A review of Council composition and ward boundaries will go forward in Chatham-Kent after all.
Councillor Marjorie Crew made the motion instead of councillor Jubenville after her motion passed a required two-thirds of Council to vote in favour of reconsidering Jubenville's old failed motion.
Councillors voted 14-4 to reconsider the motion and ultimately passed the motion to award the review contract by a 14-4 vote.
The review will cost $60,000 and take about six months to complete.
Jubenville previously said the wards are outdated and need to be redefined and upgraded to ensure both rural and urban voices are represented and included in each ward.
Original article was published on May 25, 2024.
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Another attempt at reviewing the outdated ward boundaries in Chatham-Kent could fail unless another councillor brings a new motion forward.
Ward 4 Councillor Rhonda Jubenville is set to introduce a motion at Monday night's council meeting to review ward boundaries, but it could run into a procedural snag.
"This is a motion to reconsider the appointment of the third party consultant [to review ward boundaries only, not the composition of Council]. Councillor Jubenville did not vote on the prevailing side of that motion therefore, cannot bring this motion to the floor at this time. Should another Councillor wish to bring this ward boundary review motion forward, they would have to bring a new notice of motion and would have had to have voted "No" on the April 29th RFP motion," wrote Chatham-Kent Director of Municipal Governance Judy Smith.
Monday night's Council meeting will be held at the John D. Bradley Convention Centre in Chatham due to a larger than expected public turnout. The meeting will start at 6 p.m. and will take place in the grand ballroom.
Three months ago, Council passed a motion to conduct a review of the composition of Council and ward boundaries. However, approval to hire a third party consultant to conduct the review failed a month ago.
Jubenville said the wards are outdated and need to be redefined and upgraded to ensure both rural and urban voices are represented and included in each ward.
The cost of a third party ward boundary review is pegged at $60,000 and would take six months to complete.
Jubenville would prefer the review to be done and approved before the 2026 municipal election.