Appellant Pierre Klein speaks with his expert witness Dr. Robert Williams ahead of the Ontario Municipal Board hearing on Thursday July 20, 2017. (Photo: Nicole Kleinsteuber / Quinte News)
A political science expert has testified at the Ontario Municipal Board hearing that the County’s electoral ward bylaw should be rescinded.
Day two of the OMB hearing began Thursday with appellant Pierre Klein questioning his witness Dr. Robert Williams on the nine ward/13 council member bylaw that was enacted in 2016.
“The bylaw is flawed in a number of ways and it doesn’t address the shortcomings in the current system like adequate voter representation,” testified Williams who examined the County’s ward system in 2011 when the municipality was looking for consultants prior to engaging in the Citizen’s Assembly. (A group that was selected to review the size of council in 2013, but not ward boundaries.)
Williams also took issue with the fact there was no legal analysis or study of the nine ward plan authored by former councillor John Thompson before council took it out to the public for consultation and ultimately approved it.
County Solicitor Wayne Fairbrother and Williams came to the agreement there was a huge anomaly with the current 10 ward system. Fairbrother argued that voter representation had improved with the new nine ward plan calling it a ‘significant step forward.’ Williams agreed that it will improve in Bloomfield after being merged with Hallowell but ‘not in respect to the rest of the County.’ He said wards weren’t equal with some being much larger than others.
Resident Dennis Fox was the only resident to take the stand in opposition of the bylaw.
“It’s time for OMB to make a fair decision combined with decisions from citizen assembly,” said Fox who has been involved with the issue for years including the Citizens’ Assembly. “The system is flawed. There was no consideration by council of what we thought. Sixteen councllors is being over governed. I don’t need 16 councillors. They (council) didn’t maintain their own process. They continually changed it. The decision made in 2016 was made at the last moment and made in anger because they have dealt with it for over 10 years. They’re as tired of it as is the public. I’m asking for the OMB to come in and make the decision as it has come off the wagon again. As a resident, I am tired of having my rights overrun by my council.”
In 2008, a previous OMB hearing forced the 2010 ballot question, “Are you in favour of council commencing a public consultation process to review the size of council?” Since less than 50% of eligible voters actually came out to the polls, the referendum result was not binding on council. However, the former term of council felt there was enough interest, as 80% of those who did vote said “yes,” sparking the Citizens’ Assembly. Council chose not to go with the 10 councillor recommendation as it would ultimately lead to ward changes. Mayor Robert Quaiff sparked the conversation up again at the beginning of his term stating residents clearly wanted change. After nine public consultation meetings in 2015 on four different plans – nine wards, three wards, two wards or status quo – council opted to go with nine – a plan that received minimal support during the meetings.
Former councillors Kathleen Vowinckel, Monica Alyea and author Thompson spoke in favour of the plan.
Thompson said he let his experience as a councillor on the matter guide his plan along with referencing the 1991 Supreme Court of Canada’s Carter decision in Saskatchewan.
He said he felt by maintaining historical boundaries, the rural/urban balance that community interests would be upheld.
He did however take issue with how the public survey results were generated.
“The surveys were collected on paper and collected online by a survey monkey and these types of surveys can’t really indicate the public mood because participants are self-selected or lobbied to participate by proponents of a position,” explained Thompson. “There is just no way analyze that to see how accurate they are.”
Alyea who has been a strong support for status quo agreed the nine ward plan was the only one that ‘showed merit.’
Fairbrother also called expert witness John Maddox Thursday afternoon.
Board member Mary-Anne Sills will hear closing arguments Friday morning and reserve her judgement for a later date.
