Huntsville Clerk Tanya Calleja told Huntsville Council at its September 9 meeting that with Chaffey in Huntsville being the fastest-growing ward, it is unfair to expect just one council member to represent it.
The issue has been raised in the past, and staff was directed to report back to council on the best way to address the inequity for both constituents and the council representative.
In her report (pdf), Calleja gave a history of the Town’s current ward system. She said through the years, council has discussed different options to ensure equal representation for the town’s population, but “each term of council either recommended the matter be forwarded to the next term of council or decided not to advance on the option provided,” said Calleja. “As Chaffey Ward specifically has continued to grow in population at a rate greater than other wards, the imbalance is becoming unmanageable for one representative.”
She said staff had researched all options, and due to timelines and unbudgeted costs, they were recommending pairing the Huntsville and Chaffey wards so that two councillors represent both. She said staff were also recommending that a report on a ward boundary and council composition review be brought forward to the next term of council (2026-2030).
“The pairing of Huntsville Ward and Chaffey Ward will be similar to that of the pairing of Stisted, Port Sydney and Stephenson wards today, of which we have two representatives. Two positions for Huntsville and Chaffey Ward councillor would be in place for the 2026-2030 municipal election term and both councillors would represent both wards during that term. This would not take effect until the 2026 election,” added Calleja, noting that there will be a public meeting before staff returns with a bylaw to be voted on by council.
Councillor Cory Clarke, who represents Chaffey Ward, welcomed the recommendation. “It’s time to make a decision on this and not kick it down the road anymore, and when the review is done, at that time… a decision could be made if things were working well or if there are more changes that still need to be made.” Clarke said the review will likely lead to conversations about elections at large versus the ward system, but for now, he said he just wants to focus on ensuring that Chaffey Ward has the best representation before the next election.
Councillor Bob Stone said council sees the problem before it, and he’s glad it’ll be reviewed next term, but “maybe we should do a better job of telling the public that they can contact any councillor or the mayor on any issue,” he said, adding that he gets calls from all over Huntsville. “Even when I was a Huntsville [ward]councillor, same thing. You just deal with it, and I know all of my colleagues do, too. So, perhaps the public needs to know that any one of us will take care of the problem.”
Huntsville Mayor Nancy Alcock concurred that communication is key but in the interim said the solution proposed by staff “will certainly help with the issue at hand which is the councillor that represents Chaffey receives a really truly… large proportion of constituent concerns.”
Council voted unanimously to move forward with the staff recommendation.
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The Real Person!
The Real Person!
Mr. Stone said “Perhaps town council could do a better job of letting constuents know they can contact council at any time on any issue.” Perhaps council could do a better job at ANSWERING many of us who do contact our town council on many issues of concern. I guess they only want to answer the easy questions and shun those of us who ask the difficult ones.
The Real Person!
The Real Person!
It really is long overdue in dealing with the disproportionate representation of Chaffey Ward. And it has been that way for way too long.
When I was first voted to represent Chaffey in 2000, one third of permanent Huntsville residents lived in Chaffey and by extension Chaffey Ward held approximately fifteen percent of the permanent population of Muskoka. Of the nine members on council in 2000-2003, six including the Mayor and Deputy Mayor lived in Chaffey Ward.
In recent years the percentage will be even greater with the incredible growth of Huntsville North of Highway 60.
I wonder if a different idea would be to split Chaffey Ward in two…East of Highway 11 as one ward with one Councillor and combine Chaffey West of Highway 11 with Stephenson Ward also with one Councillor..
That would leave Stisted Ward and Port Sydney with one Councillor, Brunel Ward with one, and Huntsville Ward with one.
Although a Huntsville Ward Councillor would have fewer constituents than other Councilllors, he/she has extra responsibilities dealing as a representative on the BIA along with most of the infrastructure in town.
Add three Councillors at large and one Mayor would round out the Council numbers at nine.