Regular readers of MidlandToday will be aware there has been a variety of issues that cross the borders of our four North Simcoe communities.
Septage fees and user fees for recreational facilities seem to be the big ones most recently but there has been debate about cost sharing for Severn Sound Environmental Association – which has brought an environmental hot spot back to health in a triumph of co-operative effort - and awhile ago one about the pros and cons of Tiny building its own library rather than continuing to pay user fees.
There are probably a few I’ve missed.
In the July 26th issue of Midland Today there was a long article on the discussions – or lack thereof – regarding septage.
Midland can’t take more from outside of Town – primarily from Tiny - without spending about three million dollars expanding the waste water treatment plant and the mayor says there’s no rationale for doing so if there is no financial contribution from Tiny to take the load off Midland taxpayers.
The problem seems to be how much should Tiny contribute and what guarantees will Tiny get in return.
These – and other issues – have brought something I’ve wondered about for a while to a larger audience. Midland’s Mayor Bill Gordon is quoted in that same July 26 issue as saying “I am a firm believer in shared services, eventual amalgamation to enjoy the synergies that reduced quadruplication of services would bring to North Simcoe.”
He goes on to say that the burden of infrastructure costs for both new and maintenance work is growing as all four communities continue with their asset management surveys. Midland is apparently looking at around $70 million spent over 30 years and the others will be looking at costs in proportion.
Saving money through cooperation and efficiencies must become a priority.
Tay has 11,091 people. Midland about 18,000, Penetanguishene 10,077 and Tiny 12,966. That’s a total of just over 50,000.
Tiny has five on council, Tay and Penetanguishene have seven-member councils while Midland has nine representatives.
That’s 28 representatives serving a combined community in the 50,000 population zone.
Toronto has 26 serving a population of more than three million. How do they do it?
And besides all of our councillors, we also have a large entourage of attendant officials, CAOs, treasures and many more high-paying jobs.
Years ago Midland and Penetanguishene convened a series of meetings to discuss ways to bring the two communities into closer co-operation.
There was a lot of talk about picking low-hanging fruit – easy, acceptable ideas to reduce duplication but nothing much came of it all.
At the time there was already some co-operation between staff as when the fire departments covered each other off when one was on call. There have been other, much more formal ones since including a shared fire chief and a Midland/Penetanguishene transit system.
I know amalgamation is an unwelcome word though I’ve never been clear on why.
Those meetings we had back when assiduously avoided using it. It’s nice to hear it from Mayor Gordon. Of course it wouldn’t be simple. In other places where amalgamation was decreed by the province, local opposition was often fierce.
Local culture and traditional services were sometimes lost and small communities would be forgotten as centralization favoured the larger ones. There are always difficulties bringing pay scales, union agreements and service levels into a new standard. They’re still arguing about which parts of Toronto get their sidewalks plowed and which don’t. The province would have to be involved.
But over the week of the 15th of August, there were articles reporting on discussions at the council tables of Tiny and Penetanquishene that indicated a willingness to join a movement to engage a third party to review the questions surrounding user fees and shared costs.
An objective study that stepped away from debates over the history of perceived slights and concentrated on efficiencies and economies would be welcome. It is to be hoped that Tay will get on board as well.
Roadside signs in Tiny can be seen indicating another problem. Signs and delegations to council represent strong resistance to the building of an administrative centre budgeted at $21-million.
There are already three very nice such buildings in North Simcoe and again we’re looking at millions spent on managing the business of a few thousand residents.
This is quadruplication at its worst. If a helpful report comes out of the user-fees study maybe we could start thinking about larger savings.
Bill Molesworth is a retired CEO and chief librarian of both the Midland and Fredericton public libraries.
