Despite publicly endorsing reducing the number of councillors, Mayor Peter Kelly says he won’t speak out at a review board hearing on the matter.
After much debate, Halifax regional council voted Tuesday to maintain the current amount of councillors — 23 plus the mayor.
Kelly supported all three votes to slim down that number.
But the mayor said yesterday while he will be speaking at a Utility and Review Board meeting into the matter, he will only be presenting “the will of council.”
“I supported 16, I supported 18, I supported all those votes (Tuesday) night,” he said yesterday.
“(I’m) slightly disappointed, but at the end of the day … this is the will of the collective council, and that is what we must respect as an outcome and we move forward.”
Disappointment aside, Kelly said he must speak for the majority of council.
“I have been the voice of council … as per outcomes, and my job is to speak on that collective will,” he added. “Others who may have different opinions may wish to do that, but I speak for the majority of council.”
The municipality is required to submit its decision by Dec. 31 to the UARB, which will ultimately decide on the number of councillors running in the 2012 municipal election.
