The province is refusing to provide its regional governance review report it commissioned last year, which left some County of Simcoe councillors with concerns about the secrecy during talks of changing their own council structure on Tuesday.
County councillors voiced various issues with the newly proposed county council structure change, which would see it shrink from 32 to 21 members and would include regional councillors added to the composition.
Springwater Township Deputy Mayor Jennifer Coughlin asked if the county could request to see the regional governance review report that was submitted to the province by special advisors Ken Seiling and Michael Fenn to help guide local discussions.
“The information is there. The work has been done. We don’t even know what the province determined,” she said.
“I can assure you the minister has clearly stated that is not going to happen,” Simcoe County Warden George Cornell said. “In fact, some members of cabinet have not seen the report.”
Coughlin responded that other regional governments have put in requests to see the report, such as Dufferin County.
“That information is there and we paid for it,” she said.
Cornell said other municipalities that have requested to see the report have been denied.
When province released the outcome of the regional governance review in October 2019, which was to allow municipalities to make their own decisions regarding finding efficiencies, BarrieToday inquired with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing about filing a Freedom of Information (FOI) request for the report.
“We will not be making the report public as it will remain confidential advice to cabinet,” Conrad Spezowka, spokesperson for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, said at that time.
During the county discussions on Tuesday concerning changing the size of council, councillors from most local municipalities brought up their issues with the recommendation.
Bradford West Gwillimbury Mayor Rob Keffer raised concerns about how the voting would be weighted under the new model.
“I have concerns about the representation by population,” he said. “Under the Ward 5 Option 'A' we have ... Bradford and Innisfil in Ward 1 with, according to 2016 numbers, 71,891 (population). The population for Ward 4 of Tiny, Tay, Midland, Penetanguishene and Springwater was 66,000. So there will be six representatives for the 66,000 population and three for 71,000.
“There needs to be more analysis,” Keffer added. “We need to look into trying to have a ward system that will be fair.”
Keffer suggested the report be referred back to the governance committee and an external consultant retained to look into a ward system based on equatable population.
Bradford West Gwillimbury Deputy Mayor James Leduc spoke in favour of Keffer’s suggestion.
“Democracy is based on representation by population,” Leduc said. “I don’t want to make this a north-south issue. It’s about serving residents of Simcoe County fairly, throughout the whole county.
“We are all Simcoe County, in the end. If we do this right, we’ll stay united and grow this county,” he added.
Midland Mayor Stewart Strathearn spoke up to Keffer and Leduc’s suggestions.
“You are currently voting in a weighted vote. Your vote carries more weight than my vote, frankly,” said Strathearn. “We vote by population, and it’s likely we’d continue to vote by population.
“Regional representation is necessary. It’s not about cost-savings, it’s about being efficient and having people who, on a full-time basis, work with staff (here),” he added. “Yes, they’re going to cost more money, but it will save money by having a full-time political perspective in the organization.”
Innisfil Mayor Lynn Dollin said she liked the idea of having regional representation that would be solely dedicated to county business.
“As much as all of us believe in the greater good, there’s nobody here sitting on this floor that always thinks first of the county and doesn’t have in the back of their mind how it’s going to affect their local municipality,” she said.
Speaking against changing the size of county council, Collingwood Mayor Brian Saunderson said he thought council should be focusing its energy on finding efficiencies through other means.
“In my opinion, sometimes the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know, so I’m not in favour of any change,” Saunderson said. “This is an ongoing issue that has been plaguing this council for a long time, and the question for me, at the end of the day, is where is the best bang for the buck? Is it the change of our governance model, or a change in service delivery?
“I think it’s more preferable for this house to focus on changes to service delivery,” he added.
Saunderson said he believes the direction from the province was to find savings and efficiencies through the review, and service delivery was where those savings would more likely be found.
“This wouldn’t be an easy road for us, or a productive one,” he said.
Collingwood Deputy Mayor Keith Hull echoed Saunderson’s sentiments.
“By narrowing down from 32 to 16, you’re narrowing down the opportunity to have a dialogue away from the house as it relates to the bigger matters that happen county-wide,” said Hull. “I’ve been impressed in the time I’ve been here that this house, at 32 people, proactively resolve some very significant issues.
“The smaller the number, sometimes the more fractious it can be,” he added. “I mean that as a compliment to this house.”
Hull continued to talk about how the actual constituents and their needs should also be taken into account when it comes to talking about governance structure.
“Every single day we are posed questions as it relates to the lower- or upper-tier municipality. The vast majority of people I talk to don’t know that Simcoe County picks up their garbage, and frankly they don’t care,” Hull said. “They just want to know that if they run into me at the arena, they can ask me questions and I can provide an answer.”
As costs were not included in the report, some councillors brought up that there likely wouldn’t be any cost-savings to the change.
“When it comes to costs, I don’t think we’re looking at the big picture. We’re only looking at salaries,” said Tiny Township Deputy Mayor Steffen Walma. “We have 32 members we send to conferences, training sessions, and there’s mileage for every meeting. I would love to see a fulsome cost comparison.”
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 suggested by the committee, 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.
To read more about the proposed new model, including the proposed ward boundaries, click here.
“Those of us who have been here a while (know) that county council has looked at their structure and restructuring a number of times over the years and has not been able to make a decision,” said Cornell. “I would like to think... this is an opportunity for us to revisit it.”
County council voted to refer the issue back to the governance committee to consider all the feedback provided during the council discussion.
