Centre Wellington Mayor Kelly Linton says he is a firm believer in stronger relations with the upper tier level of government.
In Linton’s May 25 report from Wellington County council, he noted Centre Wellington council previously discussed closing the gap between county activities and priorities and those of the township.
“I just wanted to share some of the things we are going to be doing to try to do that.”
Linton spoke of regular informal meetings with all Centre Wellington-based county councillors.
“We get together with Lynda White (Ward 4), Rob Black (Ward 5) and Shawn Watters (Ward 6) to ensure we have a Centre Wellington-focussed group at county council.”
As a group, Linton said discussions ensure that “when we get to county council we have an understanding of what is best for Centre Wellington.”
Linton said something new is to include county councillors in the distribution of Centre Wellington press releases to keep them up to date.
“Anything we send out, they get a get a copy before the public gets it and I think that is important.”
Linton said the local chamber of commerce has also been asked to include Wellington County councillors to the invitation list for local events and ribbon cuttings.
“We’ll also be inviting the three Centre Wellington county councillors to be giving updates on their particular county committees. Each of the three are on different county committees. It is going to be important to get their input; we can ask questions, and close the gap with the (county) standing committees.”
Linton said the process is underway to establish half-day meetings of all the mayors and CAOs for the seven municipalities within the county.
Linton said one thing that came from the orientation session is “we had a good discussion on the common challenges and issues we all face. We felt there was a need to go to the next level with that type of discussion.” He said the focus would be on continuing to improve the relationship between the county and the municipalities.”
“We’ve asked the CAOs and mayors to offer some of the ideas and thoughts they would like to see on the upcoming agenda,” he said.
“I think a lot of us face the same kinds of challenges … we just haven’t had a forum to have those discussions.”
