It could have a ripple effect.
Ever since Centre Wellington Township was created by the Harry Armstrong and Doug Kitchener report for the restructuring of Wellington County, some residents have been complaining their vote is devalued.
The reason is Fergus Wards 3 and 4 respectively have 5,276 and 3,973 people, while Ward 2 has only 1,544.
Those complaints have arisen in every term of council, and they did so again this year when Fergus resident Keith Fairfield, one of the first people to complain about the inequities, took the township to the Ontario Municipal Board over the issue. Council had, over the years, opted to keep the status quo after every petition for change.
But the latest go round, this time forced by Fairfield’s OMB appeal, led the current council to consider a change to ward boundaries that would address some of the population inequities. Council asked its clerk’s department to come up with some possibilities to at least discuss.
The public meeting Monday night was somewhat anticlimactic. Barely a dozen citizens attended the meeting, and, like a previous one held in the term of the first Centre Wellington council, it consisted mainly of former municipal politicians, including two former Centre Wellington mayors.
Clerk Marion Morris said staff considered 15 to 20 possible ward scenarios before finding one to recommend that was considered reasonable to council. She noted new computer programs allowed staff to calculate not only the population every time staff considered moving a boundary line, but they could calculate the proposed subdivisions, and determine scenarios to take future growth into account.
She noted that legal rulings also take into account such things as geography, and that all the councillors felt most strongly that the Grand River should be part of the boundary for all the wards.
“We also had to make it understandable to voters,” she said.
In the proposed new boundaries:
– Ward 1, 3,948 population, north of the river, would be bounded by the river, Gerrie Road, the Woolwich Township boundary line and County Road 17;
– Ward 2, south of the river, population 1,719, would be bound by Woolwich town line, Sideroad 6 North (instead of County Road 7;
– Ward 3, north of the river, would shrink in area, with a population of 3,859, and the boundary would be County Road 17, Gerrie Road, the river, and Highway 6 except for a small potion near the river that would reach to Garafraxa Street and go north to Forfar Street;
– Ward 4, 3,801, would also shrink so its boundaries are Nichol Road 22, Sideroad 6 North, the river, and Jones Baseline and Scotland Street;
– Ward 5, north of the river would have 4,126 people, and have Highway 6 as its western boundary, the river, East and West Garafraxa Townline, and Sideroad 26 of West Garafraxa as its boundaries; and
– Ward 6, with 2,602 people, and boundaries that including the River, East and West Garafraxa Townline, a portion of the Erin and Eramosa Townline, County Road 22, and Jones baseline and Scotland Street.
Morris said the township’s calculation of growth projections was “reasonable. It will work for at least the next ten years in the municipality,” she suggested.
Politicians
There was no delegation registered to speak at the meeting.
Mayor Joanne Ross-Zuj invited comment. She had remarked earlier that with all the former municipal politicians attending, said “It’s looking like a reunion. It’s great to see everyone here.”
She gave everyone in the gallery an opportunity to comment. That gallery consisted of former Centre Wellington Mayors George Pinkney and Russ Spicer, plus Nichol councillors Tommi Roden, Sandy Cleghorn, and Gord Feniak, who sat on Nichol and Centre Wellington council, former Centre Wellington councillor Jean Innes, former Fergus councillor John Carter, and former Eramosa councillor Bruce McDougall. Roden’s husband, Don, was also in attendance, and he is a former councillor but from outside Wellington County.
A few of them had suggestions or questions.
Innes, now on county council, suggested a minor boundary change to wards 2 and 4 that might make it easier for people to understand the new wards.
Feniak wondered about community of interests with some changes to Wards 3 and 5. He also wanted to know about ten year population projections and how the official plan will have an effect on growth.
Morris explained that while wards 3 and 5 have some difficulties, to extend the boundaries beyond the river would be inappropriate.
Township planner Brett Salmon explained that all subdivisions being proposed were considered for population projections.
McDougall questioned why Ward 6 was not extended to Highway 6, which would increase its population. He added that he is not as concerned as some with equal populations, because each elector is still choosing a single councillor.
And, he added, all councillors have done a good job in acting for the entire municipality. He said if he has a question, he would talk to the councillor he feels most comfortable with, and not necessarily a councillor representing his ward.
“We can constantly revise these,” he said. “You keep squeezing ward 3 until it’s all urban.”
County representation
But it was Spicer who brought up one of the most important effects of a ward change in Centre Wellington – how it will affect the county and its ward system.
Spicer said with the proposal from this council, he assumes that only ward 5 of the county will be affected. The county wards are mainly based on the municipal wards in Centre Wellington.
Spicer suggested that the township will “have to go to the county” because of that change in ward 5.
He said if that happens, it is time that the county representation is broken down to correct population imbalances.
Centre Wellington has a population of 25,000 and has two full representative wards, plus a part of another ward that is shared with Wellington North. With the mayor, that gives the township 3.5 representatives.
The northern part of Wellington County, Mapleton, Minto, and Wellington North, has a combined population of 29,000, and has 6.5 representatives, sharing one with Centre Wellington.
Spicer said, “We at Centre Wellington should have 5 and got 3.5. I hope when you go to the county, Centre Wellington will get better represented.”
Ross-Zuj then announced that anyone who wants to comment should contact the clerk by Sept. 25.
She adjourned the meeting, but Spicer’s comments about population imbalance were much talked about afterward.
Ross-Zuj said the change, if accepted in Centre Wellington and at the OMB, “might be the start to get that [county ward population imbalance] going. Centre Wellington is actually being a role model” by simply getting the process started.
She said that sometimes “you need a push to get things started.”
That push could include other changes at the county council. One of the main recommendations from the Kitchen and Armstrong report that the authors felt most strongly about was that the warden should be elected by the people from across the county. County councillors, particularly from the north, have always voted overwhelmingly against that recommendation.
Centre Wellington county councillor Bob Wilson has promised he will bring that issue to council during this term.
As for the ward change proposal, Ross-Zuj said she hopes that Fairfield will respect that the township has done its work on considering ward boundary changes. The OMB hearing is scheduled for October.
She checked with staff and explained that the township will not need permission from county council to make ward boundary changes, even if that means confusion about county ward 5 at election time.
She said the council proposal will now come to council on Oct. 7 for a vote. The boundary proposal is simply “an option, something [council] can live with. We are supposed to review our boundaries throughout the term.”
She added of council’s work on the issue, “We looked. The status quo did not sit with the new council.”
