By Pam Wright, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Chatham Voice
The wheels are in motion to possibly reduce the size of Chatham-Kent council.
Following an interim report from StrategyCorp – a consulting firm hired to probe the issue – council approved two motions relating to the matter at the Oct. 7 meeting.
The first, which passed with a 13-to-3 vote, calls on StrategyCorp to explore options that would reduce C-K’s 18-member council (17 councillors and the mayor) by three to five seats.
The second dealt with keeping the status quo while looking at redrawing ward boundaries to better represent the population.
According to StrategyCorp’s Sabine Matheson, C-K’s council composition is an “outlier” among 26 municipalities in the 70,000 to 220,000 population range, as it’s the largest governing body.
As part of the report, Matheson compared C-K to Kawartha Lakes and the Greater Sudbury Area. Kawartha Lakes, which runs with a nine-member council, is geographically larger than C-K but has a smaller population. The Greater Sudbury Area is bigger than Chatham-Kent in both size and population but operates with a 13-member council.
When making the comparisons and explaining effective electoral representation, Matheson told council, “It’s always about balancing.”
The minimum number of councillors is five, according to Ontario’s Municipal Act.
Having six councillors representing Chatham proper is also on the high side, Matheson said, noting most Ontario wards usually don’t have more than four councillors.
“I think I would try to move to a more balanced type of representation,” she added, in reference to electoral representatives in Ward 6 (Chatham), with fewer council seats.
Recommendations by StrategyCorp state a deputy mayor position is not needed; the size of council should not be increased and the status quo is an option but not without modification.
“Your ward system isn’t so broken that you have to throw it out but it is damaged and you need to repair it,” Matheson explained.
Chatham Coun. Brock McGregor said examining the issue is a good idea.
“This is a really important topic,” McGregor said. “We’ve been using this system for 24-25 years, and I think that it is healthy and appropriate to evaluate those systems and make sure that if there’s a way to do things better, we should.”
North Kent Coun. Rhonda Jubenville, the councillor who brought the motion forward earlier this year, said reducing the size of council will make it “more efficient and effective.”
Matheson didn’t find fault with the origins of the 18-member council, noting it was devised during a “high-stress” period when Chatham-Kent amalgamated in 1998.
“I actually have a lot of respect for the people who designed it at that time,” she said.
Another concern made clear, Matheson noted, is that members of the agricultural community fear rural voices will go unheard if ward boundaries are redrawn.
StrategyCorp is expected to return to council with a final report in December that will include recommendations to reconfigure Chatham-Kent’s ward boundaries in a more equitable fashion.
Ward boundaries have remained unchanged since amalgamation in 1998, even though several reviews have been conducted over the years.
Two public open houses on the matter have been held so far this year. A Let’sTalkCK online survey was conducted as well, garnering around 350 responses.
Matheson said further public engagement will take place ahead of the final report.
