Size matters.
That’s the position of Deep River council when it comes to the number of people sitting around the council table.
Discussion of the number of council members arose last week in response to a letter from Larry Dumoulin, who wrote the town with “a straightforward suggestion that saves real money without cutting a single service.”
“Reduce council members from seven members to five for the next term,” Dumoulin suggested to council.
Dropping the number of elected officials from seven to five could save the town $50,000 a year in salaries and related costs, Dumoulin contended.
Dumoulin also said it’s about “fairness and scale.”
“The larger urban centres in Renfrew County (Petawawa, Arnprior and the town of Renfrew) each operate with seven-member councils while serving far bigger populations and larger operations than ours,” Dumoulin stated in his letter.
“If they can do their work with seven, it’s hard to justify Deep River needing seven as well.”
Current council members gave Dumoulin’s suggestion a thumbs-down when it came up for discussion at last week’s meeting, starting with Mayor Sue D’Eon.
“While we have a relatively small population, Deep River is an urban municipality with urban infrastructure, urban programs and services, urban problems and urban facilities,” the mayor said.
“We are not predominantly a rural municipality like some of our neighbours”…
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