Editorial - It is time for a cooler head to prevail

Jeff Green | Dec 13, 2012

What can I say about the decision by Janet Gutowski to remain as warden of Frontenac County Council?

On one hand she is fully within her legal rights to keep the position. While there has been a ‘gentleman’s’ agreement that the chain of office is to be passed on every year, that agreement was already dented, if not broken, a year ago. At that time North Frontenac Mayor Bud Clayton attempted to jump the queue, and he forced an election for the position of warden even though Gutowski was the deputy warden at the time and part of the ‘gentleman’s agreement’ until then had been that the deputy always gets the warden’s job.

The councilors from Frontenac Islands and North Frontenac formed a voting block and Clayton almost won. The vote was 4-4 and Gutowski only became warden out of luck when her name was pulled from a hat to break the tie.

At the time Bud Clayton justified trying to wrestle the job away from Gutowski by saying that she was too closely tied to the interests of county staff.

At the special meeting of Council this past Tuesday, December 11, Warden Gutowski was able to establish that she can stay on as warden if she wants to, and that any attempts to alter the county procedural bylaw will not take effect until after the next election.

Legalities aside, it is foolhardy for her to defy the will of the council in this way. The fact that a meeting was called to try and force her to resign is a sign of the obstruction she will face as warden from now on. Of the eight members of county council, five have made it clear they want her to resign, and two have remained silent.

In the coming county budget debate, council is certain to oppose any initiative that she supports. She has been a champion of a green energy Initiative, sustainability planning, and economic development, which are all certain to come under increased pressure by council with her as warden.

It is important to point out that, unlike the mayor of a city or a township, the warden is not elected through a public vote; the council itself elects the warden. To defy her council is to defy those who elected her.

As well, rightly or wrongly, at least half of county council thinks that Warden Gutowski is too closely aligned politically with County CAO Liz Savill, who they feel has too much authority and has not allowed the council to put their own stamp on the county’s future.

I personally find that position is more than a bit naïve. The fact is that county council has never pulled up its socks and done the necessary home work and research to come up with a viable vision of Frontenac County, and to a certain extent CAO Savill has filled in for a vacuum of leadership from the council itself.

As for Warden Gutowski, there is still time for a cooler head to prevail.

The county meets next Wednesday for the last time in 2012. While Janet Gutowski clearly believes she is in a unique position to promote county interests externally in 2013, to the Eastern Ontario Warden’s Caucus, the City of Kingston and the Province of Ontario, and believes that those opportunities will be lost if she steps down, everything changed this past Tuesday.

It became painfully clear, in the full light of a public meeting, that Frontenac County Council strongly opposes her.

This opposition will not pass and for her to continue as warden will be counter-productive. It will ensure an uncomfortable year ahead, and a stagnant council.

In light of all this, she should step down as warden.