Changes to how the 2026 municipal election will look continues to move forward.
Chatham-Ken council voted Monday night to adjust ward boundaries in time for the next election. This decision included changing the boundaries and reducing the council to 15.
During a meeting in December, council approved reducing the number of council members and asked the consulting firm StrategyCorp to return with some more adjustments to ward boundaries.
This included investigating the boundaries of wards 5, 6, and 7 and the impact of an at-large urban ward in Chatham.
Council voted 14-4 in favour of bringing a by-law of a 15-member council, including the mayor, to its March 3 council meeting for final approval. Councillors McDonald, Thompson, Hall, and Ceccacci voted against this motion.
The version council approved would see the new ward 3 and ward 4 having one council member each. Ward 1, 2, and 5 would each have two. Chatham would be split into three wards (6, 7, and 8) with two council members in each ward.
“We got through this and yes a major change has been in the brewing for a lot of years now and I’m surprised we got through this in an hour but I think it is all the discussions we had leading up to it,” admitted Mayor Darrin Canniff.
A friendly amendment was added by Ward 4 Councillor Jamie McGrail asking that ward 4 be expanded to Electric Line instead of Marsh Line. This amendment passed 14 – 4.
The motion to have Chatham at-large failed 9-9 with Councillors Anderson, Ceccacci, Doyle, Hall, Harrigan, Wright, Storey, Thompson, and McDonald voting against.
