After passing a resolution Sept. 25 to appoint a candidate to fill the vacancy left by Tannis Drysdale, town council changed its mind yesterday and instead will hold a byelection to let the people decide.
Voting to reconsider the previous resolution, which had been unanimously approved, councillors then discussed why they felt a byelection would be their preferred option at a special committee of the whole meeting late yesterday.
“I still the support my original idea of having an election,” said Coun. Paul Ryan, who spoke in favour of it back on Sept. 25 but then went along with the rest of council during voting.
“I know in the past, they’ve picked the seventh person. But in the past, the circumstances were different.
“And in this case, the circumstances are different than we’ve had before, i.e. length of time,” Coun. Ryan added. “This is three years, which is the old mandate for council.”
Coun. Ryan also said council picking a seventh person “isn’t a true indication of what the electorate would really want.”
He added one of the problems is not every ballot in the last election saw the electorate voting for six candidates—some people voted for fewer than six.
“The only true way we can find out who the seventh person is the people want would be to go through every ballot and do a vote against a moving average for each candidate, and by standard deviation you can gather who the seventh person was,” he explained.
“And I think if that was done, you’d be very surprised by who that person might be. It wouldn’t probably the person who has the seventh-most votes, when you take the six away that made it.”
“For true democracy, if the cost is $20,000, then so be it,” Coun. Ryan said.
Coun. John Albanese said although he fully supported appointing the next candidate in line at last week’s meeting, he since has done serious reflection and decided that with three more years to go and certain issues having been resolved (such as the biomass boiler project becoming a reality and the town’s loan to the now-established Fort Frances Community Clinic), “it’s like a new term for everybody.”
“Let’s go for a new election and let the people of Fort Frances decide who they really want,” he remarked.
“I feel that council, by consensus and resolution, had already decided this issue,” said Coun. Rick Wiedenhoeft, asking what had changed between Sept. 25 and yesterday so council suddenly has decided to go with a byelection.
Since Sept. 25, Clerk Glenn Treftlin tried to contact all five unsuccessful candidates from the 2006 election. Of the five, Al Bedard, Todd Hamilton, and Ken Perry agreed to put their names forward for appointment.
Nick Wihnan did not respond and Neil Kabel declined the offer.
Coun. Wiedenhoeft pointed out that three candidates have put their names forward for appointment, but by council now deciding to hold a byelection, it appears that council’s “not happy with these people.”
“That’s the appearance. I know the perception may not equal the reality, but that’s the perception,” he noted, adding there may be a backlash from the public for calling the byelection.
Coun. Wiedenhoeft also said when all is said and done, the electorate may end up voting for the seventh-place candidate anyway—and the town may have wasted $20,000.
But Coun. Andrew Hallikas, who along with Coun. Ryan felt the byelection was always a good idea, countered it “wouldn’t be a waste of $20,000.”
“The voters would have spoken and have indicated to us who they want to see in council,” he remarked. “That’s the truest form of democracy.”
Coun. Hallikas also noted that if council did the math on who was unsuccessful last time, you would not find they would be in the same ranking.
Coun. Sharon Tibbs noted that after giving the matter much thought since the Sept. 25 meeting, “the only way to be sure is a byelection.”
Like Couns. Ryan and Hallikas, she pointed out that appointing based on the 2006 results would not be accurate, as not every ballot had six votes on it.
Mayor Roy Avis said he also had been weighing the decision, seeing valid points on both sides. “If council feels we should have an election, that’s what we should have,” he remarked.
“I just want to do what’s best for the community,” the mayor later added.
Council voted in favour of using a byelection to fill the vacancy, with Couns. Albanese, Hallikas, Ryan, and Tibbs in favour and Coun. Wiedenhoeft against it.
The next step will be for council to pass a bylaw to call a byelection. This could happen as early as its Oct. 23 meeting.
Council then will have to set a Nomination Day within 60 days of calling the byelection. Election Day will be 45 days after Nomination Day.
Like the 2006 election, the byelection use mail-in ballots. Treftlin noted that considering the time of year when it will fall, this means “snowbirds” can vote from wherever they may be.
He added the mail-ballot system also has resulted in an increase in voter turnout of 20-30 percent here in recent elections.
Fort Frances Times
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