CITY HALL
   OFFICE OF THE MAYOR VANCOUVER

   November 7, 1995

   MEMO TO:  Members of Council

   COPY TO:  City Manager
             City Clerk

   FROM:     Mayor Philip Owen

   RE:       WARDS REVIEW
   _______________________________________________________________

   You  will recall  that  in my  Inaugural  Address of  December, 1993,  I
   announced there would  be a referendum on  a ward system as  part of the
   next municipal election.

   I also asked the City Manager and the City Clerk to report to Council on
   the  composition  of a  wards review  committee  including the  terms of
   reference, budget and procedure to  establish boundaries and the process
   for public participation. 

   Since that  time, I have had  several discussions with the  City Manager
   and  the  City Clerk  on how  best to  proceed.  Adhering to  the intent
   expressed in the Inaugural  Address, I believe that City  Council should
   include  a referendum on  the ward system  on the November  1996 ballot.
   Further, should the 1996 referendum  result in a decision to  change the
   present  system to a different one, the  system would not be implemented
   until the following election in November of 1999. 

   Addressing the question of a wards review committee, I have been advised
   by the  City Manager and City  Clerk that to properly  review and adjust
   ward boundaries, it  is vital that up-to-date,  accurate population data
   be available. Unfortunately,  the last  Canada Census  was conducted  in
   1991 and the next Canada Census will be held in 1996. The resulting data
   will not be available until the end of 1997 or early 1998. 

   Based on  the aforementioned, I trust  that you concur that  it does not
   make  any sense to undertake a review  of ward boundaries without up-to-
   date  population statistics. Therefore, I  have asked the  City Clerk to
   defer  reporting on a  wards review committee  until the  results of the
   1996 referendum are known and data from the 1996 Census is available. In
   the  meantime, I have asked the City  Clerk to research other systems of
   local  governance currently  in  place in  other North  American cities,
   including  those cities  experiences with  their particular  systems, as
   well  as  to  review recent  studies  undertaken  on  this subject.  The
   resultant report  would be submitted  to Council  in April  of 1996  and
   would  be  widely  circulated  to  encourage  public  opinion  prior  to
   Council's consideration of its content.
                                    - 2 - 


   If the  results of  the  referendum lead  to a  decision  by Council  to
   introduce a ward system in 1999,  it would be appropriate to establish a
   wards review committee,  as originally envisioned, when the  1996 census
   data  has been  released.  The work  of  this committee,  including  the
   establishment of ward boundaries,  would be completed such that  the new
   system would be in place for our 1999 general elections.





                                          Philip W. Owen,

                                          MAYOR