City wants public input on creation of ward system in Lethbridge

At this week’s Governance Standing Policy Committee (SPC) meeting, City Clerk Bonnie Hilford provided a general update on what the process could look like going forward.

She says there is no real standard for how large a community needs to be in order to warrant wards nor for how exactly the system should be structured.

In Alberta, Calgary and Edmonton are the only cities that use ward systems with each ward having a little over 100,000 residents. In Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, on the other hand, they have eight wards in a city of 36,000, meaning only about 4,500 people live in each ward.

The motion presented to the SPC was to approve a $297,000 budget to create a commission that would establish the details of a potential ward system in Lethbridge and to have the ward system ready to go in time for the 2025 municipal election. The other option presented was to not proceed with the Electoral Ward System Conceptual Plan at all.

Hilford’s proposed timeline would see the commission established by September or October 2022.

Once that happens, the commission would iron out details including the number of wards, the number of councillors in each ward, boundaries, staffing requirements, and whether city councillors should remain part-time or transition to full-time work. A draft report would be presented to the Governance SPC by November 2023.

Council would then vote on accepting the Electoral Ward Boundary Bylaw by spring 2024 and continue with public engagement prior to the October 2025 election.

Councillor Belinda Crowson said she needs more information from the public before possibly voting to approve the budget allocation such as what problems people feel would be solved by creating a ward system.

Councillor Rajko Dodic was of the opinion that, unless he can get a lot more answers beforehand, it would not be worth proceeding with the work outlined in Hilford’s plan.

Councillor John Middleton-Hope, on the other hand, says they should investigate the matter further since that is what the voters in Lethbridge told them that they want.

Crowson suggested delaying a decision until they hold their next Governance SPC meeting on May 26, 2022. At that meeting, she said she would love to hear more input from members of the public.

Her motion was approved by the SPC.

More details can be found on the agenda for the April 28, 2022, Governance SPC meeting.

by David Opinko

City wants public input on creation of ward system in Lethbridge

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