A by-law to realign Belleville’s ward boundaries has passed first reading at city council Tuesday, kicking off a summer-long public consultation process on the issue.
The proposed change would see Belleville move from two wards, to four, with two councillors representing each ward.
Mayor Mitch Panciuk says if approved, the move would lead to better representation on City Council and hopes to have the city start collecting public input on the plan by the end of the month and make a final decision on the plan at the August 9 meeting.
“I think it’ll include a bit of a social media campaign and public education campaign as well. We want to engage people, we really do want to hear from them. We have no predetermined opinion of what we want to do, we have a suggestion and we’re looking for feedback.”
Panciuk says the idea is to have a decision made and give the community time to appeal, so that if approved, the new wards would come into place for the 2022 municipal election.
