Wellington County council is holding a public meeting at the museum here on Dec. 2 about the length of term of the warden.
Council recently considered a recommendation from its administration, finance, and personnel committee that the warden’s post be for two years, starting after next year’s municipal elections.
Currently, the county can choose its warden for a single one-year term or, after an election, for a four year term. In order to make a change in any other way, it has to hold a public meeting to hear comments on a proposed bylaw that must be passed.
The county has been wrestling with the term of warden ever since amalgamation ten years ago. The writers of the amalgamation report said in the strongest possible terms that the warden should be elected at large.
Council rejected that proposal and kept the power to elect a warden to itself.
There have been moves in every term of council since then to make changes, and while they have been unsuccessful, council has gradually made some changes in its elections.
Council now holds open elections for all committee chairmen, and only the warden’s election is by secret ballot. As well, the idea of a councillor having “a turn” in the chair seems to have gone by the wayside, as two councillors have now held the post for three different years, and those second and third years were consecutive.
The current proposal is unlikely to receive unanimous support either. Some councillors feel the warden should be elected at large or for a single term.
The public meeting will be in the Nicholas Keith Room at the county museum in Aboyne, on County Road 18, between Fergus and Elora. All citizens are invited.
Those unable to attend can place their ideas in writing and send them to Clerk Donna Van Wyck, County of Wellington, 74 Woolwich Street, Guelph, ON. N1H 3T9, or call 519-837-2600, extension 2520, or email donnav@wellington.ca.
