North Perth Council received the final Council Composition & Ward Boundary Review report at the meeting on April 8.
Sarah Carter, Acting Clerk and Legislative Services Supervisor, says the report was requested by council last summer, and Watson and Associates were retained to put the report together.
"With the understanding that their consultation process would focus on single member wards, and then election of the mayor, deputy mayor and county councillor at large. So that was the information that Watson and Associates worked with when they were preparing their final report," Carter shared.
The report's second phase was requested by council last summer. Carter says Watson and Associates came back ultimately with 2 options for recommendations on potential changes.
"Options one and two were both 7 single-member wards, seeing the mayor, deputy mayor and county councillor elected at large. One council member representation for each of the proposed wards. The difference was a split in the Wallace and Elma wards, it was just a boundary adjustment between the two options," said Carter.
After receiving the information, Carter says council went another direction.
"So ultimately the council resolution that got passed on April 8 was that the Council of the Municipality of North Perth receive the updated presentation from Watson and Associates dated April 8 for information, and that council chooses to maintain the current council composition and electoral ward system for the 2026 municipal election. So they decided for now to stick with the status quo," Carter noted.
Carter says council felt the current council composition and ward boundaries were best for the next election, with an opportunity to possibly review them again when the next council comes in.
