TBM deputy mayor acclaimed, race for mayor, councillors

The Town of The Blue Mountains has confirmed its list of candidates for this fall’s municipal election.

In The Blue Mountains, there are four candidates for mayor and seven candidates for council. Incumbent Deputy Mayor Peter Bordignon has been acclaimed for another term on council.

With three members of the current council – Mayor Alar Soever and councillors Rob Sampson and Bill Abbotts, not running for reelection – The Blue Mountains council is officially in a lame duck situation.

For the rest of the term, the current elected representatives for The Blue Mountains are limited in their decision-making power. A provision of the Municipal Act triggers lame duck status for councils in this situation, which is meant to prevent an outgoing council from operating in a way that would disadvantage the incoming council. 

During the lame duck period, which will last until a new council is sworn in on Nov. 15, staff or officers of the municipality cannot be hired or dismissed, property belonging to the town valued over $50,000 cannot be sold or donated, and the town cannot make any purchase exceeding $50,000 that has not already been approved through the budget, unless it is an emergency situation.

In July, The Blue Mountains passed a lame duck bylaw to delegate authority during the lame duck period to senior staff. Lame duck authority has been designated to the CAO, director of legal services and director of finance and IT.

The Blue Mountains council has seven members: a mayor, deputy mayor and five councillors. The mayor and deputy mayor represent the town on Grey County council.

Here are the candidates running in this fall’s municipal election:

Mayor (one to be elected):

• Joe Halos
• Andrea Matrosovs
• Elizabeth Marshall
• Tony Poole

Deputy Mayor (one to be elected):

• Peter Bordignon (acclaimed)

Council (five to be elected):

• Gail Ardiel
• Paula Hope
• Alex Maxwell
• Shawn McKinlay
• June Porter
• James Ross
• Jennifer Seymour

The town has also certified the following nominations for school board positions:

Conseil Scolaire Viamonde Trustee – French Public (one to be elected):

• Saveria Caruso
• Eric Lapointe

Bluewater District School Board Trustee – English Public (one to be elected):

• Frances Morgan (acclaimed)

Conseil Scolaire Catholique Providence Trustee – French Separate (one to be elected):

• Sylive C. Barbeau-Chmielewski
• Meghan Reale

Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board Trustee – English Separate (one to be elected):

• Michael Black
• Bruce Muise

For the election, The Blue Mountains will use internet and phone voting. There will be no paper or mail-in ballots. Voting will open on October 14 at 10 a.m. and will go to Voting Day on October 24 until 8 p.m. Full election information is available at the town’s election website.