The untimely death of Mayor Mark Willmer on April 18th left a gap on Council – a gap which the remaining four members of Council will decide how to fill at Tuesday’s Council in Committee meeting. CAO Suzanne Klatt begins the process on May 6th by officially declaring the late mayor’s seat on Council as vacant. The Municipal Act requires that the vacancy be filled within the following 60 days.
The Agenda for Tuesday’s meeting has been circulated and the CAO’s report offers the options that the councillors can choose from, given that the next municipal election is more than 90 days in the future. With the exception of Option 2d, they are the same options that faced Council after former Councillor Olsheski resigned:
Option 1. They can choose to hold a By-election, but this will cost about $36,000 – something they were unwilling to do to fill the recent councillor vacancy.
Other options with no or minimal costs:
Option 2. Council can appoint someone to fill the vacancy who meets these requirements:
1. Reside in or be the owner/tenant of land in the municipality, or spouse
2. Canadian Citizen
3. At least 18 years of age
4. Not be prohibited from voting under section 17(3) of the Municipal Elections Act or otherwise by law
There are four ways in which they can decide to appoint this person. The first three are the same that members of Council faced with the recent vacancy.
Option 2a. They can appoint a candidate from the 2022 election who, if willing, takes office at the next Council meeting. The only other mayoral candidate in 2022 was Roger Prince.
Option 2b. Council can call for applications from interested persons. This option will involve some advertising costs, and time spent interviewing any applicants.
Option 2c. They can directly appoint someone to fill the vacancy without calling for applicants.
Option 2d. Because this is a mayoral vacancy, the Municipal Act allows any sitting member of Council to put forward a name (a fellow Councillor or their own name) to become head of council. If Council chooses to use this method and one of the sitting Council members is selected to become the mayor, then their Councillor seat will be declared vacant and they must go through the vacancy-filling process again.
Democracy in action in the Valley
A by-election may be the most democratic option to fill the vacancy, but it will also be the most costly. Option 2a involves appointing the candidate with the highest number of votes who did not win at the last municipal election. This, too, is generally considered a democratic method given that it reflects the wishes of voters. CAO Klatt confirms in her report that the runner-up mayoral candidate was Roger Prince.
CAO Klatt’s report also confirms that MV Council used Option 2c to appoint Councillor Peplinski to fill the vacant seat. But she fails to mention that when Councillor David Shulist put forward Peplinski’s name, he clearly stated that his reason for doing so was that Peplinski had the next highest vote count for Councillor in the last municipal election. So Shulist aimed to respect the wishes of MV voters.
But the composition of Council changed drastically on April 1st when Peplinski’s name was drawn from a hat. Given that appointment, Blank is now the only Barry’s Bay resident on Council, and Shulist is the only member of Council who lives in Wilno. Combermere supporters Maika and Peplinski are together again – and it wasn’t so very long ago that between them they brought about the decline of a thriving arts and culture scene for visitors and residents alike at the Railway Station, not to mention the firing (without cause) of an effective and highly popular Recreation and Community Development Coordinator.
So what will Council do on Tuesday? MV ratepayers have become accustomed to the convenience of watching Council proceedings after the fact on the Township’s YouTube channel. But when the wishes of Township voters are at risk of being ignored, they may well feel that attending Tuesday’s meeting in person could encourage a more democratic outcome.
All I can say is OMG !