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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2016-04-27, Page 2122 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, April 27, 2016 Instead of the public voting for the deputy mayor, council might The Huron East council voted 10-1 to remove the deputy mayor position come the next municipal election Shaun Gregory Huron Expositor In the Huron East coun- cil chambers, it's been close to a decade of annual discussions revolving around whether or not each ward in the munici- pality should have one or two councillors. On April 19, the conversation was brought up yet again along with another request that caught most of the room off guard. It's a well-known fact that Huron East is the larg- est borough in the county with approximately 600- 700 square kilometres in the surrounding terrain. It also has the second largest population and as a result numerous legislative bod- ies have declared that the job would be too difficult to administrate single- handedly. Others also believe it's not fair to the public to go from a 12 member council down to seven. "I still feel we are doing a disfavour to our ratepayers that we represent," said Grey Coun. Alvin McLellan. Being a business owner, McLellan as well as some of his other colleagues are convinced that it's too much work for a part-time job. "It would be a job I wouldn't do," he stated in council. "Even (with) lowered meetings per month, it's just too much area to cover." Large savings would also come with a change in the format of council. Accord- ing to Huron East's CAO, ATTENTION READERS Take advanlage of our pricing for HAPPY NOTES I I7clud1's: A IIni.vcrSaricS Eiegaguntiri`., Graduations etc. 11.4PP ' lik/'J1I)4V 1.1 (Nan: P!rsrae f l tante; Love iOru & IhiI Graly '1I $23.80 Plus ra .S ..T.. J ACilhEll Size: Pre -Payment is Required Ju31 briny irk Our UMW & write-up kl X11 tki The re3I. 1rn9r $i7i Pnr:in flk.41e019 Upal roque • The ilnam 12L�8 Main Street Seaforth, ON (519) 527-0240 nancy.degans@sunmedia.ca .).,(.. inrozzEtza„ seaforthhuronexpositor.com wilP Brad Knight the topic was initially brought up because it was recom- mended by the Administra- tion Committee. If granted the cost of council meet- ings per month would be reduced from $39,000 down to $22,000. Brussels Ward Coun. David Blaney, is positive if these specific cuts to the municipalities do go for- ward it will turn to what's commonly known as a form of "Walmart government." "It bothers me that the only way we can fix things is to cut things. Cut the day- care, cut recreations, cut the council," Blaney said. "We are being driven (by) how cheap we can make it, not how good we can make it. The idea that the only way you can solve the problem is by cutting things has one particular tragic end, you run out of things to cut and (you've) still got a bill." It's been eight years that Seaforth Coun. Bob Fisher has had high hopes of cut- ting the cost of council down. Fisher would like to see the assigned wards transform into one repre- sentative for the location or at least have a north and south division. "I get too many people saying Brussels gets this and Vanastra should get that. Seaforth gets this, we should do this," Fisher said while standing in the historic town hall of Seaforth. "Having these wards keeps us too diverse, we are not cohesive enough?' Prepared with a written speech on the matter was Tuckersmith Councillor, Ray Chartrand. While reading off the typed out documents, he went on to say councillors have already lost enough staff due to the amalgamation when the municipality became one, more than 15 years ago. "That's about a 52 per cent reduction, and now you want to reduce our cur- rent 10 councillors down to five, another 50 percent reduction," he said citing Shaun Gregory On April 19, Tuckersmith Councillor, Ray Chartrand requested a motion to remove the future position of deputy mayor for the 2018 municipal election. If it goes through, council will elect a fellow ward member as the deputy mayor. the fact that 15 ward repre- sentatives were cut out of a job in 2001. Except missing Tucker - smith Coun. Larry McGrath, pretty much all of council had a chance to comment on the potential cutting of staff initiative. The Mayor of Huron East, Bernie MacLellan said his own take on the affair before the table voted. He considers this not so much of a big cut, but one that is crucial in the overall pro- cess of moving forward. "It's going to take a whole bunch of little things to save a lot of money," explained MacLellan just before coun- cil made their decision. Since it's such a large topic every term in the political chambers, MacLellan said perform- ing a recorded vote instead of the usual hand raise is what would work best. To reiterate the pre- vious years before, the municipality turned down the idea with seven to four not in favour of the pro- posal. The talks of cutting down the numbers of the political gang seemed to be done, that is until Chartrand pulled out another prepared PARK THEATRE M� �OL�tldl�l•- �1� 5 �4 F MOVIE INFORMATION... w 030 F www, rrlo' ieI rlks. c a iilu d 1-800-2165-343f County council does not care what bottoms sit in the seats. Whether it's Joe or John Lowe, we're still going to have representation at county council," — Said Tuckersmith Councillor, Ray Chartrand as deputy mayor Joe Steffler still had a confused expression document, this time it was a motion of his own. "I would like the council to consider to reduce the size of council to an 11 -member council with a mayor to be elected at large. Two councillors to be elected for each of the five wards, thus eliminating the at large deputy mayor," Chartrand read off his typed out document. He also added that there would be a deputy mayor, but it would be one of the ten ward members and they would choose who would fill the position. It took a few minutes for the municipal group to pro- cess what they were hear- ing. By the look on the face of the deputy mayor, Joe Steffler, as well as some of the people in the room, this was an unexpected request. However, for Chartrand, it's been something he said he had been putting together for the last three to four weeks. "County council does not care what bottoms sit in the seats. Whether it's Joe or John Lowe, we're still going to have repre- sentation at county coun- cil," said Chartrand as Stef- fler still had a confused expression. Steffler said he has no interest in running for the next term. However for future potential candidates looking to campaign for the position, he believes council should not be vot- ing for the deputy mayor, the people of Huron East deserve that right, he said. If finances are playing a role in the overall motion to remove one position from council, Steffler said he's befuddled about the topic. "If it's about money sav- ing, you just said it was a problem spending $30,000 and you are looking at saving $9,000, clearly the math doesn't add up here;" stated Steffler. The end result was council voting 10-1, with Steffler being the only one to vote against it.