County undertakes governance review

The size of Simcoe County Council could be halved in time for the next municipal election if a recommendation of the Governance Committee is adopted.
In a report to Clearview Township council, Clearview Deputy Mayor and Deputy Warden of the County, Barry Burton said the Governance Committee has proposed reducing the number of councillors from the current 32 down to 16 – one from each member municipality. The current council includes the mayor and deputy mayor of each municipality. Five to seven regional councillors would be elected by the public, and the Warden would be selected from this smaller pool. The recommendation is aimed at improving the efficiency of county government which recently unveiled a proposed 2020 budget of just over $520 million dollars.
Clearview Township contributes to the Simcoe County budget with roughly 23 cents of each tax dollar collected in Clearview going to fund County operations.
Burton acknowledged ongoing problems with solid waste pickup, which is a county responsibility. The contractor who provides services can’t keep enough drivers, and on a typical day as many as seven routes must be missed. Daily updates on service interruptions are available through the Simcoe County Collects app. Burton advises that if your pickup is missed, you can drop your garbage off at the local dump without charge.