Title
Mayor J. Lehman opened the meeting by welcoming the candidates and members of the public in attendance. He advised that the special meeting was being held to address the appointment of the Ward Six Councillor. The Mayor asked the City Clerk to explain the process for the special meeting.
The City Clerk advised City Council as follows:
“Council has adopted procedures for the appointment process to be conducted at this meeting. These procedures were distributed with the agenda as part of my memorandum.
Each of the candidates who has completed a Consent of Nominee and a Declaration of Qualification and provided personal identification that I deem satisfactory, may address City Council for five minutes. The speaking order will be determined by lot. I will place the names of all candidates on equal size pieces of paper in a container and randomly draw the names. After all the names have been drawn, staff will produce a listing of the speaking order that will be distributed to Members of Council and the public.
After the candidates have spoken, Council will vote. I will review the voting process with you at the appropriate time.
Upon conclusion of the voting, I will declare to be appointed the candidate receiving the votes of more than one-half of the number of the Members of Council present and voting, or the candidate selected by lot, in the event that two remaining candidates are tied.
At the end of today's meeting, City Council will enact a by-law to confirm the appointment of the successful candidate to the office of Councillor Ward Six, for the remainder of the present term of Council.
Following the enactment of the appointment by-law, the appointee will take the Oath of Office.”
The City Clerk advised that Brian Jackson had withdrawn his application. She drew the names of the candidates to determine a speaking order. The candidates addressed City Council in the following order:
1. Zachary Gribbons-Shrubsole
2. Sonya Anderson
3. Carl Hauck
4. John Olthuis
5. Dave Forfar
6. Brandon Pitawanakwat
7. Steve O’Donnell
8. Ashley Polischuik
9. Mike Washburn
10. Mary-Florence Bartley
11. Kevin LePage
12. Constance Elliott
13. Jim Hosick
14. Kenneth Lansing
15. Keith Robertson
16. Alma Sanders
17. Avery Konda
18. Brad A. Thompson
19. Sage Hyden
20. Donald Kirkpatrick
City Council recessed at 7:34 p.m. and resumed at 7:45 p.m.
21. Gary Harvey
22. James Dickie
23. Rodney Jackson
24. Shannon Murree
25. Laurie Watt
26. Justin Heran
27. Colin Nelthorpe
28. Steve Trotter
29. Tara Wanamaker
30. Darren Roskam
31. Lynn Strachan
The Mayor thanked the candidates for their presentations and interest in serving the community.
Each member of Council provided comments regarding the appointment process and remarks regarding factors that he/she had considered when making a decision on a preferred candidate to be appointed to the office of Councillor, Ward Six.
The Mayor asked the City Clerk to instruct the Members on the balloting process.
The City Clerk advised Members of Council as follows:
“We will now proceed to the voting for appointment to the Office of Councillor Ward Six. There is one position to appoint.
The names of all of the candidates who have consented to accept the office of Ward Six, if appointed are listed on the screen, except those who have officially withdrawn.
If the candidate who receives the greatest number of votes cast, receives the votes of more than one-half of the number of the Members of Council present and voting, I will declare the candidate to be appointed.
If the nominee with the most votes does not receive the votes of more than one-half of the members present, Council will conduct another round of voting. The next round of voting will exclude the nominees with the fewest votes and any nominee with no votes.
Voting will continue in this way until the candidate receiving the most votes also receives the majority of votes.
If the votes cast are equal for all of the candidates and if there are three or more remaining, I will place the names of each of the remaining nominees on individual sheets of paper of equal size, folded in half and place in a box. I will draw the name of one nominee from the box and declare that nominee to be excluded from the subsequent voting.
If only two nominees remain and the votes for the two remaining nominees are tied, in accordance with the process established under Section 62(3) of the Municipal Elections Act for tied votes, I will select the appointee by the following method:
• The names of each of the two remaining nominees will be placed on two sheets of paper of equal size, folded in half and placed in a box; and
• I will draw the name of one nominee from the box, and declare that nominee to be the appointee.
We are about to distribute the voting ballot to you for appointment of the Councillor for Ward Six.
Please indicate your vote by legibly writing the full name of the candidate of your choice on the ballot. Please mark your ballot clearly and legibly. If I cannot determine your intention for any reason, including your handwriting, your ballot will be spoiled and not counted. You may only vote for one candidate. If you vote for more than one candidate, your ballot will be spoiled, and your vote will not be counted. All Members present must vote. If you do not vote for a candidate, your ballot will be spoiled.
Secret ballots are prohibited by law. You must sign your ballot in the space provided. If you do not, your ballot will be spoiled, and your vote will not be counted.
When you are finished voting, please fold your ballot in half and place it on the ledge in front of your desk for collection. We will collect the ballots when all Members have finished voting.
Members, the voting process is about to begin. Please take your seats and remain seated during the voting process. We will now distribute the ballots.”
The City Clerk distributed the ballots to the Members of Council. Once all ballots had been cast and collected, the City Clerk tallied the results.
The City Clerk announced the results of the first ballot as follows:
Number of ballots cast: 9
Number of required votes to be elected: 5
Number of spoiled ballots: 0
For Steve Trotter: 3
For Lynn Strachan: 2
For Constance Elliott: 1
For Gary Harvey: 1
For Brad A. Thompson: 1
For Laurie Watt: 1
All other candidates received zero votes.
The City Clerk read the ballots individually, a summary of which is presented as follows:
For Steve Trotter:
Mayor, J. Lehman
Councillor, B. Ainsworth
Councillor, B. Ward
For Lynn Strachan:
Councillor, R. Romita
Councillor D. Shipley
For Constance Elliott:
Councillor, A. Khan
For Gary Harvey:
Councillor, A. Prince
For Brad A. Thompson:
Councillor, M. McCann
For Laurie Watt:
Councillor, S. Morales
As none of the candidates had received the votes of more than one-half of the Members of City Council present and voting, a second round of voting was conducted. The candidates receiving the fewest number of votes and no votes were excluded from the voting.
The City Clerk distributed the ballots to the Members of Council. Once all ballots had been cast and collected, the City Clerk tallied the results.
The City Clerk announced the results of the second ballot as follows:
Number of ballots cast: 9
Number of required votes to be elected: 5
Number of spoiled ballots: 0
For Steve Trotter: 5
For Lynn Strachan: 4
The City Clerk read the ballots individually, a summary of which is presented as follows:
For Steve Trotter:
Mayor, J. Lehman
Councillor, B. Ainsworth
Councillor, B. Ward
Councillor, S. Morales
Councillor, M. McCann
For Lynn Strachan:
Councillor, R. Romita
Councillor, D. Shipley
Councillor, A. Prince
Councillor, A. Khan
As the candidate who received more than one-half of the votes of the Members of Council present and voting, the City Clerk declared Steve Trotter appointed to the office of Councillor for Ward Six, for the remainder of the current term of Council.
Mayor Lehman congratulated Steve Trotter on his appointment as Ward Six Councillor. Mayor Lehman thanked all of the candidates for their excellent show of community support.