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Governance review will look at county council effectiveness

October 15, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS

Sometimes you have to spend money to find ways to save money.

That holds true for upper tier councils, too.

Dufferin County council has considered the idea of a governance review that will provide an evidence-based assessment of governance options to support decisions on representation, voting, council effectiveness, and public participation.

The scope and framework of a comprehensive governance review of county council’s processes, practices, and structure was devised in September by the Governance Review Task Force.

The proposed review will examine key areas including council composition and representation, weighted voting, alternative governance models, council effectiveness, the consent agenda, and public understanding and participation.

The proposed six-phase methodology will incorporate research, benchmarking, stakeholder engagement, analysis of governance options, and recommendations to council.

It’s hoped the review could be finished by the end of 2027.

County Coun. Todd Taylor, Orangeville’s deputy mayor, said during county council’s Sept. 24 meeting that it seems as though there’s some misunderstanding as to what the intent is behind a governance review.

“To be honest, it’s very frustrating to me,” he said.

Municipalities are in the midst of election races as voters will mark ballots on Oct. 26. As a consequence, he said there are a number of “Monday morning quarterbacks” who are questioning how much money has been set aside for the review.

Taylor said up to $100,000 has been earmarked for the report. There’s been some question as to why a governance review should be undertaken.

“There is a need to understand the value of council and the work that we do moving forward,” he said. “I think that things like understanding the size and efficiency of council is a really important thing that we do.”

Taylor said it makes no sense to him to have staff do that review. County staff are already stretched to capacity with other tasks.

According to a report to council, the scope of work will require significant staff resources and cannot be fully absorbed within existing Clerks Division capacity.

Taylor said the county should also look at which representatives from municipal councils can sit at the upper tier council table. Currently, only a municipality’s mayor and deputy mayor are eligible to have a voice at county council.

“It should be decided who should be in these positions moving forward,” Taylor said. “To that, I think there’s great benefit in discussing about whether these are elected positions or not.”

He isn’t interested in blowing up or tearing apart the way things are done. He said the possibilities should at least be considered. In order to do the work that a governance review entails, the county is going to have to pay, he said.

Taylor said consultants are not necessarily a bad thing. They allow council to push forward initiatives that will eventually save money.

“It’s just not something that we can put onto town staff,” he said. “Quite candidly, by suggesting otherwise, it says that you don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

Coun. Darren White, the mayor of Melancthon, said there has been some talk that the $100,000 to cover the review has been a waste of money.

“But I don’t see it that way,” he said.

He attended the September task force meeting and initially thought there would be disagreement that would arise from the discussions. He was pleasantly surprised that a number of things were discussed.

There was even the suggestion that a university student be hired to undertake the work, he said. Somebody pursuing a subject in line with such studies as a governance review.

Post-secondary students could help ensure council receives an objective, evidence-based assessment of available options.

“I don’t think the final total will be anywhere near $100,000,” White said. “At the end of the day, many of the things that are scheduled to be talked about as part of this review, they have the potential to generate their own savings.

“That would be ongoing savings and some of those savings, I would think, would be well along the lines of probably more than $100,000.”

Coun. John Creelman, Mono’s mayor, agreed about the review’s price tag.

Coun. James McLean, Melancthon’s deputy mayor, acknowledged that there seems to have been robust debate on social media about the issue. And that’s ultimately a good thing.

McLean said it would be interesting to pursue the review as its scope is laid out currently.

“But I think there’s still some fundamental questions that we need to wrestle with, like what problems are we trying to address?” he said. “That, to me, hasn’t been laid out.”

He said council should be crystal clear about the challenges that need to be addressed.

“What is the research question that we would be handing off to these graduate students?” McLean said. “That would help them kind of focus their attention more as opposed to giving them broad strokes, blue sky to work on.”

Coun. Janet Horner, Mulmur’s mayor, said she wasn’t certain that the review’s reason was to save money. Rather, she said it’s primarily a means for council to understand how to more effectively work together.

She said the review should be driven by Governance Review Task Force members with the help of a facilitator.

“I think we’re going to get some great results if they’re supported in the proper way,” Horner said about the task force.

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