Pair of councillors eye act change to help scrap board of control

With a two-thirds support near impossible, the duo wants a simple majority to decide the issue.
JOE BELANGER, Free Press City Hall Reporter 2005-06-12 02:23:46


Two London city councillors want the province's help to abolish board of control.

The move comes on the eve of a key council vote tomorrow on whether to cut its size.

Councillors Fred Tranquilli and Sandy White say it's clear city council can't abolish the board because the Ontario Municipal Act requires two-thirds majority support.

So they want council to ask the province to reduce the requirement to a simple majority vote.

"And if council doesn't support that motion, I'll just make the request myself," Tranquilli said.

White proposed the motion, but not because she's opposed to board of control.

"I just think a simple majority is more democratic," she said.

The first-term councillor also wants a task force formed to examine the issue, followed by a full debate by council about the outcome of various options "and what it means to taxpayers."

In its present form, city council consists of a mayor, four members of board of control and 14 councillors, with two elected in each of the city's seven wards.

But critics and some councillors have argued for years that board of control is unnecessary.

With four controllers on the 19-member council unlikely to support a motion to eliminate their jobs, Tranquilli and other critics say it's all but impossible to get the two-thirds majority vote. To do so would require the support of 13 of the remaining 15 council members.

Council will vote at its meeting tomorrow on a recommendation to maintain the status quo.

That recommendation came after a few meetings in April and May where city staff outlined a number of issues and options.

But after hearing several presentations from the public, debate about changing council's structure came to a halt when councillors, sitting in committee of the whole, voted to keep the status quo.

The recommendation was approved by a narrow 9-7 vote with three councillors, Paul Van Meerbergen, Rob Alder and Harold Usher, absent.

Alder says he supports the status quo, Usher says he supports board of control but would consider ward changes and Van Meerbergen couldn't be reached for comment.

Regardless of what council decides tomorrow, it may still have to vote for change.

Among the presenters at a May 17 public meeting was a group calling itself Imagine London. The group proposes a 14-ward electoral system with one councillor per ward and no board of control.

The group, backed by the Urban League of London, has submitted a 987-signature petition, a little-used provision of the Ontario Municipal Act, that requires council to consider their alternative.

If council doesn't act on the petition, the group said it will appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board, which could issue an order for change.





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