Some Belleville councillors aren’t pleased with a city-produced video on a proposal made by the Mayor to split the city’s ward boundaries up from two to four.
The video is part of the public consultation process on the plan and must be watched before residents can access a survey on the proposed change, with that survey input being collected, before a final vote later this summer.
It was put together by staff from various city departments including the clerk’s department, IT staff, communications and the mayor’s office.
During Monday’s city council meeting, a handful of councillors including Councillor Paul Carr, said they had heard from constituents about the video and survey being one-sided.
“It’s very clear as to how you formulate your question to get the responses you want, then you throw an editorialized $5,000 video on the front-end, particularly for people who don’t follow what goes on. When you need to educate the public, it’s simply educating them on the system we have now and the system that’s being proposed. That’s missing.”
Councillors Garnet Thompson, Sean Kelly and Chris Malette voiced similar concerns, while Councillor Bill Sandison backed the video and the proposed change, moving forward.
Mayor Mitch Panciuk responded that the video was in line with the motion that council approved in May and felt that some councillors were using it to further debate on the ward change proposal itself.
“The motion that passed is recommending a four ward system, so the video is designed to support the information that people would need for it. This is a consultation process and I know that no matter what comes of that, there will be people who will vote against the four ward system and today just demonstrated that.”
City Clerk Matt MacDonald told council that the online survey is not the only way residents can give input on the proposal.
He says any correspondence between residents and councillors will be included in a final report and anyone who can’t access the survey online, can get a hard copy at City Hall.
