It has been a rocky start to the term for the Town Council in the Town of the Blue Mountains.
“We have had a few bumps with our mayor and his health and the deputy mayor’s resignation. But, we have still been able to operate well. We have a very strong council,” said Peter Bordignon, councillor with the Town of The Blue Mountains.
On Jan. 6, Deputy Mayor Odette Bartnicki resigned from her position. Shortly thereafter, Mayor Alar Soever suffered a heart attack. Mayor Soever has since undergone medical treatment and will be on leave until March 24.
Councillor Rob Potter was appointed to the position of deputy mayor on Jan. 20, leaving a vacant councillor's chair. Potter alongside fellow councillor Rob Sampson, were also both appointed as alternative members of council to the Grey County Council.
At the Committee of the Whole meeting on Feb. 25, town councillors were tasked with the decision of how to fill the empty seat.
In accordance with the Municipal Act, council was required to declare the seat empty and look to fill the spot within 60 days. The councillor position was declared vacant on Feb. 10, leaving council a few options on how to proceed. They could hold a by-election, appoint a former candidate, or appoint an eligible elector.
After some discussion, councillors decided to appoint the candidate with the next highest number of votes in the 2018 municipal election.
This was the favoured option, as ultimately, the decision is still being made by the public, and it avoids the expense of a by-election. According to town staff, the 2018 municipal and school board elections cost $51,868.
“I think the voters have had a chance to consider the willing candidates. I take the voters' support over anything else. I would rather appoint someone who has done the work and has worked through the election process,” said councillor Sampson.
All members of council voted in favour of this option, except councilor Jim Uram, who said he would prefer to see appointment of an eligible elector, a process that would see applications collected from the public and then council would select the preferred applicant.
“I think we should give people the option of applying for this position,” said Uram. ”We have a lot of people that may apply and it could open up our options.”
However, the majority of council members disagreed with using the application process.
“It is a function of the public to elect officials and I think they did that. We would be looking at $50,000 for a by-election and that just doesn’t make sense to me,” said Bordignon. “It was a very close race. I would be more opt to follow the numbers from the recently held election than to hold a by-election.”
According to the 2018 election results, the candidate who received the next highest number of votes was Paula Hope.
Hope earned 2,048 votes, just 15 votes behind sitting councillor Andrea Matrosovs, who added, “this is not a council leadership role, and we are not halfway yet through our term and so I completely support this option.”
The decision to fill the vacant council seat with the candidate who received the next highest votes in the 2018 election will be brought forward for consideration at the next council meeting on March 9. Once accepted by council, the town clerk will invite the candidate to accept the appointment.
