Local residents will have a chance to review several options to change the makeup of Chatham-Kent council and ward boundaries next week.
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But, Chatham-Kent councilors provided input during Monday’s council meeting before municipal consultant StrategyCorp rolls the options out for citizens to comment on.
The options include a status quo of 18 council members with an expanded Ward 6 boundary to include areas close to Chatham, as well as three options for a council made up of 15 members and another three options of a 13-member council.
Public meetings are scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 14 and Monday, Nov. 25 at the John D. Bradley Center beginning at 6 pm They will also be live streamed. Deputations will also be allowed at these meetings.
StrategyCorp will return to council on Dec. 16 with a final report, including public comments and a recommendation for council to consider and vote on. There will be no deputations received at this meeting.
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Sabine Matheson, of StrategyCorp, said Monday’s meeting was a chance for council to raise concerns or point out if something was missing.
Options calling for splitting up the current wards of Chatham and Wallaceburg raised concerns of some councillors.
“I find it would be difficult to have a one ward, one councilor situation here in the city of Chatham,” said Chatham Coun. Michael Bondy.
He added the community is unlike larger cities such as Toronto, which has distinct communities of interest
“I find Chatham would be difficult to be put into a three- or five-ward system,” he said. “It’s just not big enough.”
Whatever the number of Chatham councilors is ultimately decided, Bondy said he would like to see an option where Chatham is not divided into separate wards within the city boundaries.
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Matheson said it is possible to make that change.
“The trick would be to just assess the fit between the clustering of councilors there with the others,” she said.
Wallaceburg Coun. Carmen McGregor also cited concerns about options that would see Wallaceburg divided in half by the Sydenham River.
“Everything we do in our community; all of our festivals, our community events that take place, a lot of it borders around the basin and Sydenham River,” McGregor said.
She also raised concerns with a boundary change option. She said to put the south side of Wallaceburg stretching up to Jeannettes Creek, is like putting Wallaceburg with Wheatley.
“I doubt it will make very much sense to the community of Wallaceburg to look at,” McGregor said.
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Noting the math for figuring out ward boundaries was done by population, Matheson said, “Wallaceburg, in many respects, is the single biggest design challenge, because it’s too big to fit nicely on its own. . . but it’s too small to divide neatly.”
She added Wallaceburg might be a reason to have an oversized ward with two councilors, even if other wards go with a one councillor.
South Kent Coun. Anthony Ceccacci asked what would be an ideal number of people to take part in the process for a review of council structure and ward boundaries.
She said getting around 300 to 500 people participating would work.
“What you want is enough of a diversity of opinion so that you’re hearing from lots of different places about better kinds of concerns,” she said.
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