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City council l to increase f hy 2 seats ! The vote came down to a four to two vote at the city council meeting, with Mayor Herb Epp using his own vote for the first time in 20 months, to vote against the proposed council expansion. alerlou city council voted in Wiavour of increasing its size on Monday night, adding two more council seats for next year's municipal election. -Epp said council shouldn't be fol- lowing surveys that were done which state the need for more councillors. "A survey is a survey. " doesn't necessarily represent the views of those people because they don't have all of the information." Epp said. "If I'm going to run this government with five councillors based on a few sur- veys. l feel that there would be a lot of bad decisions made for the people of Waterloo." The city hired a consulting team to conduct a mlcphone survey over a one-week period from July 27 to Aug. The public opinion poll, which surveyed 306 residents, found 63 per cent felt the expansion would have a positive impact on how council responds to individual requests and concerns by Waterloo residents. "We haven't always made the right decisions but. dammit. we tried." But lipp wasn't convinced that polling only 306 residents was repre- sentative of the more than 100,000 residents “Waterloo. Coun. Mark Whaley also voted against the expansion. saying the telephone survey was too inconclu- sive. "When (the poll} wasn't erroneous. it was just unbelievable. " Whaley said, criticizing the survey for not having predominant percentages for each question. The report made to council also compares the ratio of councillors to population among 13 other cities of varying sizes. with Waterloo having a population onZ. 160 per councillor. Making up the other two cities in the region. Kitchener has 35.150 citi- zens per councillor. and Cambridge has 20,083 citizens per councillor, The average heiween the " cities that were included was 17,526 resi, dents per councillor, MATERL0010iTR'0lNlICII BY Rum Comm b)tirEliji For The Chronicle Continued on page 4 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2005 . WATERLOO. ONTARIO Lttttttit-trtttt park debate tttttt 1ttttttmthtg a dog's (ltrttttittttttt he future of Waterloo's only I leash-free dog park is being restrained until calculations can be made to determine much it will cost to keep the park open, City staff member Debi LucasS- witzer made a proposal to city council on Monday night about keeping the pooch park, adjacent to Bechtel Park, open. Confusion over costs stalls plan to keep park open The RONA MS Bike Tour rolled through Waterloo for the first time Saturday, raising money and awareness of multiple sclerosis. More than 600 bikers started the trip from Brampton with a pit stop at the University of Waterloo the first day. Greeting cyclist Neil Lindley (above) were Yvonne Crooks, Jasmine Crooks and Ines Nishimura BYRYANCONNEIL For The Chronicle Serving your community since 1856 The sweet smell of victory LucasSwitzer suggested recot ering all of the park's operating and future capital costs by hiking up the price for dog licenses in A one-dollar increase to the cost of dog tags in 2006 would be sufficient, tascasSwitzer said, with the extra dollar going towards the maintenance of the leash-free zone. Dog licenses in Waterloo cur- rently cost $35. As well. IncasSwitzer suggested that dog-owning residents who use the park could help provide financial support towards operat- ing costs. -A citizen-based group called Dogerlon had introduced the idea St INCLUDING GST to Waterloo city council of trans- forming the area into the Ieash- free dog park in 2002: _ _ _ ayuhisit approved the idea and the five-acre. leash-free zone opened that winter. - _ The Dogerloo group disbanded this past lune after facing many obstacles including a lack of vol- unteers and funding from various organizations to continue with the upkeep of the grounds. The Dogerloo group's web site, www.dagerloo.com . encourages park users tty fight for their park by speaking up or else the city will close it down. The web site claims the costs Continued on page 4 BOB WWII: PHOTO Golfer Klaus Schaloske wins his first major title. Arts Calendar Viewpoint Classified Business 0n . Isa-onw- "an mam" WI: auarRtbrs "" Free' MP3 player with new mivulon on "letter! Bett nuke: WHAT'S INSIDE EPORTS Ash for details I!) “no". St N (at hut!) (II!) 57121!) his 3 "an 94 Wood In f (ill) 725-15 " 12 18