THUNDER BAY – The Council Composition Committee is satisfied with the initial public feedback regarding the size and scope of future councils.
The committee received 659 responses with specifics shared at Tuesday’s meeting, including themes that emerged from the answers.
Chair Rebecca Johnson said the demographics of those who responded to the survey are similar to those who cast a ballot in elections.
“It would have been nice to have more of the younger population in the survey, but we do have a good broad overview of what the community thinks, which is important,” Johnson added.
“There is no question that there is a desire among the respondents to reduce the number of councillors, to look at changing the geographics of each ward and examine the existing council model.”
Changing the size of council and altering the remuneration for members of council emerged as the stronger themes from the survey.
“The average salary of a councillor is approximately $42,000. You are not going to get someone elected that will work full-time for that salary, so we will have to take a look at that,” Johnson said.
“That’s one of the components that we have some information for but not all of the details that we need to make any decision one way or another.”
In terms of the cost to run a campaign, candidates and their spouses can fund their own efforts, to limits of roughly $24,000 in the mayoral race, $21,500 in the at-large race, and around $7,000 in most ward races.
NOTABLE STATISTICS:
- Nearly 75 per cent of respondents felt that having 13 councillors around the table was not appropriate, did not provide value or represent the city well
- About 53.6 per cent of respondents saw the value in having a ward system in Thunder Bay
- 83 per cent of respondents felt that a ward boundary review should be completed
- 61 per cent of respondents felt that the $31,552 base pay plus a car allowance of $2,750 is fair compensation for the work performed by a councillor
Committee member Heather McLeod also acknowledged that the public wants change, but couldn’t pinpoint one issue.
McLeod is looking forward to the next step in consulting the public.
“We want to be able to get more people involved in this process and allow them to be comfortable to give us feedback,” McLeod said. “We will first bring a small group together that is diverse and represents Thunder Bay as a whole, which will be difficult but is needed.
“We will then have an open house to share with as many people as possible the basic information and facts to allow more of the community to weigh in and ask further questions before we as a committee make any hard decisions towards what we want to recommend.”
The smaller sessions are being scheduled for Thursday, March 21 at the Waverley location of the Thunder Bay Public Library and Wednesday, March 27 at the Brodie location.
Library CEO Richard Togman said after Tuesday’s meeting that registration will open in the coming days here.
“After we open the public forum registration, we will select members of the community that represent our entire socio-economic makeup in Thunder Bay,” Togman added.
“I don't think we have really seen this type of engagement happen at the city before where small groups are matched up with a member of the committee itself.
“This will give one on one time with the people who are making this decision and allow your voice to be heard in a meaningful way.”
The committee is composed of six members including chair Rebecca Johnson, vice-chair Cody Fraser along with members Heather McLeod, Riley Burton, Wayne Bahlieda and Carlos Santander-Maturana.
When the municipality of Thunder Bay was created in 1970, it began with a mayor and 12 councillors elected evenly across four wards.
That expanded to seven wards in 1976, before the city, in 1985, adopted its current hybrid system that elects a mayor, seven ward councillors, and five at-large councillors.
A final report from the committee on the composition of council is slated for completion in advance of the 2026 Municipal Election.
Dougall Media will have more on the sessions with the Thunder Bay Public Library in a future article.
