Lambton Shores council has decided not to act on a report that proposed changes to the municipality's seven ward boundaries, which have remained the same since 2001.
A report was received and filed for information during a mid-January meeting after council directed staff in July 2024 to compile a ward boundary review using a 2020 preliminary report from Andrew Sancton Consulting Ltd.
Staff also worked with Elections Ontario to get updated elector counts.
The number of eligible voters in each ward varies. Ward 3 (which spans from Ipperwash Beach to Port Franks), has the highest number of voters with 2,226, while Ward 6 (which includes Thedford) has the least amount at 860.
Aside from the status quo, two options were presented to council to achieve voter parity, and staff recommended "Option 2".
Initially, there was some hesitation to even receive the report, which didn't sit well with Councillor Glen Baillie.
"The decisions that we make today will be for the next 20 years," Baillie said. "So with that in mind, refusing to contemplate what is going to happen because of a comfort level that, its been the same for 20 years why should we change it? It doesn't sit right with me."
Councillors Lorie Scott and Dave Marsh were in favour of keeping the boundaries as is.
"I personally don't see the need to change. I think it's working well," said Scott. "The growth will happen, but maybe it won't happen for a little while."
"For 23 years this is something that has worked," said Marsh.
Councillor Scott also noted that not all eligible voters visit the polls at election time.
Director of Corporate Services Stephanie Troyer-Boyd said the ward boundaries will be reviewed again at a later date.
"It's a good approach to have ward boundaries reviewed every two to three election cycles," she said. "We know that we're beyond that, given that they haven't changed since 2001 but even in this particular report, I did suggest that it would be sufficient for two or three elections."
Troyer-Boyd confirmed ward boundaries can be appealed to the Ontario Land Tribunal, and council would have to defend its numbers.
"I will tell you that these numbers are not defendable," said Troyer-Boyd.
If an appeal were received, Councillor Baillie questioned if an outside consultant would need to be hired. The answer was yes.
"So we're facing an invoice here. This is not a no-cost deferral," Baillie said. "If we are aware that we're not necessarily in a defensible position, you might win... it's going to cost you some money."
While there was no financial impact with this latest review, the 2020 report cost $40,000. Staff estimate that a full ward boundary review would cost approximately $50,000 to $60,000.