Formal petition policy enacted by county

The County of Essex now has an official policy when it comes to petitions.

The County of Essex now has an official policy when it comes to petitions.

Clerk Katherine Hebert presented a report at the March 4 meeting of county council, which was adopted, and will now have specific requirements for the public.

“It’s a formality to align the general practices that are currently underway for receiving petitions with a formal policy,” explained Herbert.

Hebert added the seven local municipalities have guidelines for petitions and now the county will have a similar one.

“This is as close as we can get to matching all of you and your procedures,” she told county council members.

The new policy will provide residents the opportunity to express their views on public concerns. 

There will now be certain requirements including what constitutes a petition, clear requirements for formality, submission and validation and assurance that it is in compliance with the Ontario Municipal Act.

“This will be helpful to people when they want to put a petition forward,” commented Kingsville Deputy Mayor Kim DeYong.

Petitions, as indicated in Hebert’s report, must be respectful, legible, and free of defamatory or inappropriate language. It must indicate who the organizer is and all names on the petition must be printed, signed and contain an address.

Amherstburg Mayor Michael Prue had some concerns about what happens with the petition after it is presented to the county.

“In other levels of government, both provincial and federal, when petitions are sent into the House, they go to a specific person to answer them. I didn’t see in this (county policy) who will answer them. I know we receive them,” said Prue.

Hebert said that once the petition is received into the clerk’s office, it will be reviewed and sent to the appropriate department.

“I think they need to know what happened to their petition,” added Prue.

Hebert said that the petition organizer will receive an acknowledgement that the county received it and when the concern will be dealt with.

Formal petition policy enacted by county

By Fred Groves