There continues to be tension in The Blue Mountains council chambers about the idea of a joint planning department with Grey County and other local municipalities.
At its committee of the whole meeting on Oct. 8, what appeared to be a routine report from Clerk Corrina Giles about the timeline for providing comments from the town to the county on the potential new planning structure turned out to be anything but.
Multiple members of council questioned the entire joint planning department premise, which led CAO Shawn Everitt to urge councillors to keep an open mind on the subject. The CAO said the idea of a joint or shared planning structure is still in the early days.
“I consider the County of Grey a partner, I don’t consider the County of Grey an enemy, I know there are many who do,” Everitt said, adding that no decisions on the matter have been made and the county is soliciting feedback from local municipalities. “This is not a done deal. This is in its infancy.”
The CAO noted that across the local area recruiting and retaining planning staff is an issue. Everitt said that not one municipality in Grey County has a full complement of planning staff and it was important for the municipalities of Grey to at least consider options to fix the problem.
“It is in the community’s best interest and it’s in the best interest of the taxpayers to explore every opportunity to provide efficiencies,” he said.
Everitt made his comments minutes after councillors June Porter and Alex Maxwell questioned the entire premise with the county. Their comments arose after council received a report from Giles that explained the county’s Oct. 18 deadline to receive comments from local municipalities on the joint planning department premise was not set in stone.
The clerk said town staff would bring a full report to council about the joint planning department premise to the committee of the whole meeting on Oct. 29. Council’s comments/questions about the issue would then be ratified at the Nov. 12 meeting and sent to Grey County in time for county council’s discussion on the topic at its meeting on Nov. 28.
In a lengthy statement, Porter questioned how the town could be conducting an internal review of its corporate structure, which included the planning department, while at the same time discussing a joining planning scenario with Grey County and other local municipalities.
“I’m not comfortable with the level of accountability and transparency regarding this,” said Porter, who expressed concerns that the conversations around the joint model were “a little more definitive” than something in the early stages.
Maxwell stated he felt the entire idea wasn’t worth pursuing.
“Autonomy on planning is critical for the Town of The Blue Mountains moving forward,” said Maxwell.
The resolution to receive the report from Giles on the matter narrowly passed in a 4-2 vote with Maxwell and Porter opposed and Deputy Mayor Peter Bordignon absent.
Other members of council said it would be premature to make a decision without hearing from town staff on the proposed model.
“We’re exploring avenues as to how we can get efficiencies and it may not work for The Blue Mountains. It may work for some of the other smaller municipalities,” said Coun. Gail Ardiel. “We can’t make an opinion until we get information from our director.”
The potential joint planning initiative emerged after a joint closed door (virtual) meeting between Grey County and all nine local councils. On Sept. 30, The Blue Mountains council passed a resolution expressing its “concern and reservation" about the idea.”
Coun. Paul Hope expressed support for continuing the process to receive the staff report on the issue and send comments to the county, but added that the town needs to make its views known. Hope asked Mayor Andrea Matrosovs how she and Bordignon would convey the town’s position to county council.
“I am certainly very concerned about the proposed model,” said Hope. “It’s important to make council’s position very clear.”
In response, Matrosovs said she has not taken a position on the matter and wanted to hear the feedback from the municipalities.
“I have not taken some different stand at the county than I have here,” said Matrosovs, adding that county council had not taken a position on the matter either, other than to ask for feedback and questions on the idea.
