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LETTER: Citizens urged to weigh in on structure of county council

Simcoe County Council will consider the future makeup of the regional government at its September meeting, says letter writer
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County of Simcoe

OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor. This letter is in reference to possible restructuring of Simcoe County council. Send your letters to [email protected]
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The County of Simcoe Council is, at the present time, made up of the mayors and deputy mayors of the 16 townships in the county. This structure is now under review.

The County Council considered the matter, but referred it to a special council meeting on Sept. 8, 2020 Sept. 8. The following structure was referred : County Council shall be the mayors of the 16 townships and five county councillors, elected from five wards. While this proposal is reasonable it is not the only reasonable structure.

An alternative, to the structure now before council, would be 16 county councillors elected as county councillors, one from each of the 16 townships. These 16 councillors would not have a vote on township councils but could interact with the local councils.

Another alternative would be to elect 15 to 20 county councillors on a ward basis which would not necessarily align with township boundaries.

It should be noted that all these proposals will involve “weighted” voting which is the arrangement in the present council.

I am suggesting that the township residents let their mayor and deputy mayor know which structure they would prefer.

Konrad Brenner
Ramara Township

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