Note: This story has been corrected. A previous version contained an incorrect tally of councillor voting.
Updated: 11:35 p.m.
Guelph residents will have more opportunities to comment on council’s composition before a decision is made on recommended changes.
In a 7-6 vote on Thursday evening, council instructed consultants to draft up several scenarios regarding the number of wards and the size of council, as well as part-time versus full-time councillors, and seek public input before reporting back in time for council to make a decision ahead of the 2022 election.
“We clearly have a big appetite to talk about democracy in this city,” said Coun. Dominique O’Rourke, who moved the motion after hearing from numerous delegates who stressed the importance of public opinion on the issue. “We have an opportunity to finish this … (and) not kick it down the road to the next council”
In favour of the motion were Mayor Cam Guthrie, along with councillors Mike Salisbury, Christine Billings, Cathy Downer, O’Rourke, Mark MacKinnon and Rodrigo Goller.
Opposed were councillors June Hofland, Bob Bell, Dan Gibson, Phil Allt, Leanne Caron and James Gordon.
Earlier in the evening, council unanimously agreed to maintain the ward system.
The additional public consultation is to take place during a review of existing ward boundaries. As it is now, ward populations vary by as much as 10,200 people.
Ward 6 is the largest, with 27,700 constituents, while Ward 3 is the smallest, sitting with 17,500 residents.
During Thursday’s special meeting, council was faced with a series of recommendations from a team of consultants. They include moving from six wards to eight, with one councillor per ward rather than the current two – making council nine members, including the mayor, down from 13 – and that councillors be upgraded from part-time to full-time. They also recommend council stick with the ward system for electing councillors.
Downer moved an amendment calling for the formation of a citizens committee including representation from each ward to review the options, but withdrew it after learning from staff there would be a “tight timeline” to accomplish that work and allow for a council decision to be implemented for the next term.
Clerk Stephen O’Brien explained there would need to be a terms of reference drawn up and approved by council, followed by a couple months of recruitment and council’s appointment of committee members. That’s all before the committee’s work could begin.
In order for any changes to be implemented following the 2022 municipal election, they’d need to be approved by the end of next year, notes a city staff report. That includes allowing time to potentially appeal ward changes to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal.
Dr. Robert Williams, part of the consultants’ team, acknowledged the additional consultation changes their scope of work but doesn’t feel it goes much beyond what was already planned for the boundary review.
“It’s not a significant change,” he said. “It’s a bit more work but it’s not a fundamental change.”
O’Rourke said the scenarios should provide more context to the options facing council. They would need to explain “this is what it would look like” if there were eight, 10 and 12 councillors and how those scenarios would be impacted by whether each ward was represented by one or two councillors.
Prior to council’s decision regarding consultation of the scenarios, Williams said the consultants planned to have recommendations regarding ward boundary changes in the first quarter of next year.
Ahead of its vote, council heard from numerous delegations who called for either more public consultation, including repeated calls for a referendum, or elected officials to give more weight to the result of public surveys.
Through an online survey, consultants gathered the opinions of 670 city residents. A majority of survey-takers called for the current two-member ward system to be maintained, with 12 councillors in total, each working full-time.
“The citizens of Guelph have chosen to maintain the system we have now because it is the best system at this time,” said Ron East, representing the Guelph chapter of the Council of Canadians.
“It is not what city staff or elected officials want that matters … it is the will of the people,” added Lin Grist.
In response to a question from Billings on Thursday, Williams acknowledged the results of the survey are not “statistically significant.”
This current system has been in place “without significant modification” since 1990, notes the consultants’ report. At that time, the city’s population was in the range of 90,000. It currently sits at about 143,000.
It had been that way since 1909, though the number of councillors varied. At one time there were as many as 18.
Updated: 10:30 p.m.
Guelph residents will have more opportunities to comment on council’s composition before changes are considered. In a 7-6 vote on Thursday evening, council instructed a team of consultants to draft up a number of scenarios regarding the number of wards and the size of council and report back in time to make a decision before the next term of council.
In favour of the motion were Mayor Cam Guthrie along with councillors Dan Gibson, Christine Billings, Cathy Downer, Dominique O’Rourke, Mark MacKinnon and Rodrigo Goller.
Opposed were councillors June Hofland, Bob Bell, Dan Gibson, Phil Allt, Leanne Caron and James Gordon.
Earlier in the evening, council unanimously agreed to maintain the ward system.
During Thursday's meeting, council was faced with series of recommendations from a team of consultants, as well as city staff regarding potential changes to its composition in future terms.
The consultants recommend council move to eight wards instead of six, with one councillor per ward rather than the current two – making council nine members, including the mayor, down from 13 – and that councillors be upgraded from part-time to full-time. They also recommend council stick with the ward system for electing councillors.
In addition, city staff recommend council launch a ward boundary aimed at making ward populations more equal. As it is now, wards vary by as many as 10,200 residents … about the size of Elmira.
Ward 6 is the largest, with 27,700 constituents, while Ward 3 is the smallest, sitting with 17,500 residents.
The consultant-recommended changes to council’s composition – eight full-time councillors rather than 12 part-time councillors – would cost an estimated $303,000 in additional annual councillor and support staff salary, plus $198,000-$237,000 in one-time costs in order to accommodate office space and meeting rooms for the full-time positions.
City staff propose a deadline for any changes to be made for the 2022 municipal election and that if ward boundary changes aren't finalized by Dec. 31, 2021, the existing council composition and ward boundaries should remain for the 2022 municipal election.
This current system has been in place “without significant modification” since 1990, notes the consultants’ report. At that time, the city’s population was in the range of 90,000. It currently sits at about 143,000.
It had been that way since 1909, though the number of councillors varied. At one time there were as many as 18.
