Consultant hired for electoral review
Clearview Township’s electoral review will take place over the next two months, with the help of a consultant and despite several concerns about timing and the level of public interest voiced by Mayor Ken Ferguson at Monday night’s Council meeting.
By unanimous vote, Council decided Monday night to hire the Mississauga-based Watson & Associates Economists Ltd. to conduct the technical aspects of the electoral review, including a population growth forecast through to the year 2022 that will be spatially displayed on a map of Clearview. The firm will also interview members of Council, develop several ward boundary alternatives that will be presented to the public at four town hall meetings in September, and report back to Council before the Township’s October 21 deadline for making a decision on the future electoral makeup of the municipality.
The company has previously completed ward boundary reviews for the City of Barrie and the Towns of Bradford West Gwillimbury, Gravenhurst and Pelham.
The cost for Watson & Associates’ services is $31,800, which will come from the Township’s $37,500 Election Reserve Fund. Council also voted Monday night to commit another $4,000 from the reserve to carry out communications with regard to the review, including a possible mail out, posters, a social media campaign, and the four public town hall meetings, to be held in Stayner, Creemore, Duntroon/Nottawa and New Lowell.
While the decision to hire the consultant and move forward was a unanimous one, it was not made without some trepidation on behalf of some on Council, especially the Mayor, who spoke frankly about his concerns before the vote.
Throughout a busy weekend of public events and brisk business at his welding shop, Ferguson said he had not talked to one person who was in favour of changing the ward boundaries or the number of members on Council. “All I heard was, ‘it’s working, leave it alone,’” said Ferguson. He also pointed out that the agricultural community would be so busy with harvesting over the next two months, it would be very difficult to get them engaged. “I’m distraught,” he said. “I thought this was going to be a good thing, but now I’m really worried.”
Councillor Doug Measures said he’d heard from only two constituents, both of whom had asked why Council was bothering with the initiative at this time. “I told them that it’s important to always review what you’re doing,” he said.
Other members of Council were more confident that the review was the right move.
“The most important thing that needs to be addressed is the inequality,” said Deputy Mayor Alicia Savage. “If nothing else, we need to reconfigure the wards.”
Councillor Thom Paterson said he’d heard a lot of comments about the need for the review, and while he had concerns about the tight time frame, he said he was confident Council could get it done.
With that, Council voted to hire the consultant and kick-start the process.
In a second unanimous vote, Council decided follow the recommendation of the Electoral Review Committee and strike a second committee, which will include both members of Council and members of the public, that will sit into the new year and deal with things like Councillors’ job descriptions and remuneration.
Request for Building Fee Review
Monday night’s Council meeting featured a deputation from Zhang Jian Fan, who has purchased a farm on Nottawasaga Concession 6 and plans to build 40 greenhouses (for a total of 92,160 square feet) for the purpose of growing Asian vegetables.
Speaking on behalf of Zhang, who is a new immigrant and speaks little English, was Rudy Ouwersloot, a representative of the company that will build the greenhouses. Growing outdoor food for human consumption under a sheltered roof is the most environmentally friendly method of growing food, he said, because it allows an extended growing season, the crop is protected from heavy rain, wind, and hail storms, there is less evaporation and fertilizer consumption, less crop damage from insects and no need for herbicides. With a growing population of immigrant families in the GTA and surrounding areas, Ouwersloot said the market for Asian vegetables was growing by leaps and bounds.
The only problem, he pointed out, is that Clearview Township’s building permit schedule currently groups greenhouses in with other agricultural buildings. At $0.19 per square foot, the fee required to build the 40 greenhouses would be $17,510.40, almost 10 per cent of the total investment. Ouwersloot listed the fees for a similar structure in several municipalities more used to seeing greenhouse-type construction: in Leamington the total fee would be $1,843.20; in Lincoln, $2,121.60; in St. Thomas, $1,400.00; and in Delhi, $1,200.00.
With greenhouses becoming more durable and suitable for higher snow loads, Ouwersloot said Clearview Township would be missing out on significant business if its rates were not adjusted for this type of construction.
After hearing the deputation, Council directed staff to bring a report on the subject to its September 10 meeting. If fees are to be changed after that, a public meeting would be required to change the building fees bylaw.
