The Municipality of the County of Richmond has engaged Stantec Consulting Limited to study the size of its County Council and review the boundaries from which its Councillors will be elected. Your County Council currently has five members, consisting of three Councillors, a Deputy Warden, and a Warden chosen by Council members from among themselves after each election to act as their Chair. The purpose of the Governance and Boundary Review is to determine the appropriate size of Council for the next eight years and the boundaries of electoral districts from which Council members will be elected. The study is being conducted in two phases, the first of which is now complete. In the first phase, Stantec assessed the current size of Richmond County Council.

For the second phase of the project, Stantec must determine the boundaries of the electoral districts from which Councillors will be elected. Based on the results of the first phase, we recommended putting forward boundary arrangements for five and seven Council districts to which the Municipality has agreed.
Current Nova Scotia legislation requires that each district elect one member only. Guidelines for defining districts emphasize that the number of electors (i.e., eligible voters) in all districts should be within ±10% of the average number of electors for all districts. The County must justify variations outside this range in writing. Guidelines also reinforce the importance of respecting communities of interest within each district (i.e., avoid dividing communities between districts).

The electoral boundary arrangements Stantec has developed for Richmond meet the ±10% standard for five and seven districts, the two most preferred Council sizes. The following survey presents the two arrangements for your consideration and feedback. The questions should take between five and ten minutes to complete. All responses are anonymous.