County Council

Essex County Council is comprised of the mayors and deputy mayors from the seven local municipalities, who elect from their ranks a Warden and Deputy Warden.

Council Meetings

Essex County Council meetings are held in council chambers on the second floor of the Civic Centre (360 Fairview Ave. W.)  in Essex. They are also livestreamed and broadcast live on Your TV.

Anyone wishing to participate in the meeting should send their request and comments to the Clerk’s Office, following timelines set out in the Delegations Policy. No in-person delegations are permitted while the COVID-19 emergency continues. 

Essex County Council meetings are usually held on the first and third Wednesday of every month beginning at 6 p.m.

2025 Essex County Council Meeting Schedule

Meet your County Council members

Attending Council Meetings

County Council Meetings will take place in accordance with By-law 2024-26, being a by-law to provide rules governing the order and proceedings of the Council of the Corporation of the County of Essex, adopted on June 5, 2024.

Essex County Council meetings are open to the public, and limited seating is available within the Council Chambers for visitors. If you wish to attend the County Council meeting, please use the Registration Form to expedite the check-in procedure at the door. On the meeting day, registered visitors will be admitted to the Council Chambers beginning thirty minutes before the meeting. Seats will be held for registered attendees until fifteen minutes before the meeting, after which time, seating will be allocated to walk-in visitors on a first come, first served basis and until capacity in the Council Chambers is reached. One registration per person is allowed. There will be no standing room or overflow seating. Once the capacity limit is reached, no further visitors will be admitted to the Council Chambers until occupied seats are vacated.

Members of the public may also access and view the County Council Meeting proceedings in other ways; by watching on YourTV Cogeco cable television or via the County Livestream (Note that the livestream will only be active once the meeting is started.)

Everyone attending County facilities or County Council meetings agrees to abide by all County of Essex policies and procedures. Review the policies and procedures here: County of Essex Policies

Agendas are published 6 days prior to the meeting and the link to register can be found with the agenda in the Meeting Calendar.

If you wish to speak at a Council meeting, you must register as a delegation. If you to decide to speak as a delegation, your name and address will be listed on the agenda and public minutes.

During meetings, all those in attendance shall conduct themselves  in a dignified manner, and shall maintain decorum and demonstrate respect for elected officials, administration, delegates and members of the public, when observing or participating in proceedings. Read more about our meeting guidelines.

Petitions

All petitions shall be addressed to the Warden and Council and presented to the Clerk.

Petitions shall be type-written or legibly printed. In accordance with Procedure By-law 2024-26, Section 11.9.2 "Any petition to be presented to Council shall be legibly written or printed and shall not contain any obscene or improper matter or language and shall be signed by at least one person and filed with the Clerk, in accordance with County policies and procedures."

The Clerk will not accept any petition that contains any obscene or improper language.  The petition shall be, in the opinion of the Clerk, appropriate, respectful and temperate in language.

Any petitions received shall be included on the next possible agenda for consideration by Council. Should a matter be related to items of business planned for a subsequent meeting of Council, within a reasonable amount of time, then the petition may be held until that meeting at the Clerk's discretion. If the petition matter is deemed to be of an urgent nature, the Clerk may, in consultation with the Warden, call a Special Meeting for the purpose of considering the petition. 

Individual(s) or group(s) initiating the petition must provide a key contact name, mailing address and telephone number to the Clerk when submitting the petition. Individuals who wish speak before Council, shall  be subject to the County's Delegation Policy and all other County policies.  

Petitions shall include the statement, or position, of the matter on each page, contain legible printed names accompanied by original signatures and address of all signatories on the petition.

The petition must clearly disclose, on each page that the document is a public document and that personal information, names, signatures and comments contained in the petition will be included on a public Council Meeting Agenda and shall form part of the public record.

Petitions received by the Clerk that do not meet the requirements indicated above will be returned to the individual or group initiating the petition. Once the requirements of submitting petition are complied with, the Clerk will place the petition on a public Council meeting Agenda.

For further information, or if you wish to submit a Petition to Council please contact the Clerk at 519-776-6441 x 1353 clerks@countyofessex.ca. 

Policies and Procedures

• Public Conduct Policy
• Visitor Policy
• Trespass to Property Policy

Agendas and minutes

Council agendas and reports are available on the Meeting Calendar on the Monday prior to Council meetings. Approved minutes are also posted on the Meeting Calendar page.

By-laws

All County by-laws, dating from 1851 to present, can be viewed in our documents archive. The archive documents are for reference purposes only and may not include amendments or attachments. Contact the Clerk's office for official versions.

Conflict of interest registry

Declaration of a Conflict of Interest Form for Members of Essex County Council, Committees and Boards

The Municipal Conflict of Interest Act requires that every municipality establish and maintain a registry of all declarations made by members at a Council, Committee or Board meeting.

All members must submit their disclosures of pecuniary interest in writing to the Clerk or immediately following the meeting during which they verbally disclose an interest.

The following is a registry of written disclosures of pecuniary interest as of March 1, 2019.

Click on the link called Conflicts Registry at the top of the page. 

Archives

The County electronically archives copies of agendas, minutes and other public records. Archived documents may not always be in a format accessible for persons with disabilities. Contact the Clerk's office if you require alternative document formats.