Residents of Essex County will soon have a more convenient way to contact county council members.
Administration asked councillors to pick one of five presented options during county council’s most recent meeting. Those included the status quo in which those who make contact with a particular council member would have to ‘cut and paste’ if they want to get the attention to other and or all members.
“Each option has various levels of risk in both legislative and date security areas,” said director of information technology Darrel Laurendeau.
Administration made the recommendation for council to adopt a procedure which will see a new format on the county website. In going forward, those contacting council will now be able to direct their concerns to all members as well as the clerk and CAO with one e-mail.
As part of the recommendation, the county did a survey of all 23 other upper-tier municipalities in the province and found out that only three – Lambton, Perth and North Cumberland - have formats where one single e-mail can reach all members.
“During our investigation, it was found that there are no consistent methods for contacting all members of council across Ontario municipalities,” said Laurendeau.
Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy said that the new format is easier and convenient. LaSalle Mayor Crystal Meloche wanted to know if emails from the public could be responded to by individual councillors and she was told yes.
“It is in line with our strategic plan and aligns with the accountability and transparency policy,” said county clerk Katherine Hebert.
Of other public interest, the county received a letter from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing indicating that change could be in the works for the Municipal Act.
According to Hon. Paul Calandra, who is seeking feedback for the changes, a standard municipal code of conduct and standard Integrity Commissioner investigation process is being proposed.
Also, included is the establishment of a method to remove and disqualify members of council and certain local boards for a period of four years for the most serious code of conduct violations.
If approved, these changes could come into effect by the fall of 2025, the next municipal election.
New contact format coming for county
By Fred Groves
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