Two-ward system remains for Hamilton's 2019 local election

Hamilton City Council has voted to remain with its two ward system for the 2019 elections. Image / Hamilton City Council

Hamilton City Council has decided to stay with a two-ward voting system for the 2019 elections, despite a mixed range of public feedback seeking changes.

At an extraordinary council meeting at the start of November, the current elected members made the unanimous decision to continue with the two-ward system, with several councillors mentioning that not enough of the public submitted on the matter.

The decision to stick with two wards differs from the opinions of a group of five former candidates and other concerned residents who made verbal submissions earlier this year.

However, HCC electoral officer Dale Ofsoske told council that they would not need to be concerned when the the Local Government Commission reviews council's decision.

"The commission has indicated that no one knows their community better than local councils, so they will come in and look at the process taken, and the fairness," Mr Ofsoske said.

"Your process has been very robust and your consultation very thorough."

Hamilton city councillor Angela O'Leary asked Mr Ofsoske how the commission will look at the variety of responses from submitters.

"The commission will be confronted with the same issue the council has been confronted with. This is like a scatter gun where it is all over the place, so how can you get an answer out of that," Mr Ofsoske said.

"They will look at the evidence and will likely come to the same conclusion that it is all over the place and possibly make the conclusion council has to stick with the status quo."

The current electoral system is that six councillors are elected from the east, and six from the west side of the river, with a city-wide vote for mayor.

Some of the public submitters asked for the council to change to a three-ward system, while others asked for a city-wide election for all council seats.

In debate, councillor O'Leary brought up the mixed variety of responses again, saying more diversity and more choice of candidates to vote for were the only consistent trends.

"Ironically both of those two things, it is up for the public to deliver," Ms O'Leary said.

"I believe more wards in the future will help with delivering diversity. The public is looking for change but that is in their hands."

Councillor Paula Southgate said that due to a low number of public submitters, it is hard to have the full picture on what the public wants.

"If the public feel very strongly about representation, about who gives them the voice at council, then that needs to change. The public needs to become more engaged with what we do at submission level," Ms Southgate said.

Councillor Geoff Taylor said he listened carefully to submissions, and saw nothing that could convince him to vote differently from a two-ward system.

"Some things I agreed with, some I didn't," Mr Taylor said. "There weren't a lot of submissions for a city of 170,000 people. I still think the two wards gives us the fairest balance at this stage."

Mayor Andrew King said that more wards are likely in the future as Hamilton's population grows.

"In the meantime, the river naturally divides Hamilton. There is a higher population in the east but [new southern suburb] Peacocke will even that out over time."