| Dec 09, 2010


Editorial by Jeff Green

When Frontenac County Council meets next week, it will be a much different body than the one that met one month ago.

The two most experienced members of that four-member council of mayors will be gone, and the two remaining mayors, Janet Gutowski and Gary Davison, will be joined by six new members, Mayor Dennis Doyle from Frontenac Islands, Mayor Bud Clayton from North Frontenac, and one member of council from each of the four townships.

Since amalgamation in 1998, the main functions of the county council have been to act as a watchdog over any discretionary spending the county does, and to represent the county’s interests on a number of bodies that the county pays into or has an interest in. The library board, the Health Unit board, the liaison committee with the City of Kingston, and the Eastern Ontario Warden's Caucus, a regional lobby group, and a number of other bodies have representatives from county council on them, and the representatives report back to county council each month.

What has been missing from county council is political direction, and if the new eight-member structure was worth the trouble of setting up, that is what it will bring about.

Until now, county staff has presented reports and proposed initiatives every month or two, while county council acted as a gatekeeper, saying yes to some initiatives and no to others and watching costs. What has been lacking is any sort of vision coming from county council itself.

Are trails a priority of county council? If so, how large a priority? How much should be spent on developing Green Energy in Frontenac County? Should Frontenac County consider increasing support for local social service agencies? Should the county help its member townships with the costs of maintaining major roads and bridges?

These kinds of decisions should rightly be made at the political level, by county council, as they are policy decisions.

Implementing the policies in an efficient fashion and informing county council about cost limitations, that's the job of county staff.

The first order of business for county council next week will be the selection of a warden, and it is likely that the job will go to Central Frontenac Mayor Janet Gutowski. Mayor Davison from South Frontenac was the warden this past year and he has indicated he has cut enough ribbons for now, while the other two mayors are brand new (That being said Dennis Doyle has been attending county council meetings for a couple of years so he will be more familiar with the county than most new members). The four non-mayors will not be eligible to run for warden.

Although it has been the practice for the warden to step down every year and be replaced, there had been some debate about that practice, and Janet Gutowski might be in line to keep the job for the entire term.

This would be a mistake, in my view.

The argument for lengthening the term of the warden is that it takes about six months to become comfortable with the role, and then the time is almost up; also that outside agencies and governments can never put a face to the county because that face is always changing.

However, rotating the warden, at least for four more years, would allow for a more open process of change at the county level. The warden has a lot of power to set the county agenda and since one of the main tasks of the new council will be to determine a political direction that they can sell to their own township councils, keeping things fluid by changing the warden every year is probably a good idea. 

 

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