Members of Grey Highlands council have shared with municipal staff the feedback they received from voters during the election campaign held last fall.
Grey Highlands council held a special committee of the whole meeting on March 22 to share the public comments and concerns they heard during the campaign. The roundtable-style session turned into a quasi-state-of-the-municipality discussion between members of council.
Municipal staff, who do not participate in election campaigns, suggested the special session to hear the comments councillors received while they were campaigning for office. The information will help inform the upcoming process to update the municipality’s strategic plan.
Common themes emerged as councillors took turns sharing the key issues and concerns raised by voters during the campaign.
They included:
- Concerns about the future of the former Talisman property.
- A perception that the municipality has too many staff and/or that the staff, and not council, are running the municipality.
- Road safety and speeding issues.
- Concerns about access to Lake Eugenia.
- Concerns about the contents of the recreation master plan and the future of recreation facilities in Grey Highlands.
- The growing number of industrial businesses/activities in agricultural/rural areas of the municipality.
- The recent switch to the large carts/bins for garbage and recycling collection.
- Concerns about how the municipality communicates and informs residents about ongoing issues and projects.
- Other issues included: parking, lack of childcare, the need for affordable/attainable housing, supports for the business community, accessibility and transit.
- The future of Grey Gables long-term care home in Markdale.
“The tail wags the dog. That’s the perception,” said Coun. Joel Loughead, who added that he regularly heard from members of public the opinion that “council had been run over by staff” and council “needs to wrestle control back.”
“It surprised me at the time. It wasn’t something I expected to hear,” said Loughead.
Coun. Nadia Dubyk said she heard many concerns about how the municipality communicates with the public. She used the sale of the former Talisman lands as an example.
“It wasn’t clear to the community what the steps in the process were,” said Dubyk. “The community doesn’t want to be surprised. They want to be brought along.”
Dubyk suggested the municipality consider updating its website to provide better information for the public to track projects as they progress. She said other municipalities have similar features on their websites.
During the course of the discussions, members of council floated the idea of conducting an operational/service delivery review to evaluate the entire Grey Highlands operation.
“It would give the public some confidence we are staffed property,” said Coun. Paul Allen.
Coun. Dan Wickens said a review would be a great way to provide data and information about how much the role of municipal government has changed in Ontario over the past three decades.
“It would be interesting to know how much work has been downloaded to the municipality,” said Wickens. “It would be really interesting to see the changes from 1993 to now.”
Mayor Paul McQueen and Coun. Tom Allwood said sharing more information with the public about the working relationship between council and staff would be helpful.
“The job of a councillor is becoming a professional position,” said McQueen. “Our business always keeps changing.”
Allwood said he sometimes hears confusion about the roles of members of council.
“I think the public thinks the role of council is to micro-manage staff. That is not the role of council,” he said.
Allwood said he looks forward to the information councillors shared during the meeting being used productively to help review and update the strategic plan, which is a project that is in the works.
“This is the first part of putting a work plan together and making sure (the strategic plan) aligns with what we heard,” said Allwood, who said that while he heard concerns during the campaign he was not hearing that Grey Highlands is on the wrong track. “I don’t think I heard a lot of things out there that said we were going in the wrong direction.”
Deputy Mayor Dane Nielsen said the review of the strategic plan is an opportunity to trumpet the municipality’s successes.
“We can showcase the things we talked about in the strategic plan four years ago that we have had success in,” said Nielsen. “There are things we have done. We have had moments of success with the strategic plan.”
McQueen urged members of council to use the discussion to help inform the upcoming strategic plan process.
“I always look at us as being a progressive municipality. Change is inevitable,” he said. “We have to be thinking through our strategic plan. Where do we want to see this municipality in the next four, 10 and 20 years?”
Wickens also congratulated council for coming through the election period and gelling quickly to become an effective governing group immediately.
“The representation here is just about perfect. It’s really good. Everybody has the best intentions,” said Wickens, who said the public had commented to him about how “civil” the recent budget process had been. “I commend everybody and I’m happy to be part of it.”
Nielsen echoed the comments from Wickens.
“All of us are here because we are passionate about Grey HIghlands. All of us are here because we love the community,” he said.
Loughead added that many residents he speaks to are proud of the community they live in.
“People are generally quite happy living in Grey Highlands. This is one of the greatest places to live in Ontario,” he said.
The discussion during the meeting was largely amongst members of council, with the staff members present listening, but remaining out of the majority of the conversations.
"This is great info for staff to get," commented CAO Karen Govan at one point during the meeting.
