When it comes to the size of Wellington North’s council, Mayor Mike Broomhead isn’t thinking big – but he is thinking bigger.
On Monday night, Broomhead said with the realization there is still two-and-a-half years left in the term of council, a change might be needed for the next election.
He offered to council the suggestion that it consider the idea of a seven-member council instead of the current five.
Broomhead said the current year might be unique because of the number of large scale projects the municipality is involved in, but he believes members of council are being spread fairly thin. He also suggested that if the decision is to have a seven-member council, one of those positions should be a deputy-mayor.
Broomhead asked councillors to mull the idea over during the summer and to get thoughts from the community.
He planned to bring the issue up officially at council this fall.
“If we decided to do this, we’ll need to let the general public know about it a year in advance,” he said.
A change to the number of councillors would likely mean a shift in the current ward boundaries, unless the two additional positions are done as direct elections to council rather than as ward representatives.
