Marshall looks to shuffle deck at county council

Fewer politicians, directly elected councillors would reduce staff influence, says Penetang mayor
By Nicole Million Midland Mirror Apr 17, 2012
SIMCOE COUNTY – Penetanguishene Mayor Gerry Marshall says change is needed to lessen the influence of administrative staff on Simcoe County council, and to increase political control. County council is composed of the mayors and deputy mayors of 16 member municipalities. Marshall said he has spent the last several months advocating a review of that governance structure.
 “There’s what I call a strong administrative presence in the governance of the county, and a weaker political presence. That doesn’t, in my opinion, serve the residents properly. The purpose of the political presence is to actually take that strong leadership role,” he said. “County council is currently structured where administrative staff are very strong, but the political presence is much weaker.
 Marshall said county councillors have difficulty keeping pace under the current structure.
 “There are 32 very fully engaged mayors and deputy mayors. Our primary purpose … is our local community. By default, that means we tend to pay less attention to the activities at county,” he said. “What I am finding is the county issues are large and take a great deal of time and energy to keep up with.”
 Marshall said he would like to see a governance model like that recommended by the Berkeley Consulting Group, which called for 16 mayors and seven directly elected county councillors.
 “They wouldn’t have any municipal responsibilities (and) would singularly focus on county issues,” he said.
 Midland Mayor Gord McKay said the main issues driving this discussion are the workload and the natural conflict that arises when a councillor wants to vote one way on an issue as it affects the county, but the opposite way as it affects his or her municipality.
 “A review is essential,” he said. “We must come up with a formula that serves the better interests of the county while remaining sensitive to the differing needs of the 16 municipalities that make up the county.”
 Simcoe County Warden Cal Patterson told The Mirror governance has been recognized by council as a top priority since June 2011.
 “There was recognition by council that it would be beneficial for this term to have completed its first year and then reinitiate the process for governance review,” he said. “The governance committee has met and adopted recommendations regarding a process that it will put forward to county council.”
 Patterson added part of the proposed process will see the chair and vice-chair of the committee interview each county councillor seeking feedback on the issue.
 “Two consecutive terms of council have recognized the governance challenges. While not everyone will necessarily agree that we need to make changes to the governance structure, there is a clear rationale in the Berkeley Report,” he said.
 Marshall said he spends between 25 and 30 hours per month strictly on county issues, adding it often takes him about six hours to read the agenda.
 “That goes over top of all the things you’re doing as a mayor. All the mayors are quite busy and active and focused on their local issues – and that’s the way it should be,” said Marshall. “Then you have this great big County of Simcoe machine north of $400 million a year getting less political attention…. That, to me, is a perilous situation.”
 Midland Deputy Mayor Stephan Kramp said he agrees changing the structure of county council is necessary.
 “It’s too large a number to make effective decisions. If it were to be reduced in numbers, I think I would support that,” he said, adding he also agrees with having some directly elected councillors.
 “Simcoe County … is a huge corporation with significant responsibilities,” he said, “and that requires a dedicated group of people who are directly accountable to the people who have elected them.”