County council renews effort to restructure governance model

New Tecumseth Free Press Online

Simcoe County councillors will gather at the Kempenfelt Centre in Innisfil tomorrow morning to take part in a Governance Workshop, whose main focus will be reducing the composition of council, method of election, and term of Warden.

It’s the latest attempt by the mayors and deputy mayors of the 16 member municipalities to introduce reforms at the upper tier level, whose strongest push dates back to 2008. The most recent governance study review is the 2010 Berkely Report which recommends a 21 person council made up of the 16 mayors, plus seven members elected directly to serve only as County councillors. Weighted voting would be eliminated.

Councillors will be asked specificially to determine: “At this point, what is your level of interest in having the County pursue the development and approval of a County Council restructuring proposal for the 2018 election?”

Other items on the workshop agenda include compensation for County councillors, including creating an external compensation committee; review the committee structure; and “work with local municipalities to identify opportunities for collaboration and partnership.”

Simcoe County cannot act on its own to change the composition, or method of election to the upper tier. Approval from the majority of member municipalities is required.
New Tecumseth is the second largest contributor of taxes, approximately $11 million per year, to Simcoe County, representing approximately 30 per cent of the property tax bill.