Cecil’s options
Municipal solicitor outlines possible scenarios after PC leadership vote
Answering to a request for the legal ramifications if Cape Breton Regional Municipality Mayor Cecil Clarke wins next month’s PC Party leadership vote (Oct. 26-27), municipal solicitor Demetri Kachafanas outlined the possible scenarios during Tuesday’s council meeting. Mayor Scenarios
•If Cecil Clarke is unsuccessful in his PC Party leadership bid – there would be no issue and Clarke would remain as mayor until the next municipal election or until such time he decides to resign.
•If Cecil Clarke is successful and remains as Mayor – there is nothing in the MGA or Municipal Elections Act (MEA) that prevents Clarke from staying on as mayor. But, a section of the MEA provides that a member of the Legislative Assembly is disqualified from serving as a councillor. So, Clarke can remain as mayor until he is elected to the legislature, after which he would have 30 days to resign.
•If Cecil Clarke is successful and resigns as Mayor – the MEA provides that when a mayor resigns council must meet within four weeks to set a day for a special election which must fall on a Saturday and be within 11 weeks of the setting of the date. The Mayor’s resignation is effective at next meeting of council.
When a mayor resignation becomes effective, the deputy mayor takes over the mayoral powers and duties until the special election. District 5 Coun. Eldon MacDonald presently serves as deputy major, although the position is up for a vote in October.
The MEA also dictates that a councillor who enters the mayoral race must resign their council seat. Kachafanas also addressed the question of whether a Clarke leadership victory be a conflict of interest to his mayoral duties.
“The fact that the mayor, or any councillor for that matter, is a leader of a provincial party while serving as mayor is not a conflict of interest - neither the MGA nor the MEA prohibits it,” he stated in his summary to council.
“If an issue arises where a pecuniary conflict of interest occurs as a result of the Mayor’s position as leader of a political party, then it would be incumbent on the mayor to declare the conflict, withdraw from the debate on the issue and leave the room.”