Growth management talks are too important for Orillia and Barrie not to have a seat at the county table, says Mayor Ron Stevens.

Stevens is suggesting that the cities join the county’s governance committee – a subcommittee with an agenda that includes creating a code of conduct for elected officials, refining the duties of a councillor, and even turning the warden position into a two-year, full-time job.

The committee’s profile is on the rise, as the county council   works towards implementing the Intergovernmental Action Plan (IGAP).

IGAP not only laid the foundations for allocating where new residents will settle, but how local government should respond as demands for service increase.

Just as important as determining where people and jobs will go, is the issue of which level of government – the county or municipalities – will offer which services including waste management, transportation, water and waste-water treatment.

“Since (the county governance committee) is being given some of the IGAP pieces, we should have representation on that,” Stevens said.

“The dream is for us to create a level of government within the County of Simcoe that meets everyone’s needs, not necessarily regional.”

Stevens said he wouldn’t support a regional government model, but said the goal would be to “tweak the county to be more responsible.”

He is urging the county to invite the mayors and deputy mayors of Barrie and Orillia to its governance sub-committee.

The issue is expected to be discussed at Tuesday’s county council meeting.

“Barrie needs to realize they’re one and the same business. We’re very much involved,” said Stevens.

Barrie, however, has taken a standoffish approach, and despite being urged to participate fully on the county’s growth steering committee, the city opted to be an observer.

“We removed the governance issue to appease Barrie,” to get the city to join in the county’s growth management steering committee discussions, said Simcoe County Warden Tony Guergis,

Barrie can’t understand why it would want two votes of 13 on a county committee, which makes recommendations to a council on which it has no voice.

The city, said Barrie’s CAO Jon Babulic, prefers to work on the IGAP recommendations by negotiating with Innisfil, with the assistance of provincial development facilitator Alan Wells, to determine how an unallocated 76,900 people will be distributed in Barrie-South Simcoe.

“There’s an allocation for the county and the process is for the Barrie-area allocation to be determined through Alan Wells,” he explained. “Why would we want to participate in (a county) committee and have two votes? We’d have two votes of 13; that’s not representation.

“If they want Barrie there as an equal partner, that’s another thing.”

But Guergis said politicians need to be brainstorming to create a better model of government, and that kind of discussion happens at the committee level.

“I want to see us create a plan that will set in place a governance model for the next 50 years. We’ve got a lot of changes in place. Fifty years ago, Barrie seceded and Orillia seceded sometime between then and now. They did so for reasons of efficiency and service delivery,” said Guergis.

“The public is identifying a need to ensure that is still the best plan.”

County council will discuss inviting Orillia and Barrie to join its governance subcommittee at its Jan. 22 meeting.