The new county council in Grey County has a perfect blend of experience, according to Warden Brian Milne.
Southgate's new mayor was acclaimed to the warden's chair earlier this week, a position he also held in 2014, putting him on a very short list of Grey warden's with close to a decade between their tenures.
Wardens of Grey with at least a nine-year gap between tenures: George Jackson - 1863-1875 John McDonald - 1864-1900 David J. McNichol - 1963-1972 David J. McNichol - 1972-1986 William F. Riley - 1935-1944 Delton Becker - 1989-1997 Brian Milne - 2014-2023
Milne identified building a better relationship between the two levels of government as a priority, as well as a project to look at "road rationalization." He's also planning to stick with as many virtual meetings as possible, admitting more can be accomplished in a day "compared to making everyone drive an hour to meet," identifying this as a way to not only reduce the county's overall carbon footprint, but also increase productivity among county council instead of long driving times, often through weather that can make travel hazardous in the winter months.
"There's a lot of opportunity for cooperation between lower and upper levels of government," said Milne, who is now on his second stint as mayor of Southgate following four years as deputy mayor. "There's opportunities to look across the fence, so to speak, to talk to neighbours and work together to benefit everybody in Grey County."
Milne touted a look into the rationalization of roads during his tenure, which he says will see the county have a look at levels of service on roadways across the county while trying to identify areas for efficiency. "Do we need county roads going through small hamlets? I don't think so," he said, pointing to Grey Road 1 in Georgian Bluffs as a prime example. "This is a tourist route. It has beautiful views and lots of residential, but speed limits are problematic. Some want it lower, others want it higher. Some want improvements, others don't want improvement because it means a higher level of traffic. These types of roads are better dealt with at the lower-tier."
"The road rationalization study should have a look at where these roads are, and if they're being serviced properly," Milne added.
One positive Milne has identified following the most recent municipal elections is that each of Grey's nine municipalities has one returning member of county council, and one new member. Further to this, all 18 members of the upcoming term of county council have previous experience in municipal politics, meaning there's no "pure rookies" for the upcoming term.
"That's a huge advantage to start off," Milne said, because it means all members will already know the difference between the two tiers of government, and have experience with budgeting. "I'm excited to work with them, everyone is keen to get going."