The Municipal District of Greenview is looking to hear from the public as it puts together plans to change its ward boundaries and add an 11th elected councillor before the 2021 municipal election.
Subject to provisions in the Municipal Government Act, Greenview will be looking to add a second councillor into Ward 8, which represents Grovedale. The proposed bylaw would also see the boundaries of Ward 1 and Ward 9, both encompassing the Grande Cache area, change slightly.
Reeve Dale Smith says it’s all about fair representation.
“Councils are generally an odd number, especially if the reeve or mayor is elected from within,” he explains. “We either had to go with 9 or 11, and council decided to go with the 11 and try and even up the representation as much as possible, taking into account the physical parameters of geography out there.”
Currently, some jurisdictions have around 300 residents per councillor, while others are hovering well over 1,000. Smith adds that while some discrepancies may remain, it will hopefully go a long way in making things more even across the board.
He adds the timeline for changes put forward by the MD of Greenview is falls in line with requests by the province.
“Basically with the change in the MGA, it stated that any changes to wards had to be done by January 1st of the year of the election year,” he says.
Any members of the public looking to comments for the record by mail or email must do so by May 15th. A public meeting has also been scheduled for May 25th via Zoom. Those looking to speak to the potential changes must pre-register by May 21st. For more information, contact the MD of Greenview’s Legislative Services Officer.