East Gwillimbury votes 3-2 to move to a ward system

YorkRegion.com
Sept. 19, 2017
Simon Martin

After more than a year of examining its electoral system, East Gwillimbury council voted to change from an at-large model to a hybrid ward model Sept. 19. The motion passed 3-2, with Mayor Virginia Hackson and councillors Tara Roy-DiClemente  and Joe Persechini voting in favour of the change and councillors James Young and Marlene Johnston voting against it.

Hackson said with the town on the verge of a population boom that few municipalities every encounter, it was time to update the electoral system.

“I want to be a proactive leader not a reactive leader,” she said. “(The current system) is no longer effective. A community like Mount Albert no longer has a voice at the table and that is a problem.”

Hackson said the decision is the hardest council has had to make. “We weren’t elected to make easy decisions,” she said. Joe Persechini echoed that sentiment, saying it was time for council to make a decision on the matter after months of discussion.

“This isn’t an easy decision to make. There is no clear way forward,” Roy-DiClemente said. “The hybrid system give us the best of both worlds. Today is the day for us to make the decision.”

Young and Johnston both thought residents should ultimately decide any change to the electoral system through a referendum.

“Nobody has explained what the problem with the current system is,” Johnston said.

The hybrid option council chose as the preferred option going forward is a three-ward model with two councillors in each ward. Ward 1 would encompass the vast majority of Holland Landing and run from Bathurst Street to 2nd Concession and from the town’s southern boundary to Holborn Road. Ward 2 would encompass most of Queensville and Sharon and run from 2nd Concession to Hwy. 404 and from the town’s southern boundary to Holborn. Ward 3 would consist of the rest of the municipality, featuring Mount Albert and the rural areas.

A total of 250 people responded to the latest town survey that presented three different ward options the town could move to. The responses painted a muddy picture, with no option garnering more 31 per cent support.

The change to the electoral system can be appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board within 45 days of being passed. For the changes to be effective for the 2018 election, a bylaw must be enacted and appeals concluded by Dec. 31.

The decision will hit the town in the pocketbook as the addition of two councillors will cost approximately $140,000 a year as well as a one-time cost of $40,000 for new council offices.

The town undertook an electoral review last year, where consultants recommended a similar set up with three wards with two councillors each. Earlier this year, council appeared to be moving forward with a hybrid ward system that would feauture four ward councillors and two at large. But council backed off on that model when they saw how the wards were distributed.