Weak shift

Councillors make a decision, but mayor says it won’t stick

After 18 years of static, council has shifted, slightly. The result is a compromise no one is happy with. The pressure to make some decision about the size of council led to a council meeting Tuesday evening with an actual decision, if a weak one.

After presentations from some of the most vocal advocates for both reducing the size of council and the amount of County wards, after a long discussion by councillors to a full crowd at Shire Hall, council decided to vote on either keeping the status quo or reducing the size of council—to 14 members from 16.

The nine ward plan, presented by John Thompson, did not receive great response from the 600 people who took part in the surveys the County conducted earlier this year. It opted to have Bloomfield absorbed by Hallowell and reduce Sophiasburgh by one councillor.

Unsurprisingly, Bloomfield councillor Barry Turpin, along with Sophiasburgh councillors Bill Roberts and Kevin Gale voted against it. All three had voted on October 29 to reduce the County to three wards with 10 councillors.

Indeed, few councillors voted the same way Tuesday as they had in October. Only Gordon Fox and Steven Ferguson maintained their vote for status quo, keeping council at 10 wards with 15 councillors plus a mayor.

In October, after a tied 8-8 vote, council opted to keep council as is. The blowback was tremendous, with residents threatening to take the matter to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), a costly process for the County.

This time, a 9-7 vote to reduce council to meet Thompson’s plan, an idea that was more compromise than actual change, and many who voted for status quo seemed to be voting against the compromise.

This includes mayor Robert Quaiff, who said the unsatisfactory result will still lead to an OMB hearing.

From the October 29 vote, where the option was to reduce council to three wards, with three councillors per ward plus a mayor, Picton councillors Treat Hull and Lenny Epstein, Wellington councillor Jim Dunlop, Bloomfield councillor Barry Turpin, Sophiasburgh councillor Bill Roberts, Hallowell councillor Brad Nieman and mayor Robert Quaiff voted in favour.

From the November 10 vote, where the option was to reduce council to nine wards, with thirteen councillors plus a mayor, Picton councillors Treat Hull and Lenny Epstein, Ameliasburgh councillors Janice Maynard, Dianne O’Brien and Roy Pennell, Hillier councillor Stephen Graham, Athol councillor Jamie Forrester, North Marysburgh councillor David Harrison and Hallowell councillor Brad Nieman voted in favour.