Council asks for a review of Edmonton’s ward boundaries

City council has ordered a review of Edmonton’s ward boundaries due to several factors, including annexation.

The last major review took place in 2009.

The city will use an independent commission to gauge the public’s opinion on how citizens are represented at city hall.

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However, the majority of councillors didn’t feel there was a desire from the public to increase the size of council.

“Sometimes I think 12 is too many, quite frankly,” Mayor Don Iveson said.

“Going to 14 or 16, I don’t think would serve Edmontonians any better. It would just make it harder and make the meetings longer. So I’m glad that council agreed, not unanimously but close, to keep it to 12.”

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Coun. Mike Nickel agreed.

“I would certainly concur that I think we have enough politicians running around and we don’t need anymore,” he said.

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The mayor also doesn’t think there’d be public support for the costs associated with adding more councillors.

“I think the last time we looked at it, it was $5 million worth of renovations to city hall and then another half-million dollars a year of cost to the taxpayer just to add two,” Iveson said. “I think if we asked our public, they would say: ‘No thank you.'”

Instead of entertaining the idea of increasing the number of councillors, council has asked the administration to look at how to redraw the boundary lines to make wards as equal as possible.