RM of Dauphin residents have their work cut out of them this October when they go to the polls - there's no polling required, as the Reeve position and 5 Councillors have been acclaimed already. But, there's a small problem - one of the 6 council seats is vacant, as there are no candidates. What happens?
Not to worry, there's a clear procedure for what happens in this case, as outlined in Section 102(1) of the Municipal Act, which reads: "If a councillor position is not filled at a general election, the members who are elected may fill the vacancy by appointing as councillor a person who was eligible to be nominated for the position at the election, and any person so appointed is deemed to have been elected at a by-election."
All that to say: after the election on October 28th, Reeve Ernie Sirski and the other 5 members of council will meet, and if they can find someone who will accept the position, they'll appoint a 6th member of council.
"We will wait until after the election on October 28th, and after that, the council of 5 plus myself, so it'll be 6 of us, will meet, and we will await instructions from the Province as how to deal with it going forward...my understanding is they will instruct us to appoint somebody, if we can find someone willing to take the appointment," said Sirski.
As per Section 106(1) of the Municipal Act, an appointed councillor's term of office is the same as an elected councillor, ending the day after the next general election.
