Submissions support status quo

Representation in Stratford will stay the same after Stratford District representatives agreed that 10 councillors and a mayor will be voted in during the next two elections.

The decision was a change in direction for councillors who had voted in favour of reducing the number to eight during a meeting in June which put out an initial proposal to be consulted on by the community.

Following a review of submissions and deliberations, the status quo of 10 councillors and a mayor was adopted during the council’s most recent ordinary meeting.

Councillors who agreed to keep the status quo are Grant Boyde, Rick Coplestone, Jono Erwood, Graham Kelly, John Sandford, Gloria Webby and Mayor Neil Volzke. Those who wanted to decrease the numbers to eight were Peter Dalziel, Alan Jamieson and Keryn Walsh. Kelvin Squire was not in attendance.

All agreed, however, that one rural and one urban ward will remain, that the boundaries of these wards will remain the same and community boards will not be established.

Council received 16 submissions on the representation review proposal.

Mayor Neil Volzke says he initially supported decreasing the number of councillors to eight because he believed the council would operate more efficiently. However, the majority of submitters had expressed desire for the status quo so that it is what he would support. Neil reminded councillors during discussion, that it was imperative to take submissions into account during the decision making process as it was specified in the act. When asked, Neil said there would only be a small saving to council by reducing the number of councillors.

“But what is the price of representation and democracy. We don’t compromise on democratic rights for the sake of a few dollars.”

Councillor Alan Jamieson said he was happy to drop the number to eight because of the number of people each councillor represents for the population base — “which is a high representation rate compared to the national average so I think it would work effectively by dropping it to eight”.

Peter Dalziel supported the change to eight. “I think council would operate very effectively with eight.”

Rick Coplestone says he thought keeping the status quo was best as did John Sandford.

John said the workload was already big enough and that people had said overwhelmingly in the submission process that they didn’t want change. “I think it’s time we woke up and listened to what the people are telling us.”