County is asking you – is a review of ward boundaries and council composition necessary?

By Casandra Turnbull

As the county continues to grow, a review of Ward boundaries is inevitable.

The county is asking for your opinion of whether changes are needed to better serve residents, whether the existing structure is still effective and what can be done to ensure proper representation as ward sizes continue to expand.

A community survey is open until July 26, 2024, through the Engage Brant website. The results of the survey, as well as comments and questions received from the community, will be shared with the Policy Development Committee during a meeting on September 3, 2024. The Ward Boundaries and

Council Composition survey was originally locked behind a registration process on the Engage Brant website abut was recently opened at the request of residents who attempted to access the survey but were upset to learn they needed an online account or to register for an online account to participate

The survey is composed of five simple questions: what’s your status as a resident, what ward do you belong to, do you feel the current ward boundaries are appropriate, what do you consider to be the strengths of the ward boundary system and what do you consider to be the weakness of the ward boundary system Some potential items for consideration could be whether the boundaries between wards need to change, whether additional wards need to be created, or whether the number of wards can be reduced. The investigation could also change the composition of council, meaning they could add more councillors, reduce councillors or change the councillors from part time to full time

The current council consists of a part time Mayor – David Bailey and 10 elected councillors, with two councillors representing each ward. Ward 1 – Jennifer Kyle and John Macalpine. Ward 2 – Steve Howes and Lukas Oakley. Ward 3 – John Bell and John Peirce. Ward 4 – Robert Chambers and David Miller. Ward 5 – Brian Coleman and Christine Garneau

The last ward boundary review was conducted in 2021 and at that time council directed staff to keep the existing boundary structure in place for the 2022 Municipal and School Board Election

This initial survey, which closes July 26th , will enable the county to gage whether there’s interest in the community to fully review ward boundaries and council composition. Access the survey here.

The current ward boundary map, pictured to the left.