LETHBRIDGE, AB – You’ll be asked in October to vote on whether or not Lethbridge should move to a ward system.
City Council voted 8-1 Tuesday in favour of placing a question on the upcoming municipal election ballot.
The question would read “Do you support using a ward system to elect City Councillors (other than the Mayor) starting with the 2025 municipal election?”
A ward is a local authority area, or electoral district, within a municipality.
Currently Lethbridge is elected at large which means the mayor and all eight councillors serve the entire city and all its residents.
Councillor Jeff Coffman introduced the motion saying “council defeated earlier efforts to have a Citizen Assembly to explore a ward system. Voters, not elected representatives, should determine their electoral system, so putting this question on the ballot gives voters power to tell City Council what they expect for the 2025 election.”
The election ballot question would be non-binding and the future council can decide to honour it or explore it further based on the results though Coffman says “I would expect the next Council to honour the results of the question and – if supported – immediately begin preparing for the new structure in 2025.”
