City clerk will give council options on how Smeaton’s vacant council position will be filled

Options to replace Ward 5 Councillor, Eric Smeaton, who stepped down Nov. 1, may include the appointment of a new councillor from a list of applicants, the appointment of the second-place finisher in the Ward 5 race from 2022 or declaring a byelection

Guided by the Municipal Act, 2001, Cathie Ritchie, the city’s clerk, will likely provide council with several options. Once options are presented by Ritchie, council will make the final decision.

As both clerk and chief municipal election officer for Kawartha Lakes, it falls to Ritchie to put the process in motion to see that Smeaton’s seat on council is filled in a timely and legal manner, and that the people of Ward 5 will be without representation the fewest days possible. The Municipal Act, 2001 requires that council “fill a vacant council office, within 60 days of the declaration of the vacancy, unless the vacancy occurs within 90 days of an election.”

Smeaton was just halfway through his first term as councillor, with two years remaining on his mandate to represent Ward 5 when he stepped down for personal reasons.

Council, once they make their decision, will be able to cast the net wide for Smeaton’s replacement because there are very few formal qualifications to sit on council. The Municipal Act, 2001 states that either to be appointed or stand in a byelection the person under consideration “must on voting day reside in the municipality or be an owner or tenant of land there or the spouse of such owner or tenant, be a Canadian citizen, be at least 18 years of age and not be prohibited from voting.”

Section 258 of the Municipal Act, 2001 provides further guidance for council by detailing the handful of citizens who cannot fill Smeaton’s seat because of their employment. Those include an employee of the municipality, a person who is not an employee of the municipality but serves somewhere else as a clerk, treasurer, integrity commissioner, auditor general, ombudsman, registrar or investigator of a municipality, a judge of any court, a member of the provincial legislature, the senate, the house of commons or is a public servant at any level.

If council chooses the appointment route there is precedent in Ontario that the individual may be the candidate who finished second in the ward election in the previous municipal vote. That would be good news for local electrician Duncan Gallacher who finished a distant second to Smeaton in 2022 winning 19 per cent of the popular vote.

Gallacher said he was concerned for Smeaton when he heard of his resignation, but “expected no special considerations for the position of councillor.”

“If I was officially asked, I would accept the position. I have run in the last three elections with the same goal. To serve Kawartha Lakes to the best of my abilities. That desire has not changed.”

Gallacher said if it was decided that a special election was needed, he would likely run again, barring anything unforeseen.

If it goes to a byelection, third place finisher Janet Di Bello says she will not be in the race.

She says while she is “grateful for the support” she received during the last election, she now has other commitments.

“I intend to revisit the possibility of running closer to the next election cycle but won’t be seeking the position at this time.”

Council, if they wish, also has the power to call for public applications for the empty seat, picking a qualified individual to replace Smeaton from amongst those who express an interest in serving.

If council chooses to run a byelection rather than appoint, there will be costs involved including retaining the internet and telephone voting provider and Canada Post to mail the voter information letters. A recent report from Blue Mountain’s town clerk put the cost of a 2022 byelection held there at about $52,000, which includes updating the voters’ list.

Former Ward 8 Councillor Heather Stauble said that during her terms on council they did not have to fill any vacancies, but that this is not an uncommon thing for a council to do.

“(This) happens fairly often due to death, illness (or because of) election to provincial or federal government,” Stauble said.

Stauble added that there is no guarantee that council will offer the second-place finisher in the last election the position.

“Council could appoint a person or advertise for applications for appointment,” Stauble said. “There is no obligation for council to offer it to the candidate who came second – but they can go that route.”

 

–with files from Roderick Benns.