While the official title of warden will remain vacant until after the Oct. 22 municipal elections, Deputy Warden Terry Dowdall will act as head of the county until Election Day.
At Tuesday’s Simcoe County council committee meeting, the agenda was full of recommendations and resolutions that were carried through with little to no debate, but Warden Gerry Marshall's abrupt resignation on Aug. 22 has been a hot topic around the county. It was officially put in the rearview mirror at today’s committee meeting at least, with Dowdall approved as the new head in his role of deputy warden.
County councillor Sandra Cooper, who is the mayor of Collingwood, spoke up on the issue of how compensation should work for Dowdall with his increased workload. She said that with the huge amount of responsibility that comes with the job, Dowdall should certainly be compensated appropriately.
“When we read our council agendas and see the activities that the warden does within the county, plus the meetings he would have to attend as warden, head or representative or deputy warden, I think that certainly is a strong message that he should be compensated for all of that,” Cooper said.
Although the committee voted in favour of increased compensation, staff will need more direction on whether it will kick in as of a few weeks ago or once it is officially approved by council in two weeks.
Dowdall, who is the mayor of Essa Township, knows that the position is a busy one as he has been diligently assuming his role as deputy warden since being voted in by his fellow county councillors in December 2016.
“It is going to be extremely busy, but I have reached out to many of the county councillors to see if they could help me out in certain areas, such as bookings, but this is an election time and everyone is pretty busy,” Dowdall said. “That said, the staff have been great and have helped me out with a lot of things and at the end of the day it is the role I have been asked to perform. I will do it and do it to the best of my ability.”
Dowdall will handle the busy schedule until his county duties are over and he then wades into federal politics. He is the Conservative candidate for Simcoe-Grey in next year's federal election.
“I’m here for three more months and then it will be a clean slate and it will be up to the county councillors to choose amongst themselves who they want to be their next leader,” Dowdall said.
“What I do hope the next deputy warden and warden does when in this position is get out and see what the staff does and all services that they provide you’ll be blown away," he added. "Whether it is the homes for the aged or the social programs, the amount of work that the staff do to make this all function properly is tireless and so needed for our county.”
The next Simcoe County council meeting is Sept. 25 beginning at 9 a.m.
