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TBM to accept applications for vacant position on council

Due to costs and limited time remaining in the current term, council decided against holding a by-election to select a new councillor
2020_04_21 TBM Town Hall Sign_JG
Jennifer Golletz/CollingwoodToday

Due to a vacancy first created by the passing of former deputy mayor Rob Potter, The Town of The Blue Mountains (TBM) will soon be accepting applications from members of the public to fill the position for the remainder of the 2018-2022 term of council.

Following Potter's death in November, councillor Peter Bordignon was selected by council to fill the deputy mayor position in December, which left Bordignon's council seat empty.

Council was presented with several options to fill the position at a meeting Jan. 17, including holding a by-election, appointing a councillor based on the 2018 election results, or by selecting a candidate from a pool of applicants. Council ultimately decided to hold an application process to appoint a new councillor.

Council decided against holding a by-election due to high costs and the short amount of time left in the current term. The 2018 municipal and school board election cost the town $51,868.

"The ideal method here would be to run an election, but ... it's a lot of money, and we have an election on October 24," said councillor Paula Hope.

Hope argued that the most democratic alternative would be to select the candidate who received the next-most votes in the 2018 election.

"I think that the closest to the democratic process that we can go is to honour the voting that members of our community have already executed on for the 2018 election. They made their choices clear," she said. "We have the option of those choices and to look at the next person, which was exactly the way that I've become a member of council, as well."

Hope herself became councillor through this process in March 2020, filling a vacant position on council after being defeated by just 15 votes in the 2018 election by Councillor Andrea Matrosovs.

"I do think it's very important that we do not leave ourselves ... open to appointing a member of the community that has not gone through the test of the democratic process," Hope said.

Councillor Rob Sampson, however, argued that the election results from nearly four years ago do not indicate the current views of residents.

"We did that because there was a good three years of the four-year terms still looking at us, and the election was very still fresh in everybody's mind," he said.

That's not the case now, ... To assume that the results of election four years ago capture the theme and the mentality of the electorate. Now this is, I think, undemocratic to be quite honest. The democratic thing is to give that chance to the electorate to make that decision in the fall of this year."

Sampson also argued that applicants should have to declare whether they would run in the 2022 election, and that council should select a candidate with no interest in running, though there is no legal way to prevent the selected candidate from doing so.

"I don't think it's fair to the other people who choose to compete for a council seat, to compete against an incumbent who was who was there for only two or three months, because incumbency and municipal elections are always considered to be a bit of an advantage," he said.

Despite Sampson's concerns, council decided against a requirement for applicants to declare their intentions for the upcoming election.

A staff report will be brought to council on Jan. 31 further outlining the application process and timeline.

The deadline for filling the position is March 18.

In order to be considered for the position, applicants need to be a Canadian citizen, at least 18 years of age; they must reside or own land in TBM, or be the spouse of someone who does, and they must not be legally prohibited from voting.


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About the Author: Greg McGrath-Goudie, LJI Reporter

Greg McGrath-Goudie covers The Blue Mountains and Grey Highlands as part of the Local Journalism Initiative, which is funded by the Government of Canada
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