by Shaun McLaughlin
Overview
43 paper and 197 electronic surveys were returned — that is 2.25 % of 10,603 eligible voters. The wards break down like this:
- 109 from Almonte ward (2.69% of 4050 of voters)
- 94 from Ramsay ward (2.17% of 4334 voters)
- 37 from Pakenham ward (1.17% of 2219 voters)
1. Overall 60% voted yes to changing the size of Council, 33% said no and 7% were undecided. The wards break down like this (rounded to one decimal place):
- Almonte ward: Yes 77%, No 16.5%, Undecided 6.5%
- Ramsay ward: Yes 38.3, No 57.4%, Undecided 4.3%
- Pakenham ward: Yes 64.9%, No 21.6%, Undecided 13.5%
2. Overall 49% endorsed having a deputy mayor, 36% said no, and 15% were undecided. The wards break down like this:
- Almonte ward: Yes 57.8%, No 25.7%, Undecided 16.5%
- Ramsay ward: Yes 36.2, No 48.9%, Undecided 14.5%
- Pakenham ward: Yes 54.1%, No 32.4%, Undecided 13.5%
3. One the question of which Council size people preferred, 45% endorse the 7-member option, 32% wanted to stay at 11, the remainder were almost evenly split at about 11% for the 10 and 9 member options. The wards break down like this:
- Almonte ward: 11=18.3%, 10=6.4%, 9=14.7%, 7=60.5%
- Ramsay ward: 11=56.4%, 10=10.6%, 9=4.3%, 7=28.7%
- Pakenham ward: 11=13.5%, 10=24.3%, 9=18.9%, 7=43.2%
Looking at the above, almost 82% of Almonte respondents voted for a change in Council size of some type. In Pakenham that number was over 86%. In Ramsay the number was over 43%. Note: in all three wards, more people supported a change option in question 3 than supported a size change in question 1. This may mean that the undecided in question 1 made a choice in question 3.
