Mayor not keen on NVCA’s request to cut board size ‘voluntarily’

New Tecumseth Free Press Online December 13, 2010
On the eve of a new round of appointments to the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority (NVCA) board of directors comes a request to the municipal partners with two representatives to scale that back to one.
In a letter dated November 30, 2010 from NVCA chair Walter Benotto, of Shelburne, to each of the 17 municipal watershed partners, the request is made “in the spirit of cooperation to improve NVCA governance efficiency and effectiveness.”
The reduction would affect New Tecumseth and nine other municipalities including Barrie, Clearview, Collingwood, Essa, Innisfil, Mulmur, Oro, Wasaga, and Springwater.
The letter suggested the $14,000 annually that would be saved in per diems and mileage by going from 27 to 18, could be applied to other services.
“The advantage to the NVCA would be that each municipality maintains a voice at the Board of Directors with each board member providing an effective level of communication between their council and the NVCA,” wrote Mr. Benotto. “The down side to the larger municipalities with two members is that you will lose some power in the day to day governance of the NVCA.”
That however, he noted, would be offset because each municipality has a weighted vote when it comes to setting/voting on the budget (non-matching levy portion).
New Tecumseth is the second largest contributer to the NVCA at 11.8 per cent, behind Barrie at 16 per cent. The Town sends a council rep and a public appointee.
“The weight of your municipal vote is equal to the portion of your municipal share of the total modified current value assessment as provided by the Province of Ontario whether you send two members or not. Therefore, if your municipality agrees to voluntarily reduce from two to one member for regular board business, you will still maintain the same voting power for the non-matching level of the NVCA budget. This represents 90 per cent of the municipal levy budget. The remaining 10 per cent of your municipal levy which is matched 50/50 with provincial grant as per the Conservation Act regulation, is not a weighted vote so each member casts one vote.”
Mayor Mike MacEachern noted this morning, that he’s not in favour the NVCA’s request which is an added information item to the committee appointments report on tonight’s council agenda.
“I think reducing representation on the NVCA would not be a wise move. We are a large contributor and they are quite active in many building and development issues.”