Status quo for city representation

Hamilton City Council has voted in favour of retaining two East and West electoral Wards and 12 Councillors.

As part of the Local Electoral Act, every six year Councils must review how their communities are represented. The review process includes assessing options on the number of Councillors, whether they are elected from specific Wards or city-wide, and whether Councils should have community boards.

Electoral Officer Anthony Dick says Hamilton City Council reached the penultimate phase this week, when Councillors voted 8-3 to keep the existing representation system for the city for the 2013 and 2016 local body elections.

Mr Dick says the Mayor and Councillors were presented with a range of 10 representation options, including abolition of Wards, adoption of community boards, and a reduction in the number of Councillors.

“At the 11 September Extraordinary meeting, Councillors cited a number of reasons for keeping our current system. Those reasons included the potential changes to local government, and the view the system worked effectively and there was no need to change it,” says Mr Dick.

Having Councillors elected from Wards also gave members of the public better access to them, he says.

Mr Dick says member of the public who want to appeal the decision have from 17 September to 19 October to do so, and their views will be provided to the Local Government Commission for analysis and a further adjudication, if necessary.