ELLIOT LAKE — Elliot Lake council will fill the vacant seat of mayor from its own ranks, council decided unanimously at its meeting Monday evening.
The decision means city voters won’t get to choose the mayor that will represent them for the rest of the term. A by-election would have taken six months and cost $59,000.
The mayor's seat has been filled for just over a year by acting mayor Andrew Wannan who, as deputy mayor, stepped into it when Chris Patrie was removed from council at the beginning of 2023 and restricted from holding public office for two years following a court ruling. The court ruling found that Patrie had contravened conflict of interest regulations as a member of the previous council.
A staff report presented council with four options to fill the vacant mayor's seat. Council promptly motioned the first option. In a ten-minute go-round, each councillor highlighted the advantages of the selection. A unanimous vote concluded the decision-making.
At the Monday evening council meeting, four options to fill the vacant mayor’s seat were presented to council by Municipal Clerk Bray.
Bray told the council, the “four options in no particular order” are:
- an appointment of a member of council
- an appointment through an open call for applicants
- the appointment of a 2022 municipal election candidate who ran for mayor
- a call for a by-election
Instead of calling for a motion to receive the report and open debate, Acting mayor Wannan began by asking the council, “Would anyone wish to forward a motion?”
Coun. Norman Mann spoke first, “Thank you, your worship, through you. I would recommend that council give consideration to option one, filling the vacancy from within current members of council.”
Coun. Mann said that council has worked well under its current situation but felt choosing from within was the best option to fill the mayor’s seat. The councillor said what he has heard from constituents, appointing a member of council would be a comfortable decision.
Coun. Charles Flintoff seconded the motion.
“All four options do have their own merits,” he said.
He also said council has been functioning well as it is and he's confident it will continue to do so regardless of which councilor is chosen to take the mayor's seat.
“For the last year, we’ve been led by a current member of our council considering the challenges we had in the last year I think acting mayor Wannan has done a very credible job."
A ten-minute period of comments followed. Each councillor expressed his support for the motion, highlighting its advantages.
There was only one question. Electronic voting had been mentioned by a resident during the Public Input Session. Wannan asked Bray if the city is set up for electronic voting. The city is not, Bray advised.
The councillors noted some specific disadvantages of the other options, but no specific advantages. All members were present for the unanimous vote supporting the motion.
Elliot Lake City Council will appoint one of the present members of council to fill the office of mayor at the regular council meeting scheduled for Feb. 12 at 7 p.m.
The councillors’ and acting mayor’s full comments from the discussion follow below. The archived video is here.
Council's full comments
Coun. Norman Mann
“Thank you, your worship. Through you. Obviously not the best position to be in as a municipality. However, I think considering we're 14 months into a four-year term - a lot of time has been expended already in our current format. And I believe tonight's decision is ultimately to fill within.”
“It's not selecting someone tonight, as Ms. Bray's report indicates. It's only to provide the process in order to fill that at our next meeting in February. I would be comfortable with this.”
“As was indicated during a public presentation from Mr. Thomas, there's multiple ways to fill this. I believe, personally, that it is the purview of this council to decide. We have been elected by the members of this municipality and the members that I've spoken to, and I've spoken to several that have reached out, have recommended or suggested that they would be comfortable with this type of approach.”
“Considering the work that this council has done to date, I'm personally comfortable with that and would be happy to, as I did, move this forward to the next meeting.”
Coun. Charles Flintoff
“Thank you, your worship. As a comment. Well, all four options do have their own merit to themselves. For myself, and what I feel the best option for the people of Elliot Lake would be option number one. Not only does it save the taxpayers money. For the last year, we've been led by a current member of our council. Considering the challenges that we have had in the last year, I think Acting Mayor Wannan has done a very credible job."
"I'm quite confident whichever member of council that we do decide on, that will continue. And that's the reason that I really feel that we should just run with option one.”
Later, in a second comment, Flintoff added, “I just want to make a comment on what Councillor Morrissette said. No matter what decision we do decide, some people will be happy, and some will be not happy. But I'm learning in this political role we have that. It's politics. We have to make a decision, and we have to be excited about our decision, and we have to move forward. And I'm very excited about option one.”
Coun. Rick Bull
“Thank you, your worship. More of a comment. I, too, agree with option one. I think we've worked very well this year for the past year, considering all the challenges that we've had, and I think we have to maintain the continuity that we're going for. We all seem to be on the same page to get where we want to go."
"And like Councillor Flintoff said, all the other options have their merits. But I think option one will help us maintain the continuity that we need and maintain our teamwork that we're doing and move forward in the right direction. Thank you.”
Coun. Luc Morrissette
“I also would like to have option one. No matter what decision we make tonight, there will be probably some people out there that are not going to be happy with our decision, and there will be some people that are going to be happy with our decision. We've done one whole year so far, and we could keep going with the momentum that we have in our council. And I go for option one. Thank you.”
Coun. Merrill Seidel
“Thank you, your worship. I also agree with option one. One is we are just getting into the budget process, and we don't know exactly what that's going to entail but saving the taxpayer $60,000 for a by-election does seem right. I think as a council, we are working well together, and I agree with option one.”
Acting Mayor Andrew Wannan
“Well, option one seems to be on order. I agree with Councillor Morrissette. There will be questions about the process, the fairness of the process versus practicality of the process, taking the budget into account, and in addressing some comments from public input.”
Wannan inquired about electronic voting. “Okay. So, with that information and with the comments of council, we are undertaking, well, our budget process. And to go ahead with, not a distraction, but extra responsibilities moving forward that are costing the taxpayers money. I don't think that's prudent at this time."
"As Councillor Bull has said, we've managed short one member for the year, and we are trying our best and we are moving things forward. And nobody's perfect out there, but we are doing a really good job. I agree we are getting along. And I'm going to support option one as well.”
After Flintoff’s second comment, Wannan said, “Okay, I'm going to say one last comment, too, then."
"I think we've approached our term on council in a very sort of practical and financially conscious way. A number of us have reached out to people in the public, a number of the public have reached out to us. A number of which have gone through requesting to have a by-election. But I would say the number is far outweighed by the number that said that we should keep it internal."
"And how are you supposed to judge that? I'm not sure. The comments of 35 per cent of the electorate doing the votes, that's how we're here. And so we're representing, we hope, more than 35, but we all were voted into our positions by the public to make these kind of decisions. And this is an important one. We have been running this away for the year, and I think we've done a decent job. There's lots to do. There's lots of work to keep going. Three more years of service to our community, and we're all dedicated to our community. That's my comment.”
