A pair of topics might dominate the discussion for the Virtual At-Large Town Hall meeting.

Thursday’s gathering, which starts at 7:00 p.m., has five items on the agenda but according to Councillor Rebecca Johnson, she hears a lot about safety and the make-up of council.

“There’s perception that if we had less councillors, it would be more effective and it wouldn’t cost as much. The actual cost would be very minimal but regardless of that, we need to talk about those kinds of things,” Johnson said.

On Monday, Council voted down a motion from fellow At-Large councillor Peng You, proposing a ballot question in next year’s election as to whether to shrink the size of council down to nine seats and instead have all At-Large members.

When it comes to safety, Johnson added “People are asking what are we doing about it? What is council doing about it? And how can we afford everything? That’s the other thing. We want to do all of these things but they do not want any higher taxes.”

In 2020, Council decided to seek a report from administration on reform, which could mean changes on the ballot for the 2026 municipal election.

The current hybrid system of Ward and At-Large councillors was adopted in 1985.