Former mayor suggests shrinking size of Port Colborne council
Former Port Colborne mayor Bob Saracino is one of a group of residents asking for a change in the city’s ward structure.
Saracino was addressed city council last week on behalf of that four-to-six-person committee, when he shared information about Port Colborne’s declining population and how he sees that shift as meaning there should be a shift in a couple ward boundaries and how many ward councillors there are.
“We want to change the number of councillors from each ward from two to one and change the boundaries of the west side between Ward 1 and 3 to Killaly Street West to equalize as much as possible the number of electors in these two wards,” he told council.
He brought this information to council with the hopes that councillors might consider putting it into effect before the end of the year, which he said is the deadline to win approval from the Municipal Affairs Ministry to make changes for next year’s election.
Port Colborne currently has eight ward councillors, two for each of the city’s four wards.
Ward 1 and 3 boundaries currently follow a jagged border along Clarence, Steele and Delhi streets; with Saracino’s suggestion, that line would be pushed north to meet at Killaly Street West. He said those north of Killarly Street West would be Ward 3 and those south, including Portal Village and “a few adjacent streets,” would become part of Ward 1.
Doing this, he said, would balance out elector numbers.
He shared numbers of how elector votes stand at present: Ward 1 has 4,449 votes; Ward 2 has 3,300; Ward 3 has 5,370; and Ward 4 has 3,400.
“That has steadily been declining … over 20 years,” he said at council. “And I say, we must reflect on the times.”
Saracino said Monday that when he was mayor beginning in 1977 he didn’t see the need for a reduction in council size because there was positive growth in Port Colborne, in particular in terms of economy and the industrial sector. But as he reflects on the changes since then, he sees the need for change.
He said reducing the number of councillors to four from eight wouldn’t be a bad thing because the mayor would still be able to act as a tie-breaker.
Saracino told council he sees Port Colborne’s declining population as a sad state of affairs because he sees the city as having so much to offer.
At the end of his allotted time to delegate, councillors didn’t have any questions or comments, however later in the meeting Ward 2 Coun. Angie Desmarais did mention how she thought an electoral committee of some sort would be beneficial to the city to see what changes might need to be made to the council structure.
When Desmarais asked if this was something that could be looked into, chief administrative officer Scott Luey said he would have to defer to the city clerk on that matter. She was absent from the meeting, so the matter will be explored at a future meeting.
Saracino said if such a committee is formed, he would gladly sit on it because he wants to do whatever he can to help his city.