Chatham-Kent councillors may be forced to take a second look at local government thanks to a citizen’s petition launched this week.
Lynn O’Brien, who ran unsuccessfully for a Chatham council seat last year, has launched the petition on change.org calling for a decrease in the number of wards to 10 from six. The new system would have four rural wards (North East Kent, South East Kent, North West Kent, South West Kent) a Wallaceburg ward, and five wards in Chatham.
At its April 20 meeting, council opted not to investigate changing the makeup of local government minutes after hearing a presentation on the subject from Western University professor Andrew Sancton.
“Ward Boundaries – Representation by Population” was the topic of first TV show of the CK Community Development Forum held just prior to the council meeting. Sanction gave a presentation on the history of the municipality, along with governance and representation by population.
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During the council session that followed, Chatham Coun. Derek Robertson entered a motion asking for a third-party review of the subject. It was defeated along geographic lines, with Chatham council members voting for the motion and all outside Chatham voting against it.
O’Brien said the petition is a sign of activism borne of frustration, but isn’t meant to be confrontational.
“I’m frustrated because council isn’t even interested in looking at the subject,” she said. “I don’t think council members understand how strongly members of the public feel about this so we’re going to give the public a chance to let them know.”
The former city of Chatham currently has 43% of the municipality’s population and 35% of the voting power on council.
“Representation by population is a foundation of all government – except we don’t believe it applies to Chatham-Kent,” she said.
If the petition garners 1% of Chatham-Kent’s population, (1,050 signatures) the matter can go back before council. If council still refuses to act, the matter can be turned over to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).
“I’m certainly prepared to take this to the OMB if council is shown the public wants change and they won’t act on it,” she said.
Robertson was one of the first to sign the petition online. He said he isn’t surprised that citizens are becoming more vocal.
“I’d say the petition is a reasonable, predictable response to people thinking they’re being ignored by council,” he said. “You’ve heard that every action causes an equal and opposite reaction? Well here it is.”
Robertson called council’s refusal to look at the size and makeup of government “hypocritical and a gross dereliction of duty.
“We have no problem telling staff to enact a service review in one breath while refusing to look at becoming more efficient ourselves,” he said. “We’re happy to point our finger everywhere but at ourselves. That is not leadership in my estimation.”
Robertson said he had no preconceived notion of what a third party review would recommend.
“Perhaps we would be told we need more councillors or there should be full-time councillors,” he said. “We made a decision with no data whatsoever. I’m baffled how we can do that.”
He said council’s inaction is a perfect example of why a third party should review the situation.
“We can’t get past our own protectionism,” he said.
If the petition comes back to council and eventually ends up before the OMB, Robertson said it will take a lot more than the cost of the review (which he proposed be capped at $20,000) to defend the municipality’s position.
“How do we defend the undefendable,” he asked. “How do we explain that we didn’t even have the courage to look at the issue?”
O’Brien said in addition to the online petition, paper petitions will be circulated in the community. Anyone wanting a copy can contact her at 519-809-4045.
