Brock council feels regional election sign bylaw change is a win for local municipalities

DAN CEARNS, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, for The Standard

BROCK: Brock Township council is applauding a recent move by the Region of Durham to clear up confusion on election sign placement. At a meeting on Monday, November 16th, Brock councillors saw correspondence from Regional Clerk Ralph Walton, stating the Region is directing staff to “prepare a bylaw for Council’s consideration to adopt and delegate the authority for enforcement of sign bylaws enacted by area municipalities, to those area municipalities, on Regional Roads within their jurisdiction.”

In the explanation portion of the Regional motion, the correspondence states “individuals placing temporary signs or election signs have cited the difficulty with following different regulations on local roads and Regional roads within the same municipality.”

Ward 4 Councillor Cria Pettingill questioned if this initiative meets its goal of being less complicated for future election candidates. “From a township perspective, this is a win in my opinion. There was a lot of confusion during the last election, with respect to sign placements, when they could be placed, [and] we ran into issues with sign deposits. [There were] Regional candidates who were wanting to put signs up in Brock, but because they were placing them on Regional roads, they didn’t feel they should have to pay our sign deposits. So this is now giving the authority to us at the township, with respect to township and regional roads [sign placement]. It will not impact [provincial] ministry roads. There will still be those separate rules that apply,” township clerk Becky Jamieson responded.

Regional Councillor Ted Smith said this change helps “reduce the confusion” and candidates “don’t need to worry about things being different at the Region [level]. It should make things simpler.”

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