The Chair of the Niagara Region is committed to helping improve the relationship the region has with residents and with each of the 12 municipalities.

Speaking with CKTB's Tim Denis during this morning's roundtable discussion, Gary Burroughs says ongoing talks at the region are focused on finding ways to better communicate the region's role to residents.

Burroughs admits its hard to explain why a regional snow plough lifts its blade when it drives up to a municipal road.

He says people are understandably upset when they find out the pothole in front of their house is not a municipal reponsibility but the regions.

But Burroughs adds people who believe each muncipality should take care of itself aren't being realisitic.

He says the cost of water treatment, in the wake of the e coli contamination in Walkerton, is more than any one municpality could bear on its own.

But is one of the solutions, amalgamation-merging Niagara just as Toronto and surrounding areas were amalgamated into the GTA?

Burroughs doesn't think so.

He says he likes the uniqueness each of our 12 municipalities brings to the table.

He believes the answer is better government and improved service delivery, both of which the region is working on right now.