Warden's term could be extended
By Richard Blanchard

Simcoe County Council is heading towards major changes in its governance system, which will likely see county council elect the current warden to a two year term instead of a one year term.

And the title, warden, may be changed to chair.

County councillors spent Thursday morning discussing changes to the governance system of the county.

Councillors broke into smaller groups to discuss the warden's term, size of county council and other facets of the governing structure.

By the time that the meeting ended at noon, county councillors had recommended by a large majority for county council to stay at 32 members, though a significant number argued that council should actually be reduced to 16 or 17 representatives. Bradford West Gwillimbury mayor Doug White said that he wondered about the effectiveness of a council as large as the county's.

"We're as big as some of the provincial legislatures," he said.

Other argued that that there would not be any appreciable cost savings with reducing the number of county councillors in half.

County councillors were also split over the use of the title "Warden" or "Chair" as the title for the head of council.

Current warden Tony Guergis told county councillors that he was aware of the the long historical significance of the title warden, but said the county is increasingly lumped with the Regions of Peel, York and Durham, which all use the title "Chair" for its head of council.

"I have no problem with the title "Warden" but I wonder if there is better recognition of the role of "Chair"," he said.

A slight majority of councillors gave their support to a two year term instead of the current one year or a four year term for the warden/chair's position.

Oro-Medonte deputy mayor Ralph Hough said that he couldn't support a four year term which would give county council no option to change its head of council.

"If you came in here as I did last year without any county council experience, I don't think that its fair to elect someone as head of council for a four year term," he said.

"What if you're not happy with him or her in a year or two?"

The recommendations from the special council meeting will be sent to the governance subcommittee which will submit a report back to county council in the near future.