FORT ERIE: Town to consider doing away with ward system of electing councillors

Fort Erie Town Hall.

Bullet News

FORT ERIE – The Town of Fort Erie is going to take a fresh look at the way members of council are elected.

On Monday, councillors approve a motion asking for a report considering the possibility of doing away with the ward system, in favour of at-large election of council members.

Council currently is comprised of a mayor, who is elected in a general vote across the municipalities, and six councillors, who are elected by voters in each of six wards.

The wards are roughly the same size and represent largely histporical areas of the town: Bridgeburg/North Fort Erie (Ward 1), South Fort Erie/Old Fort (Ward 2), Crescent Park (Ward 3), Ridgeway (Ward 4), Crystal Beach (Ward 5), Stevensville (Ward Six).

The ward boundaries have changed over the year, but the system has been in place since the modern municipality was created through a merger of smaller communities in 1970.

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Written by on February 13, 2013 in Fort Erie, News Now, Politics - 2 Comments

2 Comments on "FORT ERIE: Town to consider doing away with ward system of electing councillors"

  1. Patty Mountain February 14, 2013 at 9:53 am · Reply

    Wouldn’t it be nice to have one complete Council working together for the best results of Greater Fort Erie.
    Looking at the rest of the articles in the paper, we may not have to worry about it though, if the Region ever wakes up and realizes how self efficient they could be to go to bat against Toronto and Oakville and Hamilton by being “The City of Niagara” we won’t be voting for wards, we will hopefully be voting for good representation of the Fort Erie area at the Region.

    I remember Bertie Township, those were the days of good service and respectful people working for the taxpayers (the ones who pay their salaries).

  2. Tony Caruso February 24, 2013 at 7:03 pm · Reply

    when did city council of FORT ERIE become dictatorship? how can you just remove the ward system with out a referendum of the people? this council is no different than the dictatorship of Niagara Falls council when they removed the ward system against the people’s wishes . I strongly feel this kind of decision on electing politicians should be at the will of the people and not of a dysfunctional council. The people of Fort Erie make your voices heard!!!!!!!!!!!

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About the Author

John Robbins

John Robbins, an award-winning multimedia journalist, joined Bullet News as a staff writer in January 2011. He was named editor in April 2013. The veteran reporter worked in Niagara and Fort Erie for more than a decade, using his investigative skills in a wide range of beats, including local politics, health/environment, education, business and tourism. His writing has earned him six Ontario Newspaper Awards Robbins, born and raised in Niagara Falls, studied at Emmanuel Bible College and Brock University before graduating from the Journalism-Print program at Niagara College, where he earned several scholarships and awards. During his 11 years as a reporter at the Niagara Falls Review, Robbins, who was Fort Erie bureau chief from 2002-2006, was instrumental in bringing video and e-reporting skills into daily practice at the newspaper and helped build its web and social media audiences. In 2009, Robbins received an appointment to journalism-print advisory committee at Niagara College. Robbins lives in Ridgeway.