Kevin Davis, Mayor for the City of Brantford, said he’ll be using his strong mayor powers to direct staff to obtain an unbiased study in regards to assessing the cost benefits of amalgamating with the County of Brant during the City’s Committee of the Whole, Planning and Administration meeting on Tuesday, December 10, 2024.
Davis made his comments when the City’s newly proposed economic development strategy was put on the table for discussion and later recommended for approval.
“When I went through it [the report], I must have found ten references, at least, a minimum of ten to the joint services with the County of Brant,” said Davis. “That has been, since I was elected, very much one of my platforms and one of my objectives, given that we’re two municipalities but really one economic area, one region, and most people see it that way in their daily lives. There’s clearly more that the City of Brantford and the County of Brant, in the spirit of working together and team spirit and being able to provide and deliver services and initiatives in a much more efficient manner, can do more effectively.”
Davis said that while the two municipalities established a joint services committee to address shared interests such as transit in the fall of 2023, he was completely shocked when the County pulled out of the working group at the end of May.
“The goal was to really talk seriously about public transit and a joint transportation system, and the County of Brant slammed the door on us and said they had absolutely no interest in that,” said Davis. “As a result, for the City to be able to deal with its looming transportation crisis, we really only have one option to look at now and that’s the Oak Park Road extension. That’s the cold, hard reality. The County of Brant said very clearly, they’re not interested in talking about anything that expands beyond the services we already have that were set decades ago. …Clearly we have a County that doesn’t want to have a relationship that expands and provides services more efficiently.”
The Brantford Mayor said that the City can now either do something about the overall issue, or it can accept that it won’t be able to reach its full potential.
“I don’t think we should accept that,” said Davis. “…I intend to exercise powers that I have under the strong mayor’s legislation, and I’m going to be directing staff to prepare a cost benefit analysis of amalgamation; what are the advantages and what are the disadvantages?”
He continued to say that while the move is not intended to be contentious or disrespectful, he plans to have an outside consultant hired to ensure that the analysis is based on facts and not opinions.
“I’m going to direct staff to obtain a fact-based, unbiased assessment done by an outside consultant, economist or accountant, to really give us the facts,” said Davis. “The cost benefits of amalgamation is a debate our communities have had over decades and I think it’s a debate well worth having. …This is not intended to be contentious or disrespectful, it’s really more about securing the economic future of this region, not just a municipality.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
