Hamilton’s public and Catholic school boards are asking the province for more time to realign their political structure to reflect new ward boundaries for this fall’s municipal election.
Public board chair Todd White said it’s nearly impossible to meet a March 31 deadline for finalizing any changes because the city missed a Feb. 15 deadline for supplying updated voter information to the Municipal Property Assessment Corp.
As a result, he said, MPAC — a not-for-profit corporation funded by all Ontario municipalities — has said it hopes to provide the data to the two school boards by March 2.
The Ontario Municipal Board set new boundaries for Hamilton’s 15 wards on Dec. 12, creating a fourth Mountain ward, eliminating a Flamborough one and shifting Stoney Creek’s two wards to the Grimsby border while moving its downtown into Ward 5.
The public board has 11 trustees and White said the city’s tardiness means trustees must come up with potential options and consult the public before making a final decision by their March 26 board meeting.
He said trustees’ task is all the more difficult because they are already losing a week to the March break and typically allot 30 days for public consultation. A board governance committee is scheduled to discuss potential changes on March 6.
“It’s an entire structure on electing a public body. You can’t take that lightly, and as a board we’re always very clear that we’re not simply an afterthought,” White said.
“We can’t be sloppy in that kind of work. We need to make sure that we’re representing our constituents and schools accurately. With tight timelines, the fear would be that quick decisions could be made and mistakes could be made — and those are mistakes that will have at least a four-year repercussion.”
White and Catholic board chair Pat Daly jointly wrote a letter to the ministers of education and municipal affairs asking the deadline be extended to April 20.
“We cannot meet the expectations of our communities and fulfil our democratic responsibilities in the spirit of school board governance given these (current) timelines,” their Feb. 28 letter states, requesting a response by March 5.
Daly said his board’s nine trustees will have to make changes to their representation and “it could be possible” to meet the March 31 deadline if necessary.
But he said if there is to be public consultation, it requires “a legitimate time for people to respond” to any proposed changes.
“For sure, we’re pushed for time and we’re hopeful the two ministers will be open to our request,” Daly said. “We want to make sure trustees have sufficient time to make the right decision.”
Tony Fallis, the city’s elections manager, disputed that city hall is to blame for the data delay. He initially told Hamilton Community News the city in fact met the Feb. 15 deadline and the issue was now in MPAC’s hands.
But White shared a Feb. 15 email from Fallis to Heather Miller, the board’s officer of trustee services, in which Fallis stated MPAC was “informed in a face to face meeting that we would not be able to have the info for the Trustee Distribution by February 15th.”
“My staff is working diligently on producing the new ward boundary document and should have it completed by week end,” it states.
Asked to clarify the discrepancy, Fallis said on March 1 his office provided the data to MPAC on Feb. 16 and he understands the boards will get the needed Population of Electoral Groups report shortly.
MPAC did not respond to an inquiry on when it received the city data.
Note: This story has been updated from a previous version to reflect city manager Tony Fallis’s response to a request for clarification on when his office submitted ward data to MPAC.
Hamilton’s public and Catholic school boards are asking the province for more time to realign their political structure to reflect new ward boundaries for this fall’s municipal election.
Public board chair Todd White said it’s nearly impossible to meet a March 31 deadline for finalizing any changes because the city missed a Feb. 15 deadline for supplying updated voter information to the Municipal Property Assessment Corp.
As a result, he said, MPAC — a not-for-profit corporation funded by all Ontario municipalities — has said it hopes to provide the data to the two school boards by March 2.
The Ontario Municipal Board set new boundaries for Hamilton’s 15 wards on Dec. 12, creating a fourth Mountain ward, eliminating a Flamborough one and shifting Stoney Creek’s two wards to the Grimsby border while moving its downtown into Ward 5.
The public board has 11 trustees and White said the city’s tardiness means trustees must come up with potential options and consult the public before making a final decision by their March 26 board meeting.
He said trustees’ task is all the more difficult because they are already losing a week to the March break and typically allot 30 days for public consultation. A board governance committee is scheduled to discuss potential changes on March 6.
“It’s an entire structure on electing a public body. You can’t take that lightly, and as a board we’re always very clear that we’re not simply an afterthought,” White said.
“We can’t be sloppy in that kind of work. We need to make sure that we’re representing our constituents and schools accurately. With tight timelines, the fear would be that quick decisions could be made and mistakes could be made — and those are mistakes that will have at least a four-year repercussion.”
White and Catholic board chair Pat Daly jointly wrote a letter to the ministers of education and municipal affairs asking the deadline be extended to April 20.
“We cannot meet the expectations of our communities and fulfil our democratic responsibilities in the spirit of school board governance given these (current) timelines,” their Feb. 28 letter states, requesting a response by March 5.
Daly said his board’s nine trustees will have to make changes to their representation and “it could be possible” to meet the March 31 deadline if necessary.
But he said if there is to be public consultation, it requires “a legitimate time for people to respond” to any proposed changes.
“For sure, we’re pushed for time and we’re hopeful the two ministers will be open to our request,” Daly said. “We want to make sure trustees have sufficient time to make the right decision.”
Tony Fallis, the city’s elections manager, disputed that city hall is to blame for the data delay. He initially told Hamilton Community News the city in fact met the Feb. 15 deadline and the issue was now in MPAC’s hands.
But White shared a Feb. 15 email from Fallis to Heather Miller, the board’s officer of trustee services, in which Fallis stated MPAC was “informed in a face to face meeting that we would not be able to have the info for the Trustee Distribution by February 15th.”
“My staff is working diligently on producing the new ward boundary document and should have it completed by week end,” it states.
Asked to clarify the discrepancy, Fallis said on March 1 his office provided the data to MPAC on Feb. 16 and he understands the boards will get the needed Population of Electoral Groups report shortly.
MPAC did not respond to an inquiry on when it received the city data.
Note: This story has been updated from a previous version to reflect city manager Tony Fallis’s response to a request for clarification on when his office submitted ward data to MPAC.
Hamilton’s public and Catholic school boards are asking the province for more time to realign their political structure to reflect new ward boundaries for this fall’s municipal election.
Public board chair Todd White said it’s nearly impossible to meet a March 31 deadline for finalizing any changes because the city missed a Feb. 15 deadline for supplying updated voter information to the Municipal Property Assessment Corp.
As a result, he said, MPAC — a not-for-profit corporation funded by all Ontario municipalities — has said it hopes to provide the data to the two school boards by March 2.
The Ontario Municipal Board set new boundaries for Hamilton’s 15 wards on Dec. 12, creating a fourth Mountain ward, eliminating a Flamborough one and shifting Stoney Creek’s two wards to the Grimsby border while moving its downtown into Ward 5.
The public board has 11 trustees and White said the city’s tardiness means trustees must come up with potential options and consult the public before making a final decision by their March 26 board meeting.
He said trustees’ task is all the more difficult because they are already losing a week to the March break and typically allot 30 days for public consultation. A board governance committee is scheduled to discuss potential changes on March 6.
“It’s an entire structure on electing a public body. You can’t take that lightly, and as a board we’re always very clear that we’re not simply an afterthought,” White said.
“We can’t be sloppy in that kind of work. We need to make sure that we’re representing our constituents and schools accurately. With tight timelines, the fear would be that quick decisions could be made and mistakes could be made — and those are mistakes that will have at least a four-year repercussion.”
White and Catholic board chair Pat Daly jointly wrote a letter to the ministers of education and municipal affairs asking the deadline be extended to April 20.
“We cannot meet the expectations of our communities and fulfil our democratic responsibilities in the spirit of school board governance given these (current) timelines,” their Feb. 28 letter states, requesting a response by March 5.
Daly said his board’s nine trustees will have to make changes to their representation and “it could be possible” to meet the March 31 deadline if necessary.
But he said if there is to be public consultation, it requires “a legitimate time for people to respond” to any proposed changes.
“For sure, we’re pushed for time and we’re hopeful the two ministers will be open to our request,” Daly said. “We want to make sure trustees have sufficient time to make the right decision.”
Tony Fallis, the city’s elections manager, disputed that city hall is to blame for the data delay. He initially told Hamilton Community News the city in fact met the Feb. 15 deadline and the issue was now in MPAC’s hands.
But White shared a Feb. 15 email from Fallis to Heather Miller, the board’s officer of trustee services, in which Fallis stated MPAC was “informed in a face to face meeting that we would not be able to have the info for the Trustee Distribution by February 15th.”
“My staff is working diligently on producing the new ward boundary document and should have it completed by week end,” it states.
Asked to clarify the discrepancy, Fallis said on March 1 his office provided the data to MPAC on Feb. 16 and he understands the boards will get the needed Population of Electoral Groups report shortly.
MPAC did not respond to an inquiry on when it received the city data.
Note: This story has been updated from a previous version to reflect city manager Tony Fallis’s response to a request for clarification on when his office submitted ward data to MPAC.