Mayor's bid to change name fails...
....Town will be called Georgian Highlands
By Chris Fell Express Staff

Shortt took the unusual step of vacating the chair in order to bring in a motion to change the name to Bayview after concerns were expressed by Grey County's 911 system administrator Doreen Robinson about possible dispatch confusion having three similar municipal names, Grey Highlands, Georgian Highlands and Georgian Bluffs, in close proximity.

Shortt had raised the possibility of emergency response confusion over the name at an earlier meeting and Robinson echoed his comments Monday night. She quoted several sources from Owen Sound's dispatch office to the OPP about the possibility of emergency vehicles being sent to the wrong municipality, slower response times and general confusion as people making calls may not be exactly sure what town they're in.

"When people are calling 911 it's a panic situation. They don't always remember where they are. We don't want the wrong agency dispatched, we just want the system to work and work well," said Robinson pointing out that more and more 911 calls were coming from cell phones which made difficult for the system to pin point the location of the call without the help of the caller. "Having similar names increases response time and causes confusion," she added.

However members of council were skeptical about the confusion factor with Deputy Mayor Robert Reid leading the charge.

"I know you (Robinson) have a personal opinion, but everything you brought is pretty one-sided," said Reid. "All the information I have is the name of the lower tier municipality is irrelevant for 911. Why does this keep coming back up? What's the real reason people want to change the name," asked Reid.

Mayor Gerald Shortt said they had been asked by Grey Highlands to change the name and he said confusion could cause safety issues and that was the reason the change had returned to council.

Both councillors Paul Hutchinson and Sam Luckhardt agreed that the name could cause confusion and Hutchinson suggested council go back to the Transition Board's second choice which would have been Meaford. Shortt even suggested the name choice made by the Transition Board wasn't as democratic as the public has been told to believe.

"It was a behind the scenes committee that picked the name, but I won't say anything more about that," the Mayor said reaffirming his position that Meaford should be the name, but signaling his decision to bring in a motion to change the municipalities name to Bayview. "I think it should be Meaford, but I know it won't be, so I'm proposing Bayview which is distinct from Georgian Bluffs and Georgian Highlands," said Shortt.

His motion was seconded by councillor Linda van Aalst, but found very little support around the table. Although some councillors favoured a name change, they didn't support Bayview and in a recorded vote only Shortt was in favour of his motion. However one member of council said after the meeting if a motion to re-name Georgian Highlands to Meaford had come forward it's likely enough councillors would have supported that change indicating that perhaps name game isn't quite finished just yet.