Don't get too excited about having new ward boundaries for next year's Barrie election.
This matter was sent to the city's finance and corporate services committee Monday, when councillors decided simply putting off the changes until after the 2014 vote wouldn't do.
"I'm not in favour of kicking things to the next people (council)," said Coun. Arif Khan. "I think we have a responsibility to work on this."
"There are wide discrepancies in the (ward) populations and it will be more by 2018," said Coun. Barry Ward. "We owe it to the citizens of Barrie to take another look."
The new ward boundaries are to better reflect Barrie's growing population, where it is and how it's represented on council.
But Coun. Peter Silveira's motion to delay boundary changes lost 6-5, with Mayor Jeff Lehman casting the deciding vote.
"The issue is the timing," said Lehman about changing boundaries. "There is no question we are out of balance today. It is quite severe.
"We do owe it to our residents to work on this a little."
Dr. Robert Williams of Waterloo University has done a dozen ward boundary reviews for municipalities, and produced a report on Barrie's boundaries with Watson and Associates Economists.
He said there's no doubt population inequities exit.
“It's unbalanced now and it is not going to fix itself in the short term,” Williams said. “You don't want to change boundaries every time, every election. .
“But it's not an exact science. It's fixing some problems and minimizing the problems that may arise from that.”
But other than sending the matter to committee, there was little agreement among councillors Monday.
Coun. Bonnie Ainsworth said the report fails her constituents because Ward 1 will continue to have thousands more residents than some other city wards, but just one councillor.
“I work full-time (as a Barrie councillor),” she said. “The next one might not be able to do that.
“I think we can dig deeper and get some more information and actually justify moving the lines (boundaries).”
Coun. Lynn Strachan also said there is work to do.
“People aren't overly concerned about what number their ward is, but when they call someone (their councillor responds),” she said. “We started this process two years ago. This is the time to send it to committee and work out the minor adjustments.”
But Coun. Doug Shipley said new ward boundaries are premature until plans are in place for the former Innisfil land.
"Why rush something through?" he asked. "(For the 2018 election) the secondary plans will be done by then."
Coun. John Brassard said ward boundary changes should be delayed for another reason.
"I don't think the growth is going to happen as quickly as we think it's going to happen," he said.
Coun. Michael Prowse said the new boundaries would not solve a fundamental difficulty - that two-thirds of Barrie's population could one day live in the south end, the other third in the north.
"None of the solutions solve the inequity," he said. "I'm just not seeing the benefit (of the changes). It's so premature."
Coun. Brian Jackson said the city has to start somewhere, however.
"There is no solution to ward boundaries," he said. "You cannot make it happen. If you get it to 5% or 10%, you are doing very well."
"We have to look at what this issue is doing to the population and what effect it will have on councillors," said Coun. Alex Nuttall. "If it's not exactly right, let's make changes."
Prowse, chairman of the finance and corporate services committee, said it will be dealt with at its June meeting and could be back to Barrie councillors later next month or in August.
But there is a time line.
City staff have recommended changes to the ward boundaries; they would need to be in place for the 2014 municipal vote – which will elect the next mayor, council members and school board trustees. But they would need approval by year's end.
The new boundaries could be in place for the 2014 and 2018 elections, then reviewed before the 2022 vote.
Changes being recommended by staff would see Wards 1, 2 and 3 remain unchanged in land size; Ward 4 would grow, as would Ward 5, while Ward 6 would shrink significantly. Ward 7 would grow a little, as would Ward 8, while Wards 9 and 10 would become a little smaller.
Barrie's ward boundaries were last reviewed in 2002 and changed for the municipal election the next year.
The Barrie-Innisfil Boundary Adjustment Act, 2009 resulted in the city absorbing portions of Innisfil; this land – and its voters - was added to Wards 7, 8, 9 and 10 for the 2010 municipal election.
The city held public consultation sessions about new ward boundaries in April. Attendance was light and relatively few public comments were submitted.
Silveira said that's one reason any ward boundary changes should be delayed, that there hasn't been adequate public consultation.
But Williams rebuffed that position.
“Public input was sought. If the public chooses not to attend, we have to work with what we got,” he said. “It's not a topic that people get very excited about. It's like a fan club for (baseball) umpires.”
The ward boundary review had six guiding principles – including representation by population, meaning every councillor would represent an equal number of constituents.
The review also took into account population and electoral trends, such as increases and decreases in the population until 2018.
It also looked at arranging ward boundaries by primary and secondary road patterns, railway and public transit access, telephone exchanges and servicing capabilities.
Geographical and topographical features were also considered, as were settlement patterns, traditional neighbourhoods and community groupings – social, historic, economic, religious and political diversities.
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