Counsel the Council

I may be one of very few people who have not weighed in on the issue of reducing the size of County Council. I have a simple reason for my reluctance to put my opinion in print and that is, I don’t think it’s a very important matter. There, in print, let ’er rip. You know how to reach me.

Personally, as I’ve heard said, “I don’t give a damn.” I’m sure I should care about the number of names on the ballot, but I don’t. Don’t misunderstand me, I do care about the issues which need to be dealt with by our council. I care if there is an issue, and it’s important, our elected officials will deal with it expeditiously. Mostly they do. In a way. After a fashion. I care there are people on our municipal council who should probably just take a bow, say thanks for the memories and retire from their public life. But I care more about our Fire Department being properly staffed, if their training is up-to-date and their equipment is (at the very least) adequate. I care about emergency response times. I care about timely collection of household and commercial waste. I hope our recyclables are being recycled. I care about the state of our roads, the sidewalks and about snow removal. I care about our libraries, our heritage collections, our parks and the maintenance of all of those facilities. And I care about future community planning and building regulations. Believe me, like a lot of you, I have read the newspaper articles, letters of opinion, the editorials and op-eds as regards size of municipal council. Size, to some, seems to matter. The municipality sent out 5,000 letters to community residents, asking them to give their time to address the size of council – to become The Citizens’ Assembly, to give their time, their advice and their input. Of the 5,000 people contacted, 365 people responded to the call to help. That’s a response rate of less than 10 per cent. For the record, I did receive one of those letters and I did not respond. I wasn’t in the mood to swim out and drag the boat back to shore. And, the little kid in me doesn’t like being called and not chosen. The wiser, older me doesn’t like spending precious time making a contribution that might not be taken seriously. The size of County council just isn’t a big deal to me, as long as they do their job, in a timely fashion, with the best interests of the constituents in mind. I don’t care if other, larger communities survive with fewer councillors. The proof, to me, is always in the output/pudding.

Should I be worried? Well, in a funny way, I am worried about what could happen if the number of councillors is reduced and those historic wards are restructured to accommodate council’s slimmer body. We’re supposed to believe a svelte council will be a more productive council. Councillors will have a greater number of constituents to deal with and won’t have time to fanny around doing anything but the task at hand during a council session. Isn’t that the way it is now? I can’t see any good coming of the smooshing together of some wards, moving an imaginary line here, pulling apart there. How is it even possible to carve off a bit of Picton ward and graft it onto Hallowell or slice a hunk of Hallowell off, wave a magic wand and make it part of Bloomfield? Get out the glue gun, the surgical knives and sutures because a whole bunch of people, who historically identify with one ward, will find themselves transplanted to another. It’s going to be an ugly sight. I can’t help seeing the outcome of this diet being a whole lot like the mess amalgamation was.

It is October. If the advice and counsel of the Citizens’ Assembly is heeded, get ready for Frankenwards. Seriously, like a wise friend sorta hinted, “If 15councillors can’t do the job, how will 10 manage?” Indeed.

theresa@wellingtontimes.ca