Council Chooses Method of Filling Council Vacancy

At a special meeting of Council on Monday, May 27th, Councillor James Neufeld resigned from Municipal Council for personal reasons. His seat was declared vacant  – giving the Municipality 60 days to appoint a person to fill the vacancy, or to pass a by-law requiring a by-election to fill the vacancy.

On May 4th, Councillor Neufeld’s seat was declared vacant  – giving the Municipality 60 days to appoint a person to fill the vacancy, or to pass a by-law requiring a by-election to fill the vacancy according to the Municipal Act. As part of that same meeting, CAO Chris Wray presented to Council his report on the options for Council to fill the vacant seat.

Council could take the next candidate in the last municipal election, appoint a new councillor, or run a by-election to elect a councillor. Over the next few council meetings that process was debated and analyzed.

At last night’s meeting, June 16th, Council finalized a few loose ends and Mayor Ron Rody explained the process to find a new Councillor.

The Municipality will have to advertise that there is a vacant seat, and that all interested persons who are eligible to become a councillor are invited to submit their names. A date will be selected, and potential candidates will be invited to participate in an interview process. At an meeting of Council, sequestered, each candidate will be invited singly into Council Chambers, and interviewed, one at a time. Each candidate will make a statement, 5 – 10 minutes duration on a specific topic. Then each candidate will be asked questions from Council, four questions in total. Once the “interview” is complete, the candidate will be invited to remain in Council Chambers.

Once all the interviews are completed, and the scoring process is complete, the successful candidate will be invited to become a councillor.

Wawa-news anticipates that this process will begin immediately as to fall within the 60 days.