Two Borders makes move to downsize council

The Municipality of Two Borders is in the midst of shrinking the size of its council and changing its ward boundaries.

The rural council gave first reading earlier this month to bylaws that would reduce the number of councillors from nine to five and increase the number of wards from three to five. A public hearing on the issue is set for next month.

“I believe it will save us money. I believe decision-making will be easier,” Reeve Sandra Clark said. “I think that’s appropriate.”

Currently, Two Borders operates with three wards that have three councillors each. The borders of the wards follow the former municipalities of Arthur, Albert and Edward.

The three municipalities combined in 2015 when the province forced all municipalities with a population of under 1,000 to join with a nearby municipality to have a population of at least 1,000. Two Borders has a population of 1,120 as of the 2021 census.

“Mostly it’s to bring the representation appropriate to all of the wards,” Clark said of the change.

The three wards don’t have equal populations. The last census done in 2011 before amalgamation showed Arthur, Albert and Edward had populations of 413, 323 and 574, respectively.

Chief administrative officer Grace Carr said the proposal will align with the Municipal Act.

“In the Municipal Act … you have to provide fair representation,” Carr said. “So this way, we’ve divided out the municipality from north to south.”

She said the amalgamation of the three municipalities is why the current council is so large.

The new system will see wards 2, 3, 4 and 5 extend in a north-south direction along the municipality. Ward 1 will include the community of Pierson and surrounding area. As a result, Ward 2 will be cut into two pieces, with land both north and south of Ward 1.

Carr said this will mean all wards will have similar populations.

The former municipalities included Albert in the north, Arthur in the southeast and Edward in the southwest. The proposed wards going north-south is to get away from that, Carr said.

“It’s to get away from those old wards. A fresh view,” she said.

“It’s been an ongoing process to get amalgamated. We currently have a population of 1,120 people. That’s a lot of representation for 1,120 people, so I think this will be good for everybody.”

Political science Prof. Aaron Moore said there likely wasn’t much thought given when designing the proposed new wards.

“You have an area that’s clearly more urban and has one ward, which makes sense, but you would think that they would at least try to ensure that the other wards encompass communities that have some relationship to each other geographically or based on some other features,” the University of Winnipeg professor said.

“(Pierson) is like at the corner of the ward (Ward 1). You could tell it’s not based on communities because it’s based on roads,” Moore said about how the wards were designed. “These little urban communities are actually right on the cusp of the boundaries. Whereas I would probably centre them within the ward.”

Moore said with the new proposal, council will lose diversity as there will be fewer councillors, but that it makes sense for the size of Two Borders’ population.

Clark said the different wards are only for voting purposes.

“Wards really are only for the day of the election, let’s not forget that. We all represent the whole municipality the day after the election,” she said.

Moore said that shouldn’t be the case.

“The whole point of wards is actually to be representing different communities,” he said. “If that wasn’t the point, then you could just have an at-large election where everybody votes for all five councillors across the entire municipality.”

He said having different wards means councillors can each represent the needs of their ward, so voters have specific representation. He said that it is usually more important for larger municipalities, and when elections are competitive with multiple people running for the same position.

The 2022 election in Two Borders saw Clark acclaimed, and wards 1 and 2 acclaimed. Only voters in one ward had to cast ballots.

Carr said financially this will help the municipality, as it pays for four fewer councillors.

Councillors in Two Borders currently make about $10,200 a year each, plus communications allowances and hourly pay for committee meetings.

Through indemnity alone, the municipality will save $40,800 a year based on the current council wages.

Council passed first reading for the new ward system by a vote of 7-3. The Sun reached out to the three councillors who voted against the matter by email, but didn’t hear back by press time.

Carr said for the people who remember the old municipalities, it will be a little harder to change.

“I mean, it’s hard for us older people, you know. You kind of get stuck in your ways. But I think it’ll be refreshing,” Carr said.

The public hearing on the proposed changes is set for Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. at the municipal office in Melita.

The Sun reached out to the Association of Manitoba Municipalities for comment, but didn’t hear back on Monday.

» alambert@brandonsun.com