Council seeks options on possible council trim, boundary changes

To help modernize Chatham-Kent’s governance structure, councilors are seeking options for a potential streamlining of council and ward boundary changes.

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Sabine Matheson, of municipal consultancy StrategyCorp, presented a preliminary report Monday, offering a rundown of the current system and some possibilities to consider.

“Chatham-Kent’s council is on the broad edge of the range. There’s no getting around that,” she said. “But (for) the people who originally designed this (during amalgamation), it was a pretty innovative approach for a pretty high-stress time in the (municipality’s) history.”

Matheson compared the municipality to an old car “that’s got 350,000 kilometers on it and it’s still running pretty well.”

Councilors ultimately voted to seek options for a 13- to 15-member council, including the mayor, and the 18-member status quo.

Things to consider include Chatham-Kent’s large geography, ensuring proper representation and overall efficiency, Matheson endorsed.

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“I wouldn’t be going all the way down to seven or nine. You’re too big for that,” she said. “We don’t recommend going below 13.”

Neither moving to at-large representation nor creating a deputy mayor post are recommended.

Matheson noted she couldn’t think of any other system that has six councilors in one ward like Ward 6 Chatham.

“What you’ve really got is a hybrid system,” she said, adding she believes a more balanced representation, after factoring in ward redesign, is possible.

“I would go (with) one per (ward). But I would not be offended if you took a wait-and-see approach on the number of wards and the number of councilors per ward. Because sometimes it’s nice to have flexibility on that.”

Public sessions were held August, and streamed online, to help solicit feedback and promote a survey on the municipality’s boundaries and governance structure.

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StrategyCorp will return with draft options, which will then be presented to the public. Matheson liked community participation in the first phase of consultations to the “preseason,” believing there will be more engagement with specific recommendations.

Additional community consultation is expected in November. Council will have the final say over any changes in December.

Mayor Darrin Canniff said the process is an opportunity to “go to a best practice” going forward.

“As you can see, we’re kind of outside the norm,” he said. “The single councilor per ward. . . , the smaller council, I think that’s a very good idea.”

Previous Chatham-Kent councils, including in 2015, have discussed changing ward boundaries and council numbers, but stuck with the status quo. In 2011, council voted down proposed boundary changes, after a governance task force considered the issue.

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North Kent Coun. Rhonda Jubenville, who led the push this year to kickstart the review, cited the 13-member Greater Sudbury council as an example of ideal size.

“It may contribute to being a more effective and efficient council,” she said.

Calling it an important topic, Chatham Coun. Brock McGregor believes the options deserve further investigation.

“This won’t be the last time we do it,” he said. “I’m sure 10 or 15 years from now, they’ll be looking at it again. I think that’s healthy and something we should make sure we’re doing in Chatham-Kent.”

To view the council composition and ward boundary review preliminary report, visit pub-chatham-kent.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=16371.

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