Reduced council among options for public meeting

The results of the council composition review survey have been tabulated.
Early this year, Clearview council and staff set out to gauge the public’s opinion of how council should be composed.
Members of council expressed disappointment that in Clearview, a municipality with a population of more than 14,000, only 342 people participated in this survey.
Staff reported that respondents were pretty much split down the middle on keeping the current nine-member council composition of seven councillors plus a mayor and deputy mayor, versus eliminating two council seats, but 76 per cent said they prefer the ward system.
The results also show that 97 respondents are concerned about a high concentration of representation for one are if we were to go to the at-large system. Without a “clear mandate,” council agreed to take two options to an upcoming public meeting: a five-ward option (including five councillors, a deputy mayor and mayor); and maintaining the status quo with the current seven-ward system (including seven councillors, a deputy mayor and mayor).
A vote indicated where councillors stood on the options with Ward 5 councillor Thom Paterson, Ward 7 councillor John Lamers, Ward 2 councillor Doug McKechnie, Ward 3 councillor John Broderick and Deputy Mayor Barry Burton showing a preference for a reduction in council, while Ward 4 councillor Robert Walker, Ward 1 councillor Phyllis Dineen, Ward 6 councillor Connie Leishman and Mayor Doug Measures showing support for the status quo.
Lamers said now is the time to do something before municipalities are mandated by the province to reduce their numbers.
The public meeting will take place in late May or early June. A date was not set, and it is not known if an in-person meeting would be permitted so it may take place virtually.
The goal is to give staff ample time to make changes, if necessary, before the next municipal election in October 2022.