Ward system at forefront as new term of Aurora council sworn in

Ward system one of many issues new council will tackle in next 4 years

Yorkregion.com
December 7, 2018
Teresa Latchford

A ward system is one of the first things this term of council will be tackling.

Aurora’s new mayor, Tom Mrakas, made the announcement in his first speech wearing the chain of office at the town’s inaugural meeting for the 2018 to 2022 term. He spoke of a number of issues he and the newly elected council members heard from residents on the campaign trail. One of those was the need for a ward system.

“Residents have asked why are we at large? Why don’t we have a ward system like other municipalities?” he said. “There was never a consensus on the best time to move forward, and well that time is now.”

Mrakas stated that residents have said they feel better represented by a ward councillor, rather than one at large.

Aurora voters say yes to fewer councillors, no to wards, but results aren’t binding
Currently the entire town is represented by five councillors, whereas a ward system would break the town into sections called wards and assign one councillor to be the representative to each.

Aurora is the last of York Region’s nine municipalities to continue to operate with an at large governance system. East Gwillimbury made the switch to begin operating under a ward system this year.

The topic of discussion isn’t new to the town as a number of council terms have discussed it in detail in the past.

In the 2014 municipal election, a referendum question asking voters if they supported moving to a ward system appeared. Under the terms of the referendum, at least 50 per cent of eligible voters had to cast ballots on the issue for the results to be considered valid and more than half of those had to approve of the ward concept for the switch to be made.

On that ballot, the 35 per cent who ticked the boxes, supported reducing the number of councillor seats to six but 55 per cent rejected the change to a ward system.

The last term of council discussed the matter and decided to continue to operate under an at large system.

Aside from the ward system, Mrakas committed to building on the previous term of council’s decisions and seeing them through to completion, including the creation of Library Square.

“Like any first meeting of a new council, tonight is filled with the promise of new things to come,” Mrakas said. “I am truly excited about the opportunities the next four years present for our community.”

Standing at the podium in a packed council chamber, Mrakas declared the next four years to be a pivotal moment in the town’s history as building on the work of the last term of council, this term’s elected officials are positioned to move forward on initiatives that will be “key community builders” in the future.

“Tonight not only represents the sum total of the hard work, the hopes, the dreams of not only the representatives you see before you but the residents we represent,” he said. “Every one of us here tonight has a vision for Aurora. You have chosen us and given us a mandate to bring that vision to life.”