Following months of discussion and review, changes to Chatham-Kent’s ward boundaries and council structure could move forward next week.
During a meeting in December, council approved reducing the council composition to 15 in principal and directed consulting firm StrategyCorp to return to a future meeting with adjustments to some of the group’s proposed ward boundaries.
Based on that direction, StrategyCorp will present three adjusted recommendations during Monday’s council meeting.
The first option, which is the preferred choice overall, would see council composition reduced to 15 members including the mayor. Each of the county wards would be represented by one or two councillors, while Chatham would be split into three wards represented by two councillors each.
The second option would also reduce council composition to 15 seats, but the county wards would be split into six wards, with Chatham split into three.
The third option suggested by StrategyCorp would be to keep council structure the same at 18 seats, including the mayor, with ward boundaries restructured similarly to the first option.
According to StrategyCorp, each option was designed with effective representation in mind by examining the current population in each ward and the projected population growth over the next five years.
Over the course of the last six months, Strategy Corp has presented two other planned reports to council on the size and election method of council, as well as draft ward boundaries for consideration.
Two public meetings were held on November 14 and 25 to encourage public consultation on StrategyCorp’s proposed options. Local residents were also encouraged to review the proposed options online on the Let’s Talk Chatham-Kent website. All public comments were reported to StrategyCorp and considered in the development of the firm’s recommendations to council.
If council votes to move forward with one of the suggested options on Monday, Chatham-Kent administration will be directed to bring a by-law of that option to the March 3 council meeting for final approval.
