Changes to council composition and wards for 2022

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Expect to see a new leaner Clearview Council in the future. At its July 12 meeting, Council instructed staff to prepare a bylaw that will reduce the size of council from the current seven ward councillors plus mayor and deputy mayor down to five wards plus mayor and deputy mayor.
Council began a ward boundary and council composition review in the fall of 2020 with the goal of ensuring fair and equitable representation for all township residents. A public consultation process sought input on several options which included maintaining the current ward system, reducing the number of wards or moving to a system with members elected at large across the township.
342 responses were received from the public with opinion evenly split on the size of council and over 76 per cent of respondents indicating they preferred the ward system versus councillors elected at large. Ward 1 Councillor, Phyllis Dineen believes the lack of public input implies that people support the status quo. According to Dineen the groups which spoke out in favour of reducing the size of council included members who do not actually live in Clearview.
Doug McKechnie, councillor for Ward 2 agrees that the community appears divided on this issue, and acknowledges that no matter which option they choose, some people will be unhappy. However, he says, they were elected to make decisions. Having sat at the council table for the past three years, McKechnie is convinced that a nine member council is too large for effective and focused decision making, and lacks clearly articulated strategic priorities.
Deputy Mayor Barry Burton who participated in similar discussions when the County of Simcoe examined potential changes to its structure noted that many neighbouring municipalities, including some much larger than Clearview, function quite effectively with smaller councils.
A bylaw to realign the township into five wards will be presented to council at its next meeting. The new ward boundary map will see Creemore, Avening, Glen Huron, Dunedin and Singhampton all become part of the new Ward 2.

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