By Richard Leitner
News Staff

A Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board trustee is hoping to convince his colleagues to review their ward representation for the next election.

Ian Thompson, whose wards 11 and 12 stretch from Winona through Glanbrook to the furthest reaches of Ancaster, said he believes a review is needed to better reflect geographic proximity and changes in schools and population.

Until recently, his constituents in Winona had to call long distance to reach him, he said — a situation he resolved by moving to Ward 5.

«If I lived in Ancaster, people in Winona would have to phone long distance to call me. So it’s not fair to people to pay those bills,» said Mr. Thompson, who jumped to his current post last election after being acclaimed as Dundas trustee in 2000.

«And it’s not fair even for taxpayers to have to pay that long-distance when I call them back,» he said. «I’m not complaining the way it is, I just think there might be a better solution.»

The board already has its maximum 11 trustees under provincial legislation that amalgamated its Wentworth County and Hamilton predecessors in 1998. But the new City of Hamilton has 15 wards.

Mr. Thompson’s constituency is the second biggest in area and contains about 46,000 residents. Only Flamborough Trustee Reg Woodworth’s wards 14 and 15 are larger in size, holding about 40,000 residents.

Two other trustees have dual ward responsibilities: Judith Bishop, whose wards 1 and 2 contain nearly 70,000 residents, and Stoney Creek’s John Davidson, whose wards 9 and 10 have about 50,000 residents.

Mr. Thompson, who will seek approval for a formal review next month, said trustees may want to realign boundaries or share responsibilities over a larger area.

He suggested, for instance, that Ancaster and Dundas might be served by one trustee, particularly since the latter is set to lose schools. Trustees presently represent between eight and 16 schools each.

«We haven’t reviewed it since amalgamation, so I think it’s time to take a look at it,» Mr. Thompson said. «Do we want to go by schools, because some wards have more schools?» he said. «Maybe we have too many trustees or maybe we need more trustees. It’s just something that needs to be looked at to make it better representation for the public and for the trustees.»

Ms. Bishop said a review is warranted because different geographic challenges and workloads make proper representation difficult.

First elected solely as a Ward 1 trustee with the old Hamilton board, she now covers 15 schools in two wards that before amalgamation had four trustees. Her pay meanwhile dropped to $5,000 per year from $12,000.

«It also means I’m not as visible. You cannot get to every school council meeting. It’s impossible with 15 schools,» Ms. Bishop said.

«We do have some disparities in terms of population. Some people have far more schools and far more constituents than others, so I think it’s sensible for us to be looking at these things.»

School board chair Ray Mulholland, whose Ward 4 has a dozen schools, agrees and said he recently raised the possibility of giving the board a twelfth trustee in a meeting with Education Minister Gerard Kennedy.

Existing legislation only allows for a maximum of 12 trustees outside of Toronto, which has 20, and Hamilton is about 40,000 people short of the population needed for an additional trustee, he said.

Mr. Mulholland said while Mr. Thompson represents fewer schools and people than some other trustees, his geographic constituency is «unreasonable.»

«It’s always healthy to look at your structure every two or three years, and if there’s anything we can do to reallocate responsibilities, that’s always healthy,» he said.