Brant County Council full of diverse representation

To the Editor:

Diversity on our Council

In a letter to the editor last week the writer commented on lack of diversity on Council (“mainly white males”). I would like to offer a contrary view to the writer. We have a pretty diverse Councilwe have:

*3 Councillors in their 1st term, 3 in their 2nd, 1 in their 3rd, 1 in their 4th and 2 with 5+ terms

*Councillors who work or have worked in project engineering, business planning, farming, IT, marketing, contracting, funeral services, building inspection, transportation, small businesses, pharmaceuticals, carpentry and HR.

*4 Councillors active in the farming community

*1 Councillor has lived in 5 countries, 3 continents, 2 provinces

*2 Councillors have lived almost their whole life in Paris

*The percentage of female Councillors doubled at the last election

*The youngest elected Councillor in the Province

*The first openly gay Mayor in the Province

*A Council with an average age that was reduced by 7 years at the last election.

At the last election we had 22 people (out of a possible 30,000 eligible to stand) who stood for election - 5 were female, 2 of Asian descent, an average age of about 55 within a range from 2775. Ward 4’s incumbents were unopposed and were acclaimed (2 white males as it happens). And the voter turnout was only 30%.

The 11 members of today’s Council offered themselves for office, were elected by residents and committed to 4 years of public service. If residents want a more diverse Council, then more diverse candidates must come forward. However, ultimately, it is the voter's choice and diversity doesn’t come just from gender and colour.

In response to the second letter titled:

“Taxpayers should be extremely uncomfortable with a process that allows an elected official to trigger a new vote on a motion they previously lost”

County Council follows a longstanding Procedural By Law (By Law 10-18). I suggest interested readers go to clauses 43-52. Clause 46 states “Any member shall give notice of motion to reconsideration of a matter at any Council meeting following the meeting when the matter was considered”. Our procedural by law is based on Robert’s Rules of Order, the foremost guide to parliamentary procedure, and is, more or less, the same in all municipalities This is the 2nd motion to reconsider to come before Council in my 5+ years on Council

The procedural by law is periodically reviewed and updated by Council. Uncomfortable with this By Law? Lobby Council - or run for Council and work for change from within (see my earlier comments)

Continued on page 11

Letters To The Editor

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Fearmongering or prudent financial planning?

Everyone is entitled to an opinion and in a letter to the editor last week an opinion was expressed that I was fearmongering in regard to the affordability of the proposed new main branch library. No - I wasn’t. Let me offer some context.

The County, with an annual budget of $230 million (operating and capital) and assets of over $2 5 billion, has never had a long-term financial plan (LTFP). Decision making to date (24 years since the County was formed) has been done in the absence of an overarching financial plan. Decisions we make can impact financially for 25 and more years.

I have advocated for a LTFP since I joined Council in 2018 and in December 2023 Council were presented with the first draft. The early takeaways are a) to provide financial oversight on an increasingly complex business and to increase confidence in our decision making we need this tool in our toolkit and b) we are rapidly increasing our debt and selfimposed limits will be exceeded next year, with limits mandated in the Municipal Act potentially challenged in the coming 5 years.

Things change and the County is growing - no kidding! An example - just 3 years ago we forecast capital spending in 2024