On Valentine’s Day, Tay Township sent a letter to the Severn Sound Environmental Association (SSEA) advising them that the municipality was going to stop providing the organization with financial and human resources (HR) support.
This Wednesday, the SSEA was in front of Springwater Township council, hoping it might take on the responsibilities.
Coun. Brad Thompson, who voted against providing the support the SSEA was looking for, asked executive director Julie Cayley if she could explain why Tay, and Midland before that, ended their support of these services.
“I cannot,” she said. “I’m not sure I could answer that — they (the town of Midland) might be able to answer it better. Tay, I don’t have it in front of me, but the same.”
Cayley said Tay would know why they made the decision.
“Tay Township, over the past few years, has been critical of the SSEA’s fiscal management, as over the last six years our annual SSEA levy has more than doubled with no increase to the services the SSEA provides,” Tay Mayor Ted Walker said in an email to BarrieToday. “We voiced our concern to SSEA on several occasions.”
Earlier this year, Walker said, the chair of the SSEA introduced a motion, in the spirit of transparency, to offer the financial and HR services to all member municipalities.
The SSEA board passed the resolution.
“Upon hearing this, we advised the SSEA, to support their goal of 'transparency' in this regard, Tay Township would cease the financial and HR services provided as of the end of June,” Walker said. “We had been providing these services for several years following the Town of Midland ceasing same.”
According to Walker, Tay Township provided the services with existing staff — “we did not have to hire anyone” — for the contract price, plus an annual cost-of-living increase pursuant to the agreement.
“The SSEA a few months ago asked us for an extension to our withdrawal of services to the end of this year, as they had not made any progress in finding a member municipality to perform the services,” Walker said. “We granted the extension."
In an effort to replace Tay, the SSEA contacted the other seven other members of the association — the towns of Midland and Penetanguishene and the townships of Georgian Bay, Oro-Medonte, Severn, Springwater, Tay and Tiny.
“Tay sent the notification in February and I received it in March and shared the notice with the board at that time,” Cayley said in an email to BarrieToday on Friday.
“In early April, the SSEA sent a notice to the other seven joint municipal service board partners asking them for an expression of interest in providing financial and payroll services, so we approached all in April," she added.
Cayley said more detailed discussions with partners who wanted more information to determine if they had the capacity to potentially provide these services began in mid-June.
On Wednesday night, Springwater council debated the pros and cons of supporting the SSEA’s need for professional services before finally voting, in a 4-3 decision, to receive the report and direct staff to negotiate a memorandum of understanding with the SSEA for the provision of professional services and report back to council. The motion was amended to include council’s direction to staff to recruit a permanent part-time position to assist the SSEA.
It should be noted that the Township of Georgian Bay, at its Sept. 9 council meeting, voted 5-2 in favour of leaving the SSEA. The township provided the SSEA with notification that it was leaving the association with a termination date of Dec. 31, 2025.
“This is very new information to SSEA and we and the board are receiving it and will be working through what it means for the joint municipal service board moving forward,” said Cayley.
"While it is unfortunate that the Township of Georgian Bay has decided to enact their exit clause with the SSEA, it doesn't not change the organizations need for professional services or Springwater's need for the important work they provide," said Springwater Coun. Danielle Alexander, who is also SSEA vice-chair.
