TEHKUMMAH—Tehkummah Township council has unanimously voted in favour of changing the name of reeve to mayor and deputy reeve to deputy mayor.
“A bylaw was passed by council to change the name of the title of heads of council from reeve to mayor and from deputy reeve to deputy mayor,” said Mayor John Deforge, after a council meeting last week.
Mayor Deforge said, “the name reeve is usually used in smaller townships and mayor is used in the larger municipalities. We are trying to move out of the dark ages by passing this bylaw to change the names.”
Mayor Deforge said, “the previous council had tried to make these changes.” However, the previous council “shot down the idea. The current council passed the bylaw unanimously.”
“I know when we were at the FONOM (Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities) annual conference a couple of the exhibitors there were asking what a reeve is,” said Mayor Deforge.
Along with the name change for Mayor (Mr. Deforge) Tehkummah Councillor Steve Wood has had his title changed from deputy reeve to deputy mayor.
The change in title does not bring with it any increased responsibility or stipend.
