Region of Queens council discussed proposed electoral district boundary changes and decided to formalize their  agreement with donors to build a new outdoor pool.

The evening meeting started with a minute of silence in recognition of Truth and Reconciliation Day on Friday.

Council then passed two items that were discussed at previous meetings: a policy for tree maintenance on municipally owned land and choosing which roads would be submitted for upgrade under a provincial cost-sharing plan.

The Region will go 50/50 with the province on whichever road the province determines they will upgrade out of a list of four roads prioritized by the municipality.

In order they are College Street from Shore Road to Pleasant Avenue, Roxbury Road, Oliver Street and Fostertown Road.

The province will decide if work will be done on any or all of those ahead of the release of next year’s provincial budget.

The bulk of the meeting was taken up with a discussion around realigning the electoral districts within the municipality.

Every municipality in the province must review their districts and number of representatives every ten years to ensure the appropriate number of councillors are representing an equal number of residents.

Following public consultation and a staff report, council decided the preferred option was to keep one mayor and seven councillors but that the number of councillors representing portions of the former Town of Liverpool would be reduced from three to two.

Mayor Darlene Norman says council felt it was a matter of fairness.

“The majority of councillors believed that it’s misrepresentation, from the public’s view, when you have three councillors representing the town.”

Norman says council recognizes that some of the districts are still geographically quite large but the review dictates it’s the number of voters to be represented within each district which must be considered and not necessarily the size of the area a councillor would have to travel.

A final recommendation on the electoral boundary review will come before council at their next meeting.

Following the in-camera portion of the meeting Norman says council accepted a recommendation to enter into an agreement with Holly Murphy and Michael Murphy for the construction of an outdoor community pool.

“Part of the agreement with the very generous donors is that the terms of this agreement remain confidential as well as their gift amount,” said Norman.

The mayor says timelines and budget decisions around the construction will be made public as the project goes forward.

She’s optimistic the pool will be ready sometime in 2024.

The next council meeting will be held October 11 at 9:00am in council chambers.

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