By Cecilia Nasmith/Northumberland 89.7/Today’s Northumberland
Raising the issue hotly debated the night before at Cobourg council at Thursday’s Northumberland County council meeting, Mayor Lucas Cleveland got a restrained and positive response to what he has termed the Third Option.
This refers to a prospective study of the county’s governance model to determine if a more cost-effective model might be possible, with options to amalgamate into a single upper tier or possibly exploring more cost-sharing arrangements. Cobourg council voted to ask the county to consider a third option – dissolution of the county as the upper-tier government.
Cleveland had predicted there would be no willingness to consider this option, and stressed to his fellow Cobourg councillors that they retained the right to refuse to co-operate with the study if their request is refused.
Raising the issue Thursday to Warden Brian Ostrander, he tested the waters.
“I am curious – if this level of government is willing to ask the lower tiers for an open discussion about a complete dissolution of their place of employment, why isn’t part of this study the dissolution of this government? Why aren’t we looking at all options on the table?” Cleveland asked.
“I think we should at the end of the day,” Ostrander replied, adding that he had heard some of the Cobourg council debate on this issue.
“I think we need to explore it all. Why don’t we, at the end of the day, take a look at what’s possible, what’s not possible, what happens if.”
The matter came up again when county council adjourned for a closed session. Returning to open session, Ostrander reminded everyone that member municipalities have another month to submit comment on the prospective study.
“We will wait to determine next steps once municipalities indicate an interest in pursuing the study before issuing an RFP of any kind,” the warden said.
