Wednesday, December 4, 2019 Vol. 42, No. 49
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YOUR LOCAL PAPER
Battle River School Division trustees vote to reduce board size Leslie Cholowsky Editor
The Battle River School Division (BRSD) Board of Trustees passed a motion at their October meeting to reduce the overall number of trustees on the board from eight to five for the future. In a series of public consultations held this spring in each ward, consultant David Steele presented the results of a review of the electoral ward representation and boundaries. Last May, Board Chair Norman Erickson told participants in Sedgewick, “It’s been 25 years since those boundaries were set. The population has changed since then, and we thought it was prudent to review.” Steele noted in his presentation that from 1981 to 2016, population trends have seen more people move into larger communities. The present system has four wards within the Division: City of Camrose, County of Camrose, Beaver County, and Flagstaff County. From each ward, two trustees were elected, giving each ward 25 per cent say on the board. Alberta Education has regulations requiring that board representation fairly represent population figures, allowing a variance of 25 per cent higher or lower. In 1996, for example, Camrose had 33.8 per cent of the population, and had a 25 per cent representation on the board. That figure was within or close to the allowed variance. When the figures were updated using the 2016 Census, Camrose City rose to 38.6 per cent population of the BRSD’s region, Camrose County to 23, Beaver County at 20.8, and Flagstaff County at 17.6 per cent. The rural wards contain 61.4 per cent of the population, but retain 75 per
cent of the board. By Alberta Education standards, Camrose City and Flagstaff County are individually both outside of the allowed variance (in this case, they are allowed a 25 per cent variance of 25 per cent of the region’s total population; or specifically, must be within 6.25 percent than a one-quarter share of the population the original ward system was based on.) In 2016, both wards were outside the allowed variance. Steele projected that population trends will see the gap continue to grow. During the consultation period, the board was reviewing a number of potential solutions to the population to representation disparity. One of these included a proposal that the total number of trustees be reduced from eight to five, dropping each county down from two trustees to one, but keeping the City of Camrose with two trustees. With this configuration, giving each county 20 per cent board representation puts all three within the variances allowed by the province, and giving Camrose 40 per cent of the board representation gives the city population room to grow. Other solutions proposed included dropping to six trustees, with two in the City of Camrose, three between Camrose and Beaver County and one in Flagstaff County; or seven trustees, with three from the City of Camrose, and four from new boundaries between the three counties; or keeping eight trustees, but redistributing them, with three for the city, and five for rural, again with new boundaries. Steele said that new boundaries would require approval from the Minister of Education, but would not substantially change anything else See TRUSTEES P14
Kinsella Christmas Marketplace The Kinsella Christmas Marketplace at the Community Centre on Saturday, Nov. 30, and Sunday, Dec. 1, included vendors selling an array of items, along with a Christmas Bake Sale and Concession. On Saturday, a pancake breakfast was also held from 9 a.m. - 11 a.m. so people could eat before shopping their hearts out at the 25 tables full of crafts, preserves, clothing and other Christmas treasures.