The unification of North Simcoe municipalities toward a user-fee study won’t be happening any time soon, if Tiny Township council's response is any indication.
A joint letter circulated in July to the councils of Tiny Township, Midland, Penetanguishene and Tay Township had been discussed at various meetings over recent months, asking if the four councils would participate in a recreational amenities and services study for resident and non-resident user fees.
Since that letter went out, Tay announced they would not participate while Midland and Penetanguishene would. The matter was discussed at the previous meeting of Tiny Township council who expressed interest but wanted to wait until an early-September meeting of the heads of council.
The recent committee of the whole meeting addressed that heads of council discussion, with Mayor Dave Evans stating that the matter had been discussed but there had been no change in Tiny’s position, “in terms of us paying or providing compensation for recreational facilities in neighbouring communities.”
Evans reiterated that discussions should continue to be ongoing and that one “should never say never”, but proposed that the July letter be received as information with no further action taken.
Deputy Mayor Sean Miskimins, who also attended the meeting, agreed with Evans.
“The door is always open to more conversation, but it’s kind of beating a dead horse right now,” said Miskimins.
Coun. Dave Brunelle, however, was interested in the reason why progress had halted with no resolution, and pressed Evans for an explanation.
Brunelle quoted from the letter penned by Penetanguishene, which read: “...we believe a collaborative approach is essential, as a group we can work better together for the improvement of all North Simcoe residents”.
Evans noted Tay’s forfeit of attendance but focused on the two towns.
“This discussion,” said Evans, “was centred around continuing the previous policy that was in place in Tiny, when we’re in – again, from a Tiny perspective – we provided services… and substantial funds to both facilities. And we’ve made a decision to go a different way now.
“Midland and Penetang, if I can paraphrase, are looking for a continuation of a previous policy. I did make a very clear statement on Monday that that is not something that the township of Tiny is interested in going back to. We’ve made a new policy, and we’re going to stick with that for now,” Evans stated.
Brunelle followed up with a question on what Tiny council would want looking ahead to future collaborations and discussion.
“Because we can’t just keep going back and forth and not moving forward; we need to move forward on this issue so that we get some resolution here,” Brunelle stated.
The question allowed Evans to expand further on the stalemate, pointing out that with differences in positions, it would be unknown if an alignment could be reached.
“Just since July, this has changed,” Evans said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it changes again moving forward.”
Evans also cited library agreements with Midland and Springwater Township, as well as the septage agreement with Midland, as instances where views aligned.
“I do not agree that we are somehow responsible, or it’s incumbent upon us to come up with a solution to make the town of Midland or Penetanguishene happy,” Evans noted, adding that mutual benefit was the key.
“Right now we don’t need an agreement. Everything seems to be running somewhat fine.”
Ending the discussion by mentioning that concerns would be addressed on a quarterly basis with a reminder that council members could contact other councils frequently, the recommendation to receive the July letter as information was approved with the only direction given to let the other municipalities know of the decision.
Of interest, a recent Tay Township report explored various funding formulas for Tay within North Simcoe, including instances where Tiny Township and other municipality fees could be discerned through numerous variables.
The North Simcoe letter for user-fees and charges for all recreation amenities and services can be viewed on the agenda page on the Township of Tiny website.
Archives of council meetings are available to view on the township’s YouTube channel.
