Size of Council Review

In 2008 Council established an Ad Hoc committee, the Composition of Council Committee (CCC) to review the composition of Council. The committee was initiated primarily to review the size of Council, although it became apparent early in the process that any change of size would very likely impact ward boundaries, so the terminology ‘composition of Council’ was used and the review process encompassed both size of Council and ward boundaries.

The Ad Hoc committee was composed of members of Council and the public. The Ad Hoc committee met six times in 2008 and investigated the following activities:

• Reviewed Terms of Reference and recommended to Council that the Terms of Reference be changed to allow the Committee to make recommendations (This change was not approved by Council)
• Reviewed amalgamation order and background information that related to the governance model and representation selected for the newly amalgamated municipality.
• Reviewed pertinent legislation and other related information: Municipal Act Municipal World articles, newspaper stories, reports and information from other municipalities’ experiences in ward boundary review.
• Explained meaning of ‘effective representation’ as articulated in the Carter decision and referenced in the Ottawa boundary review experiences.
• Reviewed key dates and timelines Developed a work plan Surveyed 15 other municipalities for comparison purposed on the following criteria: population, Percentage of non-residents, size of council, number of Wards, number of Councillors per ward, Council Budget, Operating and Capital Budgets, description of geographic area, Council/Committee Structure, number of Advisory Committees, productivity, representation and customer service assessment of current model.
• Carried out personal interviews with staff of 3 of the 15 municipalities most similar to PEC, being Brant, Norfolk and Kawartha Lakes to obtain additional data.
• Established the following basic governance models to be evaluated: existing ward structure and Council size Council elected at large reduced Council size/reduced number of Wards.
• Identified strengths and weaknesses of: existing ward structure and Council size Council elected at large reduced Council size/reduced number of Wards to determine which options to be included in the evaluation.
• Established the following sizes of Council be evaluated for the ward and ‘at large’ system: 15 Councillors plus Mayor, 12 Councillors plus Mayor, 10 Councillors plus Mayor, and 8 Councillors plus Mayor.
• Developed criteria based on the Terms of Reference and suggested weighting for evaluation of each model and model evaluation worksheet.
• Developed potential boundaries for each ward model and estimated population for each.
• Tested each model using the model evaluation worksheet.
• Developed options for public consultation process.
• The matter was debated at length through several meetings. Although some members of Council wished to proceed to a full public process to determine the best option, the majority were of the opinion that there was no strong public interest or support for change. To be able to gauge public opinion, Council decided to add a Question to the Ballot.

The CCC reported to Council on October 15, 2018 including a summary of its activities and findings – you can download and read the CCC’s report by clicking on the link below. The matter was debated at length through several meetings. Although some members of Council wished to proceed to a full public process to determine the best option, the majority were of the opinion that there was no strong public interest or support for change. To be able to gauge public opinion, Council decided to add a Question to the Ballot.