Dalrymple discusses boundary review

Fall River, Nova Scotia (D2N) – Councillor Barry Dalrymple discussed the Boundary Review with District 2 News. “I joined HRM’s Boundary Review Board Committee six or seven months ago,” said Dalrymple, “because I don’t believe the size of council and the way council is distributed is in any way close to being fair. And I actually will go so far as to say I think it is the single biggest issue facing the HRM, because all by itself, it makes everything unbalanced and unfair.”

He explained further. “The two reasons I say that, is there are more urban councillors than there are suburban or rural councillors, so on any and every issue, and project, and item, we start off behind the eight ball – right off the bat,” Dalrymple.   “And the bottom line is, if urban councillors want something, it’s theirs. No matter what happens, we can’t stop them.  And I’m not saying that happens all the time, but it absolutely happens. And it is an absolute basic flaw in the HRM process.”

“The other unfairness about it is, all of the big, populated HRM districts of 20,000 and 21,000 people, are the circle around the outside of the city – Hendsbee’s, District 2, Upper and middle Sackville, Tantallon, St.Margaret’s Bay – they all have 20,000 and 21,000 people living in them. District 2 is the second highest populated district in the HRM. “ Dalrymple stated.

“Right now, you have many, many – let’s call them urban districts – that are down around 14,000 to 15,000 people. And the provincial law on this actually states that all districts are supposed to be within 10% of one another in population,” the councillor explained. “Fourteen thousand compared to twenty-one thousand is way outside those numbers. That is why this boundary review is going on.”

The projections for 2012, suggest there will be 21,000 residents living in District 2 by that time. “We are already up to 20,000 residents here, I don’t doubt it will be up and over 21,000 by 2012,” said Dalrymple. “My question is very, very simple, and I have asked it many times at the Boundary Committee – is it fair for a district of 14,000 to be represented the same as a district of 21,000?  I would say it is blatantly unfair. We went through all the public meetings, all the hearings; from letters and from talking to people on the street, I stated unequivocally at the Committee meeting last week that I have heard enough so that I can completely and honestly say, most people want a smaller council.”

On Thursday, the Boundary Review Committee recommended that council drop from 23 councillors to 20.

“Given the numbers in population, there is no possible way to cut councillors in areas such as District 2, and most districts outside of the city limits have populations that are above and beyond,” said Dalrymple. “What that seems to suggest, is that the cuts to council should come from smaller districts, the areas with a lesser population.”

Dalrymple shared what he stated at the Committee meeting on Thursday. “What I said on Thursday, was that you cannot change the boundary’s in this area. You cannot take 3000 people and give them to Hendsbee who is beside me, because he already has a large population as it is; it cannot be made any larger either. Likewise you cannot take 3000 from here and give them to Brad Johns because he too has a population of over 20,000 already. The proposal that we made was that the districts of 14,000 and 15,000 have to be combined and have to be brought up to the 18,000 to 19,000 range. Reducing council by three will only bring them up to the range where we are. The districts of 13,000 and 14,000 must be brought up to where the other districts of 20,000 to 21,000 are.”

The councilor relayed what had transpired at the Boundary Review Committee meeting. “On Thursday, the Boundary Review Committee passed this motion – that we eliminate three Councillors, and that we also go to four community councils of five people each, and drastically increase the authority and delegation of power to the community councils. In about a month it comes before full council. The final decision gets made by the Utility Review Board.”

However residents may not want to celebrate just yet.  Three years ago this same matter was taken to a vote  – but it was not passed.