On Monday evening, Elliot Lake City Council discussed the matter of how to fill the vacant councillor’s seat. The vacancy was created by the appointment of Andrew Wannan as mayor on Feb. 12.
Mayor Wannan had been elected as a councillor in the Oct. 24, 2022, municipal election.
Municipal Clerk Natalie Bray, informed the council there are two primary methods to fill the vacant seat on council and one of those methods has three options.
Methods available to council to fill the vacant councillor’s seat
The two primary methods are: The council could choose to hold a by-election. Or council could fill the vacancy by appointment. Bray told council the expected cost of a by-election is about $59,000. An appointment about $500.
Bray told council that an appointment method could be done one of three ways. The candidate could be selected from:
- a list created by an open call for candidates
- the list of candidates from the 2022 municipal election
- a direct appointment of council’s choosing
In all cases, the candidate must be an Elliot Lake resident, a minimum of eighteen years old. If they were a candidate in 2022, they must also not be in default with their campaign document filings.
The City’s website reports the top 3 candidates not elected to council are:
- Bruce Ibbitson – 1,094 votes
- Helen Lefebvre – 1,084
- Sandy Finamore – 1,058
Earlier in the evening, during the Public Input Session, Helen Lefebvre addressed the council. Lefebvre is the next person in line who lives in Elliot Lake.
Former councillor, Sandy Finamore, also attended the council meeting. Finamore did not address council. Ibbitson has moved away from Elliot Lake since the 2022 election.
2022 candidate, Helen Lefebvre addresses council
Lefebvre began, “Good evening, your worship, members of council and city staff, I'd like to provide some input into agenda item number 7.7, regarding the method to fill vacancy on council by appointment.”
“My understanding is that vacant council seats in Elliot Lake have been historically filled by appointing the runner-up from the previous election results.”
Lefebvre spoke next to a question about her eligibility. Candidates are required to file financial statements by March 31. Lefebvre’s filing reads April 19, which is well within the Ontario Municipal Act's prescribed 30-day grace period and means she is not in default of filing her financial statements.
Sandy Finamore’s filing corrected filing is dated July 2, 2023.
Lefebvre said she filed an hour late but subsequently paid a $500 late fee. The City Clerk has confirmed the fee was paid.
“I am next in line according to the results and if asked, I would, without a doubt, say yes. I love this community. I grew up in this community and I continually give back to this community.” Lefebvre continued, describing her volunteer work “to help support our local businesses” and professional experience.
Lefebvre also said there would be some costs attributed to the process of filling the seat by open call and that there would be additional time required to put a person in the seat.
“They (voters) had every opportunity to do this as part of our last election - and let the voters decide,” she added.
“So, to summarize, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms indicates that every citizen in Canada has the right to vote in an election.
“Your worship, members of this council were voted in. Please respect the community who voted. I am next in line. I respectfully ask that you consider me as the candidate to fill this vacancy. Your worship, members of council, city staff and members of the community, thank you for your time.”
Lefebvre's Public Input address is here.
Council debates
When the council debated 7.7, they agreed on one thing: they did not want a by-election however, the method for selecting a candidate by appointment was not decided.
Responding to Couns. Charles Flintoff’s question about eligibility, Bray said it is “anybody who is 18 years of age, lives in Elliot Lake would be eligible to put their name in,” and she added, “as long as they were not in default of their filings for their financial documents for the last election.”
Councillors weigh in with their preferences for an appointment process
Couns. Charles Flintoff confirmed with Bray, that if there is an open call, the 2022 candidates “would obviously still have an opportunity to join us on council plus the public if we went that way.” He likes “the appointment by open call. It gives the candidates a chance. It opens it up a little bit.”
Couns. Merrill Seidel said, “I think we should discuss tonight, about which appointment we’re going to do. … I think we should discuss that tonight.”
Flintoff: “I feel we shouldn’t do it ‘direct’ because that’s just us, the council, picking somebody. … There’s nothing wrong with the list of candidates but I just feel that we should open it up because we’re about a year and three months in and who knows, some of them might not be interested.”
Couns. Norman Mann was ready to move ahead with a candidate from the 2022 list. “The councils that I’ve participated in have always selected from those that are eligible to sit … so, at this point, I would be happy moving forward with those eligible on the list.”
Couns. Rick Bull said, “I think the people on the list decided last year, or the year before, that they wanted to make an impact on Elliot Lake and ran for council.”
He continued, “If we go to the ‘open,’ aren’t we saying to the people that ran for council before, ‘thank you, but we’re going to look elsewhere?’” Bull added, “I haven’t made up my mind yet, but I think something should be said for that, for running in the first place.”
Councillor Luc Morrissette said, “I also agree that we should go to the list of candidates that ran at the election last time. I think that would be a fair thing to do.”
Mayor Wannan said, “I see the power of tradition in following what’s gone on before but I do have a few comments. This certainly has not been a traditional council.”
Wannan suggested the decision for the process be made at the next council meeting scheduled for March 11. The suggestion received unanimous support.