Who’s going to do all the work?

Sitting on Regional Council is a lot of work.

If you reduce Regional Council to just the 12 mayors, who’s going to do all the work?

Presently, only one mayor sits on all four Standing Committees (Corporate Services, Planning & Ec Dev, Public Health and Social Services, and Public Works); one mayor sits on three; and the other 10 sit on one or two.

We also have several local Agencies, Boards, and Commissions (ABCs) that require Regional Council representation, including:

• Niagara Parks Commission
• Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority
• Niagara Regional Housing Board
• Niagara Regional Police Service Board
• Niagara Transit Commission

Those are only the big ones.

We also have (and this list is not exhaustive):

• Accessibility Advisory Committee
• Agricultural Policy and Action Committee
• Audit Committee
• Budget Review Committee of the Whole (this is all of Regional Council)
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisory Committee
• Humberstone Landfill Site Public Liaison Committee
• Procedural By-Law Review Committee
• Transportation Strategy Steering Committee
• Waste Management Planning Steering Committee
• Women’s Advisory Committee

There are also a number of working groups that aren’t listed as formal committees. For instance, I am one of the Regional Council representatives on the Reaching Home Community Advisory Board (I’m currently the co-chair), and I also sit on the Niagara Poverty Reduction Strategy Steering Committee, and the Downtown St. Catharines Community Safety and Well-Being Committee.

The vast majority of these Standing Committees, ABCs, Advisory Committees, Steering Committees, and working groups are populated (and chaired) by the Regional Councillors who are not also mayors.

Never mind that Niagara communities would be losing many voices (there are plenty of people who have reached out to me over the years who have indicated that I am the only one on Council they are comfortable speaking with, and I know that Councillor Bateman quite regularly has this experience as well), there’s no possible way that people who are also mayors, many of whom also have small businesses, can find the time to take on this much more work.