The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Meanwhile, Vaughan was the last municipality to gain a regional counâ€" cillor in 2003, giving the city three regional councillors. The situation is similar in Whitchurch-Stouffville where mayor-elect Wayne Emmerson will be the town's lone representative in Newmarket. Because Aurora doesn't have a regional councillor, Ms Morris has been the town’s lone representative and adding another has been an issue. Having someone to share the workload and cover what the mayor can’t would be a help, she said. However, it stands to reason if Aurora only has one representative and Markham has four, Markham has more of an opportunity to influ- ence the vote, outgoing Aurora Mayor Phyllis Morris said. It is the Chairpersons job to be evenhanded and ensure small- er municipalities' voices are not drowned out by their southern neighbours, Mr. Fisch said. “It’s based on population and when you look at it, the percentages are almost bang on," he said. EVENHANDED tain his position in the upcoming term â€"- thinks every municipality is now fairly represented. The nine mayors and 11 oouncfl-i lots on regional council, along with chairperson Bill Fisch, are charged with making a range of decisions, from the pipes under your house to the streets on which you drive. Each councilldr represents approximately 50,000 residents and Mr. Fisch â€"â€" who will seek to main- With York Region’s poqu growing rapidly and a newly elected council making some of the biggest decisions afiecting your everyday lives, itisoMyfairtoaskifyouand your municipality are being represented. " ' ’Are you fairly represented at regional council? Newlyâ€"elected Regional Coun- Communities such as Stoufi‘ville only have 1 representative in Newmarket BY DAVID FLEISCHER .dfleischthyrmg. com Section 217 requires upper tier municipalities to have a chairperson and at least one representative from each municipality. ‘ Beyond that,'1eeway is given in Newmarket'é influence wanes terms of how things are run as it drops from more than 8 per Instead of a straight majority, Cent 0f tOdaY’S Poplilafion t0 6-4 the change must be approved by a Per cem- triple majority of council, then the RiChmond Hill drops even fur- Former Newmarket mayor Tom Taylor tabled a motion calling for a full review of regional representa- tion, however, nothing materialized. The region, however. does not have the final say. The Municipal Act gives that authority to the Ministry of Municipal Afiairs and Housing. When the vote to add a regional councillor to Vaughan was tabled in 2002, the motion passed, however Newmarket, Aurora and East Gwil- limbury objected. It may be time for another review and Mr. Fisch said that is likely to happen in the next few months. Only Markham has more repre- sentatives on council than Vaughan, with one mayor and four regional councillors. “I think we have to speaE up and I think there’s an opportunity to do that,” he said. cillor Michael Di Biase has already served as a councillor and mayor and said the city‘s interests are well- represented for the time being. The region’s population will grow about 50 per cent, up to 1.5 million. by 2031. But the distribution of the population won’t change as much as you might expect Today, representation is closer to 50,000, but still preferable to Auro- ra's proposal in 2000. It called for regional representation to be low- ered to one regional councillor for every 20,000. PROVINCIAL INFLUENCE At the time, it would have given the town an additional regional rep- resentative. It also would have seen regional council expand to 33 mem- bers and grow to about 50 members when taking today’s regional popu- lation into consideration. While acknowledgingthere could be a time when it makes sense to expand council, Mr. Di Biase said today’s voters don’t want a bigger government or more costs. Each councillor represented an average 42,000 residents, after the last change. local councils and those consenting councils must represent a majority of electors. ELECTION 2010 While the town’s year-round pop- ulation might not be large, it swells during the summer months, when cottagers come north. The municipal affairs ministry acknowledged the general principle of representation by population but cited exceptional circumstances in Georgina. Georgina’s disproportionate power dates back to 1970, when provincial legislation created York Region from the prior York County. The one exception to the pattern is Georgina, which accounts for less than 5 per cent of the population yet has 10 per cent of councillors, with both the mayor an a regional repre- sentative. The issue of whether or not East Gwillimbury should have another regional councillor arose at a recent election debate and while it might not be justifiable yet, it may be only a matter of time. Aurora might seem a logical place to add a councillor, but its growth will also fail to keep pace in the com- ing years. East Gwillimbury is the clear out- lier. Now accounting for less than 3 per cent of the region's population, it will be closer to 6 per cent in 2031. ther, from 23 per cent down to 16.1, despite concentrated growth in its south end. Out of the 20 elected members, there will be seven new faces around the council table this term. They include four new mayors â€" Aurora’s Geoff Dawe, King Township’s Steve Pellegrini, East Gwillimbury’s Virginia Hackson and Vaughan’s Maurizio Bevilacqua â€" and three new councillors â€" Vaughan’s Michael Di Biase and Deb Schulte and Markham’s Joe Li. A final meeting of the old council takes place Nov. 25 to deal with any outstanding issues, however, since one-third of councillors are soâ€"called lame ducks, no new business will be on the agenda. The new council has its inaugural meeting Dec9 and oneofitsfirst decisions will bethe election of a chairperson. Mr. Fisdi was acclaimed in 2006 and no one has put their name forward to contest him for the upcoming four-year term. WAYNE EMERSON: Will be Whitchurch-Stouffville's lone repre- sentative on regional council. WANT MORE? xv) v o o 070)} 339319) 9 0193