Essex County could be changing the way in which it presents itself at the annual Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference.
At last Wednesday’s meeting, Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy said she will be bringing forth a notice of motion to direct administration to ensure that all members of county council are aware of any possible shared concerns that are being presented at the conference.
At the recent AMO conference, Essex County met with two different ministries – Transportation and Health.
The latter is what Bondy and other members of council were concerned about.
“We are duly elected officials that drive this agenda but we aren’t being given the opportunity,” said Bondy.
Citing information from a year ago, Bondy said that county council should be more informed on what the county representatives are presenting at the conference with the ability to be part of the presenting delegation.
“It is a long-standing practice in Essex County that the Warden and the CAO and a subject matter expert attend,” said county CAO Sandra Zwiers.
At the conference, Zwiers said the county had the opportunity to bring the issue of lack of after-hours health care facilities to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care which was represented by parliamentary assistant MPP Anthony Leardi.
There was some confusion at the county meeting as to who was actually meeting with the Ministry of Health.
“It is my recollection that this delegation was initiated by the Town of Amherstburg and we invited the county to participate,” said Amherstburg Deputy Mayor Chris Gibb.
Zwiers said that Amherstburg is the only municipality in the county that does not have an after-hours health facility. However, both Bondy, and Kingsville Deputy Mayor Kim DeYoung disagreed.
“This is no slight to Amherstburg, I would champion anything for any one of us,” said Bondy.
“I don’t want this interpreted as the county putting one municipality over the other,” said Gibb.
LaSalle Mayor Crystal Meloche seemed to side with Bondy stating that she was caught off guard when hearing that Amherstburg’s concerns were being brought forth by the county.
“We support everyone. Anything we can get in the county is fantastic,” said Meloche.
As far as to what the future procedure will be when it comes to presenting at AMO, Zwiers said she will contact ministries and see what their best practices are.
“The smaller the group, the more attention so time is not wasted,” said county warden Hilda MacDonald.
AMO delegation by town and County of Essex questioned at county council
By Fred Groves
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