By JIM KNISLEY
The Sachem
The newly elected county council was sworn in Monday and immediately went to work Tuesday laying down a list of issues they will have to deal with in the New Year.
Topping the list was
Newly elected Councillor Craig Grice said that during the recent election campaign the top two items in his
Grice said it is essential that residents get information on the state of on-going negotiations aimed at resolving the dispute, provincial plans to compensate residents and that the OPP provide the protection residents want.
He told council that the situation is intolerable and has been intolerable for many months.
Mayor Marie Trainer said residents across the county told her that they want the county to take a hard look at policing. With the OPP's contract coming up for renewal in 2008, she said residents want to look at alternatives such as the county having its own police force or look into having a joint police force with another municipality.
Councilor Buck Sloat said that it is an issue that must be investigated and all options considered.
Grice said the county would have to do a cost-benefit analysis, but it should "explore exhaust every single option."
Sloat suggested that the county should ask newly appointed OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino to come and talk to council. The new commissioner may have new ideas and may be prepared to deal with the situation differently than was done in the past, he said.
Mayor Trainer said, "that might be a good place to start."
Council also wants to meet with the federal and provincial negotiators and their teams to get information on how the talks with the Six Nations Confederacy are proceeding and what is on the table.
Grice said that the meetings should be held in open session because a chronic problem for residents is the lack of information. "Going behind closed doors doesn't work," he said.
He acknowledged that the responsibility for the lack of information lies with the federal and provincial governments and "is not the fault of this council."
But council must do everything in its power to get information flowing. "The new council has to turn over a new leaf," he said.
But Councillor Lorne Boyko said it's not that simple. "I would suggest it will be a very short meeting (with federal and provincial negotiators) if it is open," he said.
He pointed out that the negotiators and their staffs have always had the option of meeting council in open session but choose to talk to council behind closed doors. "If you want to know where they are at with the negotiations, the meeting will have to be closed," he said.
Councillor Tony Dalimonte said he thinks the county already has a problem in terms of having the provincial government's trust.
Grice said he understands there is sometimes a need for private meetings to receive confidential information. But it is also critical that the public get information and suggested public meetings be held so that the public can ask questions and get whatever answers are available. If there are no adequate answers that's the way it is and "if people want to yell and scream at me that's their right," Grice said.
"Council has to be seen to be dealing with the issue as best it possibly can," he said.
Sloat agreed that more must be done to reach out to the public. "We can't provide information until we know what the questions are and sometimes there are questions we can't answer."
Councillor Don Ricker said that council must meet with the federal and provincial negotiators because "I need to have the information" in order to make good decisions and represent the county. If the meetings have to be closed that is the way it is, but "I need to know what is going on," he said.
On a slightly different subject Boyko said that despite the likelihood that meetings with federal and provincial negotiators have to be behind closed doors there are numerous occasions when council is discussing things behind closed doors that should be in the open.
He said from time to time council will close the doors to receive advice or an opinion from its solicitor, but then the discussion and debate will veer away from the confidential information, but the doors remain closed.
Chief Administrative Officer Bill Pearce suggested that council itself could control that situation with points of order and its own judgment. It should be governed by self-discipline, he said.
Other issues raised by councillors included: the future of the county's dump sites and what it will do with garbage years into the future; the difficulty residents have in contacting county staff to report a problem or concern; and the need to expedite development proposals.
General Manager of Physical Services Betty Mathews-Malone said that council will be receiving a series of reports in the new year on the future of the Tom Howe dump site and the engineering of the Canborough site.
General Manager of Planning and Economic Development Steve Miazga said council received two years ago a list of 33 things the county could do to speed up and simplify the planning process. The county had acted upon about half of the items when the troubles in
CAO Pearce told council that staff are gearing up for a full-blown orientation session for council to be held Jan. 9. It will lay out everything that needs to be done, what should be done and then detail the resources available. The resources available don't equal the wants and needs and that is where the tough decision-making comes in.