Springwater commits to spending $30,000 on search for new CAO
By: Wayne Doyle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Source: BarrieToday.com, Apr 17, 2025
With strong mayor powers expected to be in place on May 1, Springwater Coun. Brad Thompson questioned the township’s immediate need to spend almost $30,000 to hire a headhunter to find the next chief administrative officer (CAO).
“As part of the strong mayor powers, it gives our mayor the authority to choose the CAO herself, and if that is what she chooses to do, awarding this RFP (request for proposals) would be a waste of taxpayer money,” Thompson said during Wednesday night’s council meeting. “So, I would recommend we defer this to the May 21 meeting, and between then and now, we see how this plays out.”
On April 9, the minister of municipal affairs and housing announced the province was proposing to expand strong mayor powers to the heads of 169 municipal councils, including Springwater and Oro-Medonte townships, effective May 1.
Included in the strong mayor powers is the ability for a mayor to appoint the municipality’s CAO.
At a special meeting on Feb. 5, weeks before the minister made his announcement on the proposed expansion of strong mayor powers, Springwater council voted unanimously to direct staff to find a recruitment firm to conduct a search for the CAO position, following the departure of the township’s former CAO, Jeff Schmidt, who accepted a position with the City of Barrie in December of last year.
According to a report written by Erin DeVreede, the township’s manager of people, talent, payroll and benefits, five firms responded to the township’s RFP, with staff recommending the RFP be awarded to executive search firm Feldman Daxon Partners Inc. in the amount of $29,510.40, including the non-recoverable HST portion.
According to DeVreede’s report, Feldman Daxon will be responsible for recruiting, selecting, vetting and evaluating candidates. The process will include initial planning, job posting and advertising, evaluation of candidates, facilitating interviews, and assisting with final candidate selection activities.
Coun. Matt Garwood supported Thompson’s motion to defer.
He said that even if strong mayor powers are not rolled out as expected, taking an additional couple of weeks to make a final decision wouldn’t cause the township any hardship.
He noted the report from the DeVreede indicated it would take roughly 12 weeks to complete the recruitment process.
“We will not be hiring a CAO tomorrow if we go this route,” he said. “This is going to be a long process, no matter what, and I will go back to the same comments that I said back when I agreed with this initial report, which was we need to take our time, we need to do this right.
“We need to have somebody in that seat for many years.
“I’m OK to defer for a few weeks, understanding that a few weeks is not going to change the end result,” he added.
Deputy Mayor George Cabral and councillors Danielle Alexander, Anita Moore and Phil Fisher were not in favour of deferring the motion. They wanted to move forward with awarding the RFP.
“I’m not in agreement with deferring this,” Alexander said, adding she was surprised by Thompson’s motion. “This is something (we) unanimously decided was the best option for our township to have.
“I still think it’s the right route to go, so I won’t be deferring it.”
Cabral agreed with Alexander.
“I thought there was a sense of urgency to move this forward,” Cabral said. “As Coun. Alexander pointed out, we unanimously voted to follow this course and move through this process.
“If strong mayor powers play into it, then, hopefully, the best candidate from the pool will be the one that’s selected anyway,” he added.
Fisher urged council to “stay the course.”
He said council committed to a direction and it should see it through.
“I think, if unanimously we felt it was the best decision weeks ago, it really shouldn’t be any different now,” he said. “It made sense before when we voted on it together.
“I still think it makes sense.”
While Springwater Mayor Jennifer Coughlin agreed the unanimous decision to move forward on Feb. 5 was the best decision at the time, she said the landscape has changed.
“Before I call the vote, I’m going to ask if council would defer it,” Coughlin said. “I don’t want to waste this money.”
In a recorded vote, council rejected Thompson’s motion to defer, with Cabral, Alexander, Moore and Fisher voting against.
The vote to hire the headhunter was carried, with Cabral, Alexander, Moore and Fisher voting in favour, and Coughlin, Thompson and Garwood voting against.
Local Councillors Divided on Value of Strong Mayor Powers
By: Wayne Doyle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Source: BarrieToday.com, Apr 14, 2025
Four votes out of seven is always greater than three votes out of seven except when those three votes are delivered by a municipality with strong mayor powers.
Ontario is proposing to expand strong mayor powers to the heads of council in 169 additional municipalities, including Springwater and Oro-Medonte townships on May 1 to help deliver on provincial priorities, such as building more homes, transit and other infrastructure.
As the proposal could have a significant effect on the way councils operate, BarrieToday reached out to the members of Springwater and Oro-Medonte councils to get their reaction to the proposal.
Some members who responded were in favour, others not so much.
John Bard was the only member of Oro-Medonte council to respond.
“I am not in favour of strong mayor powers,” Bard said via email. “I think these powers will take away some of the democratic checks and balances of our current system.”
He said he was a little surprised by the move because he was under the impression strong mayor powers were to be given to the largest municipalities in the province. He said he doesn’t see any real advantage for strong mayor powers in Oro-Medonte.
“The challenges that I see are that provincial politics may have a more direct impact on municipalities and the composition of municipal councils,” Bard said. “I realize that there has always been some connection between the two but I am worried that mayors lose their independence and become a sort of minor league affiliate to the provincial team.
“Municipalities could lose their identities as the representation of councils, particularly as aspirations at the mayor position may change,” he added.
Springwater Coun. Danielle Alexander agreed.
She said strong mayor powers circumvent the democratic process.
“The powers given to the mayor remove the ability of elected council to properly represent their constituents,” said Alexander, who was acclaimed in the 2022 municipal election.
She said research from the Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario shows that there is no evidence that homes are built faster in municipalities that have strong mayor powers versus those that don’t.
She said if the provincial government was committed to building homes, the focus should be on providing infrastructure assistance with partnership at both the municipal and regional levels.
“Lack of infrastructure is the key barrier municipalities face with respect to building more homes,” she said.
“Now the scope of the strong mayor powers has increased beyond building homes into virtually any area of council,” she added.
Originally introduced for Toronto and Ottawa in 2022, the province currently has 47 municipalities with these enhanced powers, which have, according to a provincial government press release announcing the proposed increase in the number of municipalities with strong mayor powers, helped to cut red tape and accelerate the delivery of key priorities in their communities.
According to the provincial government, these enhanced powers come with increased accountability for heads of council and maintain essential checks and balances through the oversight of councillors.
Strong mayor powers and duties include:
Choosing to appoint the municipality’s chief administrative officer;
Hiring certain municipal department heads and establishing and re-organizing departments;
Creating committees of council, assigning their functions and appointing the chairs and vice-chairs of committees of council;
Proposing the municipal budget, which would be subject to council amendments and a separate head of council veto and council override process;
Proposing certain municipal by-laws if the mayor is of the opinion that the proposed by-law could potentially advance a provincial priority identified in regulation. Council can pass these by-laws if more than one-third of all council members vote in favour;
Vetoing certain by-laws if the head of council is of the opinion that all or part of the by-law could potentially interfere with a provincial priority;
Bringing forward matters for council consideration if the head of council is of the opinion that considering the matter could potentially advance a provincial priority.
Matt Garwood, a Springwater councillor, said the township’s mayor was elected with “a clear and overwhelming mandate” from residents but council has been hampered by division and personal politics, making it difficult to move forward with important initiatives and policy priorities.
“Healthy debate is important to a functioning democracy, but persistent obstruction can limit council’s ability to deliver results,” Garwood said. “These new powers give the mayor the tools to act decisively when progress is stonewalled.
“Strong mayor powers are not a replacement for collaboration, but a safeguard against dysfunction,” he added.
“I think strong mayor powers were tailor made for Springwater,” said Coun. Brad Thompson. “Currently, we have a mayor who won the last election by a landslide but has no more say about the direction of our community than even a council member who was acclaimed.
“It only makes sense that the mayor in any community should have a stronger weighted vote than a council member. Strong mayor models are common in other jurisdictions around the world for just this reason.”
George Cabral, Springwater’s deputy mayor, said municipal councils have been making decisions for their residents without strong mayor powers since Confederation and it’s worked out fine.
“I believe municipal councils have worked, and continue to work, in achieving outcomes through collaboration, consensus, and through the vein of majority rule, a fundamental principle in a democratic system,” Cabral said. “In our governmental system, the elected representative is expected to act on behalf of all constituents in their respective ward.
“It’s difficult to understand how the strong mayor powers, applicable to a fair broad scope of what would otherwise be considered either operational matters or decisions once debated and voted on by council as a whole, are not eroding municipal council authority as a whole, in order to expedite and accommodate questionably achievable goals.”
He’s also concerned about the implications of having only one-third of council in support of a mayor-driven bylaw in order to pass it.
“This in itself presents the appearance that it’s not likely a good bylaw, and not in the best interests of the municipality and its residents,” Cabral said. “The same can be said for the strong mayor powers regarding bylaw vetoing ability, it replaces the democratic process with an authoritarian process in my opinion.”
Springwater Mayor Jennifer Coughlin said the province’s announcement to extend strong mayor powers to her specifically is not an issue with township residents. She said she’s not received any negative comments about the decision.
“Governing with integrity and determination will never change,” Coughlin said. “Strong Mayors provides the ability for rapid and decisive leadership, while still requiring collaboration.
“With just under 560 days left in our term, reprioritizing and reallocating resources will ensure significant projects move forward and opportunities are embraced, not lost,” she added.
Realizing Springwater’s transportation master plan could cost $45M
By: Wayne Doyle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Source: BarrieToday.com, Apr 21, 2025
Three million dollars a year for 15 years.
That’s what a consultant says it will cost Springwater Township to implement a recommended transportation master plan that will provide the most efficient and safest way to move people and products from one place to another by the year 2041.
“What we’re presenting are new costs to the program over the next 15 to 20 years,” Alvaro Almuina of R.J. Burnside, a civil and environmental engineering consulting firm, told Springwater council last Wednesday during a special session. “These are not something that need to be implemented tomorrow. They’re high-level costs that will be refined again as we go from 50,000 feet to corridor level.
“They’ll be more detailed,” he added.
According to Almuina’s presentation, the township is looking at spending almost $45 million over the next 15 years — $15.5 million investment in roads, a $27.2 million spend in active transportation and about $120,000 in transit spending.
Broken out based on timing, the township will need about $6.4 million in short-term funding, almost $15 million in medium-term funding and $21.5 million in long-term funding to realize everything that was included in the plan.
“As we look at the different components of the master plan, we have costs associated to road improvements, to active transportation and to transit,” Almuina said. “The road improvement costs in the short term ($92,000) pertain primarily to the studies of a number of intersections throughout the community to ensure that they’re operating as efficiently and safely as possible.
“The longer-term road costs ($15.5 million) pertain primarily to the extension of Carson Road from Highway 26 to St. Vincent Street,” he added.
The active transportation costs ($27.2 million) included a mix of facilities — paved shoulders, extended paved shoulder and separate bike lanes within the Midhurst area.
“It’s a big number because it’s a big municipality with many kilometres of roadway,” Almuina said.
He said the $120,000 earmarked for transit is an estimate that was developed to undertake a pilot project for on-demand transit, which differs from conventional transit in that there is no fixed route or schedule, and buses are dispatched on a request-basis.
According to the presentation, this means more flexibility for riders as service is requested at their convenience.
Riders schedule a ride using an app, by phone or a website, and the bus will pick up and drop off at pre-set locations throughout the community/service area.
The pilot program would require a partnership between the township and the County of Simcoe to use the LINX transit service.
Almuina said the consultants presented the big picture because it will allow township staff to look at different projects as they come up and deal with them in a piecemeal fashion.
“These are the types of costs we’re looking at,” he said. “It gives us an order of magnitude to work with and to consider over the years as the system matures and as the municipality grows over the next 15 years.”
Almuina noted that the work is not just for current residents.
“The municipality will be doubling its population and so a lot of this work is not just for the existing community,” he said. “This is work that’s required to accommodate that growth and, obviously, to help out the existing community and maintain their current level of service.”
Springwater launched the transportation master plan study in the spring of 2023 with a number of goals:
Support growth to 2041 and capitalize on related opportunities.
Develop a sustainable transportation system to facilitate regional linkages and travel to and from the various communities within the township.
Support the safe and efficient movement of goods.
Develop a ‘future-ready’ transportation plan that expands the multi-modality of the transportation system including driving, transit, walking, cycling and other emerging mobility options.
Build a safe and inclusive transportation system that supports age friendly communities and promotes healthy living.
Following two public information sessions, held in December 2023 and June 2024, a draft of the presentation was provided to council in April of this year.
Council voted to receive the report at Wednesday’s meeting.