The future composition of Simcoe County council has raised questions that still need answering, county councillors decided on Tuesday.
A motion which could reduce the number of county councillors to 16 from 32, and add a full-time warden for 2026, was referred back to the governance committee for more information and discussion.
County council is comprised of the mayors and deputy mayors of all 16 member municipalities (towns and townships), who then elect a warden from their own ranks. County council does not include the separated cities of Barrie and Orillia.
Wasaga Beach Mayor Brian Smith said more needs to be known before decisions are made on reducing numbers and making the warden full-time.
“I see too many questions up in the air here … I don’t think we have gone deep enough,” he said.
While most councillors said the warden position should be full-time, there were concerns about the warden being elected or appointed.
And whether county council should have 32 or 16 members was unclear.
“There’s a saying that says ‘if it’s not broken, don’t fix it,'” Adjala-Tosorontio Deputy Mayor Julius Lachs. “I believe the way this council works at this point, is working. The reason it has stayed the same is that it should stay the same. It is working.”
But Springwater Township Deputy Mayor George Cabral said he’s heard from constituents that county council is “too large, too cumbersome and unnecessarily had too many people on board.”
“In my heart, I think we should be reducing our numbers here,” said Clearview Mayor Doug Measures.
Penetanguishene Mayor Doug Rawson noted that the number of MPs and MPPs increases every federal and provincial election.
“I’m a little concerned if we shrink, because if we do shrink, we may have to increase staff to do the extra workload,” he said. “I think we’re going the wrong way.”
There were also concerns that the province could decide the future size of Simcoe County council.
Collingwood Mayor Yvonne Hamlin noted the province has done a review of Simcoe County twice within six years.
“If we don’t act ourselves, the province is going to act and we know our premier (Doug Ford) is not in favour of large governments at the municipal level,” she said.
Tiny Mayor David Evans supported going to 16 from 32 county council members.
“We need to pare this down and act a lot quicker and more responsibly,” he said. “I think having frankly one person from each township with one warden is much more clear and provides much more clarity.”
Bradford West Gwillimbury Deputy Mayor Raj Sandhu wanted to know about the practical advantages of reducing county council’s size.
“I’m all in favour of less government representation, but it has to be meaningful,” he said, mentioning benefits, extra services, cutting red tape and eliminating duplication. “I don’t see this in this (motion). How is that benefitting the bottom line?”
How a full-time warden would be chosen — voted to or appointed by county councillors — was also discussed.
“We should be electing our own peers to be warden,” said Adjala-Tosorontio Mayor Scott Anderson. “I don’t believe it’s appropriate that we appoint someone that’s not a member of this (council). No other level of government does that.”
The governance committee will consider a full-time warden and a 17-member county council.
If approved by county council, staff would need to prepare and issue a public notice of council's intention to pass a bylaw to change the composition of county council, schedule a public meeting for council to consider a draft bylaw to change the composition of county council and notice would be provided to the minister of municipal affairs and housing in the form of a letter from Warden Basil Clarke, who is Ramara Township's mayor.
The matter now goes back to governance committee and will return to county council at an unspecified date.
