In coming up with the design, the consultant team closely followed five guiding principles, with equitable representation by population topping the list.

“We believe the town will be well-served by the recommended option of four wards,” said Dr. Williams, noting it provides a good population balance now while accommodating a significant community of interest (Nassagaweya), along with the various emerging urban communities.

But the suggested ward boundaries weren’t warmly welcomed by all of council.

“There are so many things wrong with this recommendation, I’m surprised that staff even allowed it to come before council,” contended Malboeuf, saying he thinks it divides communities and won’t be easy for voters to comprehend.

Both Malboeuf and Hamid took issue with the fact the proposed Wards 1 and 2 combined would have a smaller population base than Ward 4’s projected 50,635 residents by 2022.

“Given the population growth in this town, it’s very challenging to create a population balance that works today and in 2022,” explained Karvinen. “We felt this was the best balance we could achieve, given the population growth pressures.”

Hamid cited worries about the population imbalance amongst the urban and rural areas contained in Ward 1, while Local and Regional Councillor Mike Cluett expressed concerns about a councillor’s ability to balance the various interests of such a diverse ward.

“As it stands right now, I can’t even hold my nose and vote for it,” said Cluett.

Huffman said it sounds like Milton should be sticking with an eight-ward system to achieve balance, noting that he didn’t hear from anyone at the public meetings who was in favour of going from eight to four wards.

He proceeded to plead for one of the six councillors who originally voted in favour of the ward and council size reduction to make a motion to reconsider the matter.

“I beg of you, on behalf of every citizen in our town,” he said, arguing that council “made a big mistake” in its previous decision and the town should remain under an eight-ward system. “That’s the best thing for our community, now and in the future.”

While Huffman’s sentiments were met with applause from the audience, no councillors made a motion to reopen the debate.

Former Milton councillor Wendy Schau addressed council during the meeting and shared similar sentiments with Huffman.

While she spoke in favour of the recommendation as the best option for a four-ward configuration, she added that, “A much more satisfactory solution would’ve been to continue with eight wards.”

She urged council to reconsider its previous decision to reduce the number of wards and councillors, noting that fewer council seats lowers the opportunity for new people to be elected and reduces the diversity of viewpoints around the table.

Malboeuf argued that if the goal is to have equitable representation by population, Option B “makes the most sense” and would be easiest for voters to understand, since the community would be divided evenly along Ontario Street and Derry Road.

But Schau deemed Option B as the “worst” choice because it splits the downtown, lumps Nassagaweya in with a large chunk of the downtown and doesn’t allow a distinct rural voice.

Rural resident Betty Robertson asked council to delay its consideration of the new boundaries to give citizens more time to consider the final report, which only became available to the public last week.

She expressed concern about the urban/rural mix in the proposed Ward 1 and a councillor’s ability to represent both.

“Our issues may be overlooked when the electoral realities place demands on his or her time,” she said. “The sad thing is, with eight wards we had the opportunity to maintain that (rural) voice and you voted it away.”

Local resident Jennifer Smith also spoke out against the recommendation and contended that none of the options work “in any sort of acceptable way.”

Hamid said he also “hated” the first four options presented and isn’t in favour of the fifth recommended option either.

“This (recommended option) will lose the rural voice,” he said.

But according to Ward 7 Councillor Rick Di Lorenzo, the consultant recommendation “is the least ugly of five ugly options” for a four-ward system.

Lunau shared similar sentiments, dubbing the recommendation “the best of the bad options.”

“If we’re going with a four-ward system, each ward must accept a certain per cent of the population it’s not used to having,” she said.

Pollard said from his perspective, council’s in a situation where there likely won’t ever be a perfect four-ward configuration.

“I truly feel that if we’re going to stay with four wards, this is likely the best alternative,” he said, later noting that he’s not happy with the four-ward system and voted against it earlier this year.

Halton District School Board trustees Donna Danielli and Kim Graves also attended the meeting and voiced their support for the consultant-recommended option.

Since the final consultant recommendation wasn’t presented during the public meetings or in the newspaper, Best called for a deferral of the matter to January allow for public input.

“If we approve it tonight, we do look like we’re ramming this through,” he noted.

He also spoke out adamantly against the recommendation and reduction in wards.

“Going from eight to four makes no sense,” he said, noting any cost savings in reducing the number of councillors will be lost by having to redo the ward boundaries every two elections.

But the deferral motion failed, followed by the consultant’s recommendation being voted down 7-4, with Pollard, Di Lorenzo, Huffman and Lunau being the only councillors to vote in favour.

Malboeuf then put forth a motion to implement Option B — a resolution that Huffman and Lunau both spoke out against.

“It is just plain wrong,” said Lunau, saying she feels it “completely disrespects” the rural community.

Now that Option B has been approved, it will be subject to a 45-day appeal period, when the Minister of Municipal Affairs or any other person or agency may appeal the matter to the OMB, according to a report from Town Clerk Troy McHarg.

Following that, it’s estimated it could take eight to 10 months to conclude any appeals, which must be finalized before the end of 2017 in order for the boundaries to be in place for the 2018 election.

For more information visit http://www.milton.ca/en/townhall/CouncilcompositionReview.asp.