The Municipality of Port Hope’s council composition and ward boundary is under review for the first time in nearly 25 years.
Jack Ammendolia, managing partner of Watson & Associates Economists Ltd. was on hand to speak to Port Hope council members during Tuesday night’s virtual council meeting as an introduction to the review the firm is undertaking.
Municipal Clerk Shrishma Davé said council passed a notice of motion in late May to move forward with the review, which will also include examining the role of the deputy mayor.
Ammendolia said there will be interviews with council members. In addition, key questions for the review relate to how the present electoral arrangement for Port Hope measures up, do the current wards deliver fair representation conducive to good governance, what are the goals of the review and the information council needs to make an informed decision.
The review can help ensure and equitable for residents and communities in decision-making processes and align boundaries to reflect population shifts.
As part of the presentation, Ammendolia noted the Town of Port Hope and Hope Township amalgamated in 2001 and the council was composed of a mayor and six councillors elected in wards with the deputy mayor appointed by council among its members.
Through a restructuring order that year, the municipality was divided into two wards; Ward 1 serving the urban area of Port Hope with four councillors to be elected and Ward 2 representing the rural area which had two representatives.
There hasn’t been a change since, though this current term interested councillors are rotating one-year turns as deputy mayor.
According to the 2021 census, Port Hope had a population of 17,294, which was a seven per cent growth over 10 years.
Ammendolia said Ontario’s Municipal Act authorizes local municipalities to change the size of council and determine how council is elected without appeal. Any bylaw adopted by council that divides or re-divides a municipality into wards or dissolves existing wards is subject to appeal rights.
The next general election is Oct. 26, 2026, but any changes to the existing system would have to be passed through a bylaw by Dec. 31 of this year to be in effect for next year’s election of members for the 2026-2030 term of council as no changes can be made during an election year.
Vicki Mink, a Ward 2 representative and the current deputy mayor, asked Ammendolia if there was a risk of gerrymandering due to the timing of the review.
Ammendolia said from the consultant team’s perspective, timing is not an issue.
“Council ultimately makes the decision. Council has influence on this decision, we want to hear your perspectives, but ultimately you’re hiring an independent team so you don’t draw your own lines,” he added. “Look, even if you did, even if council said ‘here’s the option that we want to come out with and we’re going to go and draw it ourselves in the back room,’ as your consultant team we still have to evaluate it independently. If there’s particular influence or particular things that favour one ward over another then as your consultant team those are in particular the things that we’re going to highlight.”
Mink followed up by asking Ammendolia how often municipalities go through this process and make no changes.
“Not common,” he said. “Because it’s a council-driven process to start…usually there’s a need. Some councils have policies where they look at it every two or three elections. In that case, sometimes we look at it and it still works, but typically when it’s driven by a council or a clerk, there’s typically a need.”
Ammendolia said there have been cases where the consulting team made recommendations because it felt the current system wasn’t working and the local council still opted for the status quo.
“I would say the majority of our reviews end in some change by council,” he noted.
Mayor Olena Hankivsky referred to the presentation regarding the seven per cent population growth from 2011 to 2021 and asked about projecting future growth and where that might be happening.
“I bring this up specifically because, as you know, we have a very important proposed project in front of us at the Wesleyville location and the Conference Board of Canada has indicated almost 2,000 new jobs being associated with that, not just once it’s built, but in the process of contemplating a build there,” Hankivsky said before asking how that would affect the work of the consultant team.
Ammendolia said the intention is to prepare projections by ward for 2025 to 2035.
“If it’s in there or even if we can talk to your planning department and incorporate it in there because we think there’s going to be population in the next 10 years then it will be,” he remarked. “If it’s outside that timeframe then it won’t be in.”
This summer is for information collecting, Ammendolia said, while heading into fall and winter this year will be to reflect on the information collected, evaluating existing ward boundaries and exploring alternatives.
The timeline for engaging the community and stakeholders, presenting alternative options and preparing and delivering recommendations to council is still to be determined.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
