The threat of a by-election is now off the table in Elliot Lake after city council decided Monday night to nominate one of its own to fill the vacant mayor’s seat.
The office of the mayor was declared vacant on December 15, 2023 after it became apparent that the former mayor would be losing his appeal.
Provincial law dictates the city has until February 13, 2024 to enact a new by-law to declare its intentions on how it will proceed to fill the chair.
There was very little debate around the table at their January meeting as the six men who now make up the council determined the best for the city would be to carry on as they have been doing over the past year.
“It’s politics, we have to make a decision, we have to be excited about it and we have to move forward,” Councillor Charles Flintoff told the group.
While they don’t have to nominate a member until the council meeting on February 12, all bets are on Acting Mayor Andrew Wannan who has been filling the post so far to date.
“There are obviously options that could have happened and they have been discussed lightly,” said Wannan.
“Every single member of council wants this option. The more we’ve been doing this job, the more you get into all aspects of it including budget, the responsibility, the work of staff and overall the needs of Elliot Lake.”
Wannan said he felt going through another election would not be helpful to the city. Councillors were told if they had chosen the by-election option, they would have to wait until the end of May to hold the vote and it would come at a cost of roughly $60,000 to taxpayers.
While the city has yet to disclose how much it had to spend in legal fees during Mayor Patrie’s appeal, with the budget process looming, Wannan explained that he felt stability was needed.
“There’s been a lot of money spent for unwanted reasons, for whatever reasons, a lot of that money could be used for other things,” he said.
“A lot of our infrastructure problems, we’re learning some could have been prevented, some were unforeseen but the lessons learned from being around and seeing the impacts and effects is kind of the inspiration as to why a lot of us ran for council in the first place.”
The acting mayor said he will let his name stand if nominated by his colleagues next month.
His sentiments are ones echoed by most of his council colleagues including Councillor Norman Mann.
“Having to wait another four months for a by-election at an additional cost when we’re actually gaining momentum as a group of individuals. I think it’s the right thing to do in this particular case. Every community is going to be somewhat different but I believe personally I’m comfortable with the decision we made tonight,” said Mann.
“Yeah and not everyone is going to be happy with the decision tonight but the people who have reached out to me have been very pleased and have suggested this is something that they want and those are the constituents that we listen to, those that reach out to us. Most of the community has a way to get a hold of us through the day and I take those calls when people call me.”
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Among the other things they’ll hear at that meeting is an update on the Centennial Arena, which was deemed unsafe in mid-September.
