Heather Wright/The Independent

Kristen Rodrigues says she may be the last person from Plympton-Wyoming to represent the community at a conservation authority.

The Plympton-Wyoming councillor is the vice-chair of the St. Clair Region Conservation Authority – one of 36 authorities which will soon be merged into seven large regional groups. 

Rodrigues recently was part of a meeting with Conservation Ontario about the changes. One positive, she says, is an online portal to streamline conservation authority approvals for developers. 

But there are lots of concerns including what happens to the assets and reserves of the local authorities.

“There’s also big concerns with the boundaries.,” she told council Nov. 13. “We have been grouped in with Lake Erie, which is a whole different set of dynamics than Lake Huron.” Rodrigues says she’ll be voicing her concerns to the province through the Environmental Registry of Ontario.

She’s also worried about how the regional boards will be governed. 

“Will there be a loss of municipal representation? You’re going from 36 conservation authorities down to seven,” she said. Rodrigues worried about smaller municipalities “getting lost in an even bigger bureaucracy…will municipal have representation when it comes to budgeting and things like that?”

Rodrigues says the province plans to implement the changes through the new Ontario Provincial Conservation Agency after the next municipal election.

“I may be the last person from Wyoming…you may not have local representation after the next term.”