Neither the size of Prince Edward County’s council nor the municipality’s ward structure will be changing anytime in the near future.
After much debate during the Committee of the Whole meeting on Thursday, councillors voted against proceeding with a review of the County’s governance structure.
Councillors actually voted against three separate motions.
In March 2023, council directed staff to look into the cost and scope of a possible third party review and develop terms of reference for a review following a motion by Councillor Chris Braney.
That information was presented to councillors on Thursday and prior to discussing the motion, including the terms of reference, councillors heard from several members of the public through deputation or comments.
Almost all were against any review or change to the size of the current council.
Councillors appeared divided on whether they believed constituents would actually want a third-party review that staff reported would likely cost $75,000.
Councillor Bill Roberts suggested most residents would be in favour.
“We have nothing to fear from a knowledgeable, objective, transparent and widely consulted third-party review.”
Councillor Braney called such a review a healthy process that all municipalities should undergo every seven to 10 years.
“We’re not making decisions today. We’re looking for feedback from our community, from our residents. This is what they asked. They want to be part of this process.”
Council currently has 13 councillors and one mayor representing nine wards as the result of a previous review, however, the contentious decision to eliminate a ward and two councillors was appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board.
The appeal was dismissed and the current structure went into place as of the 2018 election.
Councillor Phil Prinzen is against a smaller council saying they already have trouble filling committees and that the money, time and resources that would be spent on a review are unnecessary.
“And is it that we really want to make a change or is that we think it’s the right thing to do? Because I have a feeling that, you know, it would be a lot of meetings, a lot of time, and we’ll at the end of it -maybe Councillor Braney won’t agree with me – but at the end of it, it would be like, well you know we did but we’re gonna stay the same.”
Councillor John Hirsch was also against the review saying he does not hear the public asking for it.
He says he would be in favour of an internal review to see how council could operate more efficiently and how they could attract more people to run for council.
“Is our council remuneration acceptable? Or as Councillor Branderhorst suggested, is there another way that we can structure the way we work that can make it more effective, more efficient for people to vote? This doesn’t require us going into a consultant-led review of electoral representation.”
The main motion was rejected eight to six in a recorded vote.
Councillor Braney did offer an amended motion calling for the governance review to be expanded so it would encompass much more than just the size of council.
“A full governance structure would cover a range of governance topics including but not limited to committee structure, standing committees, financial control, powers of the mayor, deputy mayor system and and ward boundaries and size of council.”
The recorded vote on the amended motion was seven to seven and, because it was a tie, was defeated.
Finally, Committee of the Whole voted on another motion from Councillor Braney asking for a question to be included on the 2026 municipal election ballot asking voters if they would be in favour of a review of the governance structure system.
That motion was defeated nine to five.
