Fate of city's ward system to be decided Monday

THUNDER BAY — Next time local residents elect a city council, the ballot could look very different.

At their next meeting, Council is expected to vote on a new representation system that would drastically re-draw Thunder Bay’s wards and what the makeup of council looks like.

A recommendation from city staff is asking the current council to vote to adopt a system where the entire city is split into four wards with two councillors representing each one, two at-large councillors and the mayor. Currently there are seven wards, each with one councillor, five at-large members and the mayor.

If it's accepted, the current councillors for Current River, McIntyre, McKellar, Neebing, Northwood, Red River and Westfort will be the last to hold those seats.

The new ward boundaries all effectively run from Lake Superior to the east, westerly to the rural municipal boundary, combining urban and rural constituencies in all cases. In its recommendation, city staff said the boundaries “will create equitable population, income levels and demographics, ensuring each ward encompasses diverse segments of the city.”

“This structure aims to minimize narrow local focus and promote comprehensive city representation.”

It also reduces the size of council by two.

City council received the final report from the ad hoc citizens committee struck to investigate council composition options in early March and expressed many concerns.

Accompanying administration’s recommendation for the April 7 meeting was a memorandum each from city staff and the composition committee addressing a number of questions raised by council last month.

One was around the recommended composition itself, particularly around having fewer councillors at-large compared to those representing individual wards. In the committee’s memorandum, composition committee chair Rebecca Johnson said that, regardless of designation “all councillors make decisions on city-wide issues.”

“Our recommended wards increases councillors’ knowledge base on all rural, suburban, waterfront and industrial issues.”

Lowering bars to participation and improving “the efficiency of council’s decision-making,” were also cited as reasons for the recommendation.

“Wards lower bars to participation by making running for election less expensive and knowing your candidates less daunting,” Johnson continued in the memorandum. “We have concluded that Thunder Bay … is not best served by an at-large dominated council.”

At-large members, however, “can bring experience or perspective that has gained them city-wide support in the role,” Johnson continued, justifying the continuation of a hybrid system with the number of at-large councillors reduced to two.

Another issue was around workload; with fewer members of council around the table, concerns were raised about each elected official taking on additional tasks and whether extra administrative support would be necessary — at a cost.

“We recommend council investigate what administrative support would be valued by councillors, then invest in that additional support,” Johnson said in the committee’s memorandum.

“This recommendation got confused with a common assumption among voters that (fewer) councillors would mean significant savings, when in fact even a very modest investment in additional support for council would outweigh any savings from a smaller council, because councillors (like those in comparator municipalities) earn so little money for the role.”

Investing in more supports for councillors, said the committee, could make elected office “more attractive to a broader range of people.”

In city staff’s memorandum, director of legislative services and city clerk Krista Power said the cost of additional administrative support could range from $60,000 to $100,000 annually.

She added that some of the workload could also be offset by incoming changes to customer service at city hall, meaning the potential for fewer calls to individual councillors or less time spent on each inquiry. Proposed changes to the committee system — if passed — “is an option for council’s future consideration that would impact workload.”

Power’s memorandum concluded that if any changes are to be in place by the 2026 municipal election, “timelines associated with making a change to the composition of city council will be soon upon us,” adding that everything, including all administrative work and getting approval from the province, has to be done by December 31.

“Council is urged to consider what is of greatest importance and priority based on the work completed to date and the capacity of the office of the city clerk.”

The new model is the same one city administration drafted for the committee in September and one of two options that drew inconclusive responses from public consultations in October.

If approved on Monday, the council composition reforms would still need to be ratified at a future date.