Halifax’s city council too big?
Posted Jan 4, 2010 02:44:19 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A committee of city council is now engaged in a review that could see council down-sized and it’s findings are due at the end of this year.
“If it’s not broken don’t fix it, and I think the number of calls that we’re getting and the work that we’re doing, is fine,” says North End councillor Jerry Blumenthal.
“I mean if you make it any smaller what’s going to happen to the peninsula of Halifax, it goes down to three councillors I mean it’s a city, it’s a capital city. You need a number of councillors.”
Council’s boundary review is done every five years. There are currently 23 councillors and the mayor.
Meanwhile councillor for Preston David Hendsbee favours a smaller council, with its number tied in to the number of provincial MLAs representing the metro area.
“We have 17 or 18 MLAs serving the Metro area then why don’t we have 17 or 18 councillors serving the same area, make it one to one ratio.”
Mayor Peter Kelly says he’s not opposed to a smaller council and says there’s a public appetite for it.
The public will have some say on the matter when the review committee holds public hearings.
