County Council has revised the by-law around how many terms one member can run for Warden consecutively.
During the last term of County Council, in 2022, a by-law was put in place to limit the number of terms a member can consecutively hold the position of Warden and Deputy Warden. The limit was set at two consecutive terms of two years.
Every two years, county council has an election for the position of warden who then appoints a deputy warden. The term of County Council as a whole, is four years and that council is made up of mayors and deputy mayors of all eight lower tier municipalities.
Coun. Carolyn Amyotte introduced a notice of motion during the March 18 County Council meeting requesting that staff review the Procedure By-law, recommend necessary changes for the upcoming election and to remove all wording in the by-law that would restrict an individual from holding the position of Warden for more than two consecutive terms.
The Notice of motion was seconded by Coun. Jim Whalen, however many councillors requested extra time to consider the motion before voting to change the by-law. The motion was then presented at the April 8, at which point Whalen withdrew his seconding.
Whalen stated that while he originally supported the idea of eliminating limits of Warden terms, the more he thought about it the more he felt that the position should be shared amongst all members of council rather than monopolized by a few.
He stated that over the last 16 years, the position of warden has been represented by just two townships, Douro Dummer for 10 years and Otonabee South Monaghan for six years. Should the proposed amendment go through, it would mostly likely still be Otonabee-South Monoghan representing the position once again, which he felt was not fair.
Many of the councillors in opposition of this proposed amendment stated they felt the position of Warden was one to be shared around the council chambers.
It was also mentioned that back in 2022, Amyotte supported the motion to limit terms for Warden.
She said during the April 8th meeting that she was asked by her fellow councillors what had changed between now and then. She simply said: her mind.
She said that over the last several years the role of Warden has changed significantly, becoming much more in-depth. The warden represents the County all over the Province and to be truly effective, it takes time to learn the role, build relationships and have a consistent figure head to lobby and represent for the County of Peterborough.
There was some debate on whether limiting terms of Warden would go against the democratic process.
It was mentioned that this whole debate was proof the democratic process is working.
Ultimately there was a recorded vote with councillors Whalen, Taylor, Graham, and Huntley voting against.
The motion was carried with 10 votes in favour.
County Council has elections every two years for the role of Warden, at such a time, they are able to elect any member of County Council into the role.
