A few key changes to the committee membership at Dufferin County council could make for interesting debate in the next year.

After county councillors elected East Garafraxa Mayor Earl Lennox as the warden for 2006, they made new appointments to the four committees that deal with county business. All members sit on one committee for a one-year period, while the warden sits on all committees.

The community development committee, which deals with waste management and emergency services issues, retained the 2005 chair, Mono Mayor Keith Thompson.

Orangeville Mayor Drew Brown will also be back for a second year, along with former warden John Oosterhof, mayor of East Luther Grand Valley.

The issues will not be new to Mayor Oosterhof, who sat on the committee in his capacity as warden last year. The three current members have all expressed an interest in seeing the county assume responsibility for the total waste management stream, which should lead to interesting debate in 2006.

The public works committee had the biggest shake-up, with Amaranth Mayor Bob Currie replacing Orangeville Deputy Mayor Jim MacGregor as the chair. Mayor Currie has sat on the roads committee for many years, and has served as chair in the past. The committee also gained two new members, Amaranth Deputy Mayor Don MacIver, who comes from the General Government Services Committee and Melancthon Reeve Garry Matthews, who sat on the community services and Dufferin Oaks committee in 2005.

Shelburne Mayor Ed Crewson was re-elected chair of the community services and Dufferin Oaks committee and will be joined by returning member Mulmur Mayor Gord Gallaugher, and Mulmur Deputy Mayor Gordon Montgomery, who sat on the community development committee last session.

On the general government services, Mono Deputy Mayor David Baldwin replaces Warden Lennox as chair. The Deputy Mayor has sat on the committee for several years, as has returning member and Shelburne Deputy Mayor Randy Chambers. Two new members on the committee include Melancthon Deputy Reeve Debbie Fawcett and Orangeville Deputy Mayor MacGregor who are both coming from the roads department.

The committees meet once a month with staff and deal with the day-today operations of the county, with each group focusing on its own area. The members hear delegations and make recommendations in the form of motions that are then sent to the monthly county council meeting for approval. When the motions are received at the county, councillors get an opportunity to raise questions before voting on the recommendations. County councillors, using the weighted vote, must approve the minutes and recommendations of the committees before they are adopted.

As mentioned, the warden sits on all four committees and then presides over the monthly meeting at county council.