun. Jonathan Scott also voiced his concern about the proposed change in person at the public meeting. He said the principle of representation by population is a "cornerstone" of Canadian democracy.
"The problem in Simcoe County is not really that there are too many of you. The problem is that the votes of our residents are not equally valued,” he said, pointing out that his municipality, with a population of 50,000, has the same two votes as those municipalities with a population of less than 10,000.
“That is not fair. That is not democratic and that is not what effective representation means,” Scott said. “Reducing representation numerically without addressing proportionality risks exacerbating the existing disparity.”
Moving forward with the change would only make sense, Midland resident Bob McCutcheon wrote in a letter submitted to council in advance of the public meeting.
“We have far too many layers of government these days that aren't required. Councils for small towns and townships can easily manage their own local issues, and who has a better pulse on those issues but local councils,” he wrote.
Adjala-Tosorontio resident Amanda Reiber echoed those sentiments in her letter.
“In the current environment, where residents are facing high costs of living and bloated governments, it would be prudent on our elected representatives to show fiscal responsibility and vote to reduce the size of the county council,” wrote Reiber.
While Reiber agreed with the proposal to reduce the size of council, she voiced concern about the decision to have an unelected warden.
“While I agree that the work of the warden can be overwhelming at times … this can be resolved by sharing the duties between the warden and the deputy warden along with the help of our county staff who do an amazing job," she wrote. "This would eliminate the need for an unelected person representing the residents of Simcoe County and the high salary and benefits that will have to be paid to this unelected person.”
A finalized version of the draft bylaw is scheduled to be brought back at the March 25 meeting, at which time councillors will have the opportunity to debate and ask additional questions, said Warden Basil Clarke. If the bylaw is passed at that meeting, it would be required to go to through the “triple majority” process.
“The first phase is the passing of the bylaw at that meeting. The second is the bylaw would need to be supported by at least nine of the 16 municipalities,” he said. “If that doesn’t happen then the bylaw is lost and there is no third phase.
"It’s kind of like baseball — if you’re out at second base, you don’t get to run to third,” Clarke added.
If the bylaw is carried by nine or more of the local member municipalities the public represented by those nine or more municipalities must make up more than 50 per cent of the total electorate of the county for the bylaw to be officially approved.
Barrie and Orillia are separated cities and do not have seats on county council.