South Georgian Bay mayors gather quarterly to increase regional collaboration

In an effort to tackle regional issues and improve service delivery, representatives from six South Georgian Bay communities have begun regular communication. 

“We have identified a number of issues - transportation being one of those," said Town of The Blue Mountains (TBM) Mayor, Alar Soever. "And certainly, having this group I think will serve us well in any issues that we take to the province.”

The regional roundtable concept was proposed by Collingwood Mayor Brian Saunderson in early 2021 and quickly saw neighbouring municipalities get on board with the idea. 

The roundtable group was established in late-March and consists of the mayors and CAOs from Collingwood, Clearview, TBM, Grey Highlands, Meaford and Wasaga Beach.

The group has met three times with a fourth meeting scheduled for September in Collingwood. 

On Tuesday afternoon, TBM CAO Shawn Everitt provided a report to TBM council members on the roundtable’s progress thus far, as well as presenting the group’s terms of reference. 

“Overall, the information is in its infancy, but it’s moving along nicely,” Everitt said. 

Through the terms of reference, the group identified their objectives, which include: 

• Explore and share innovative approaches, best practices and opportunities
• Identify cross boundary/regional issues, opportunities, barriers, and interdependencies and establish ways to collaborate to the benefit of all
• Investigate partnership opportunities
• Monitor local, provincial and federal matters impacting the region and explore collaborative efforts to address these matters
• Provide a semi-annual update to our respective councils regarding the matters before the forum any recommendations for the common interest
• Investigate grant/funding opportunities that could be undertaken jointly or individually for the common interest

The group is expected to meet on a quarterly basis for “as long as it continues to be productive and advantageous for the participating parties”. 

Each partner municipality will take a turn hosting the meetings, with the host municipality chairing the meeting. 

“We want to make sure that all of the municipalities are taking the opportunity to host,” noted Everitt, adding that so far Collingwood has hosted two meetings and TBM has hosted one. 

At this time, all meetings of the regional roundtable are considered internal and are not open to the public.  

Soever added that the roundtable forum is a vehicle for improved collaboration and does not have any decision-making or money-spending authority. 

“This is not a forum where we actually spend money. This is where we make recommendations, like any other advisory committee of council. It may provide advice to each of the local municipal councils and then the decisions on expenditures are made there, within each individual municipality,” Soever explained.