Springwater
Council Updates - Backyard Chickens – Service Delivery Review
Backyard
Chickens: Many local
municipalities allow the raising of backyard chickens, but in my view,
Springwater, being 90% farmland with some very large livestock operations, is
different and needs to be much more vigilant as Agriculture is driving our
economy and nothing should jeopardize that business. Two expert opinions in
opposition were voiced by the Simcoe County Federation of Agriculture and the Springwater’s
Agricultural Advisory Committee opposing the move and provided very solid
reasons, which for some reason were simply ignored. Councillor Hanna seemed to
be the only one that opposes the move and I hope Councillors Ritchie, Moore and
Chapman-Maw, who represent many farm operations in their wards, have something
to say when the bylaw comes forward. The position of Council appears to be that
this is only a pilot project for three years. First of all, most pilot projects
are one year as after three years, there is no turning back. I also think that
the bylaw wording adding a backyard chicken as a “Domestic Animal” needs
rethought. We typically don’t eat or consume anything from our pets! Chickens
are livestock according to OMAFRA and if the Township wants to allow these
backyard chickens, the Township should simply add an exemption in the bylaw, not
change the definition. Just because you go to the Zoo and stand in front of the
Zebra cage, it does not make you a Zebra. I think it is a bad idea allowing
these backyard operations and I would hope the bylaw will stipulate at least 1
km setbacks from any existing agricultural livestock operation.
Service Delivery
Review: The Township
engaged a firm to do a Service Delivery Review of the Township. The funding
comes from Modernization Funds at the provincial level. Some will argue it is
not our tax money, so why worry about the close to $60,000 spent on it. For
those that think that way, I must remind them there is still only one taxpayer.
For the most part I think specialists in certain areas are vital to having a smooth
and effective organization when there is lack of expertise in certain areas and
you cannot justify a staff specialist. I have no issue with outside advice on
Engineering, Legal services, or new technologies such as IT since there are so
many areas of expertise. In my 40 years of business I never found a single outside
organization or agency that could actually address a broad range of services as
this review attempted to do, and in my estimation, failed miserably. I think
Council should have identified areas that they felt needed improvement and
hired different small firms or individual consultants to address those needs. I
believe the delivery report should have also stayed focused on the operational
side of Springwater and stayed away from the political side. Two things jumped
out of the review that are far beyond the scope of a normal delivery review and
are by no means operational concerns. The first one is geographic tensions.
Let’s be honest, since Flos and Vespra joined and formed Springwater over 25
years ago, there have been minor tensions. Some tensions are based on pride,
some on the loss of autonomy. That to me is healthy and until everyone from
that generation dies off (which includes me) that will always be in the
background. Look at Barrie. Until only recent years there was always those that
were Barrie and those that were Allandale patriots, but 120 years after
Allandale was annexed by Barrie and some 60 years after the City was formed,
the lines are starting to blur and tensions have subsided. Maybe Springwater
could put that concern about tension on their 2121 Strategic Plan. The best way
to overcome that type of friction is community engagement and we started that
in the last term by having multiple Townhalls in the different areas of
Springwater and they were well attended. As Mayor at the time, many people told
me they appreciated knowing what was going on as a township, so communication
and information is key, not some feel good notion. There is no need to reinvent
the wheel or waste time and resources to change for the sake of change as
appears to be the desire of our Deputy Mayor. A second area of the review which
has no place in a service delivery review was Council relationships. I for one
hope our Councillors are not always singing from the same song sheet. We elect
Councillors to bring different perspectives to the table and I think they all
do their job and I only question some of the initiatives of the Mayor and
Deputy Mayor (self professed next Mayor!). To be frank they seem to be the
one’s disconnected from the concept of serving the people first. Even though
having various views on matters, which they present articulately, the ward
Councillors in general seem to get it and are filling the leadership void. Some
group therapy session and sensitivity workshop to have them sit around a
campfire singing Kumbaya is not in the cards and would be a waste of time and
money. I think the Consultant’s Report is remarkably light and lacks substance
or real facts about Springwater. There is not one new idea that was brought
forward and some of the assumptions shows that the firm just simply doesn’t
understand rural Ontario and the uniqueness and pride of rural and small
settlement area living. At least with the pressure from Councillors Hanna,
Moore, Cabral and Ritchie, who all expressed concern about the lack of details,
the Report is deferred until after budget consideration and my hope is that it
gets lost or misplaced. Based on my interaction at the Administrative Centre
for 4 years, I would suggest there are enough smarts and experience with the
current Management Team and they can address 7 of the 9 principles that are
relative to making the Township better by forming small working groups and
bringing in specialists when needed, not developing some sort of Omnibus plan.
My years in business has also taught me that in-house solutions, with the help
of some needed experts, are always superior to some third party template based vague
plan. Third party experts and consultants should be the catalyst to in-house
solutions, but typically they are not the problem solvers.
Again, please
remember these are my thoughts and I am not asking you to agree. I respect your
freedom of expression and encourage you to SPEAK UP, before that freedom is
taken from us!!
