Council may leave Skelly seat empty
Permission may be sought to leave Ward 7 seat vacant until October election
Council will debate asking the province for permission to leave Hamilton’s Ward 7 seat empty until the October election — despite a law requiring them to appoint a replacement.
Four members of the city’s governance subcommittee voted to bring the idea to council Wednesday and have the city solicitor report on the feasibility of such a plea.
“We’re trying to be practical … and you don’t know until you ask,” said Coun. Lloyd Ferguson, who pitched making the request as an alternative to appointing a temporary Ward 7 councillor for the handful of meetings remaining before the Oct. 22 municipal election.
Former ward councillor Donna Skelly was elected June 7 to represent the provincial riding of Flamborough-Glanbrook for the governing Progressive Conservatives. Her council seat became vacant by default when the election results were published in the Ontario Gazette late last Friday.
That means council has 60 days under provincial law to appoint a replacement councillor — despite the looming election.
The subcommittee was supposed to consider a motion made by Coun. Matthew Green earlier this month to solicit resident applications to fill Skelly’s newly vacated seat, but council punted the motion for committee study instead.
The City of Toronto, for example, spent Tuesday morning allowing several residents to make a case to be appointed to fill a vacant seat for Ward 41. Afterwards, council voted in a six-round run-off that eventually narrowed the field to winner Miganoush Megardichian, a local lawyer.
No Hamilton committee member expressed support for the public application process Tuesday, however.
Instead, members asked about a recent decision by the City of St. Catharines,
which opted earlier this month to flout provincial law and refuse to appoint a replacement for outgoing Merriton councillor Jennie Stevens.
(That council, instead, voted to spend the salary savings on a fireworks display in the outgoing councillor’s ward.)
Ferguson and Coun. Doug Conley asked if Hamilton could also decide not to appoint — and what the consequences would be, if they chose to ignore the law.
Hamilton city solicitor Nicole Auty said the law requires council to appoint a replacement within the next 60 days. She said she couldn’t explain the rationale of St. Catharines for breaking the rules.
Auty said she has not explored whether the option to request a provincial exemption is “available or even practical,” given the time constraints on a decision, but added “you can always ask.”
The provincial Ministry of Municipal Affairs told The Spectator by email “there is no provision in the legislation” to allow for an exemption request. But spokesperson Rachel Widakdo also noted there is “no penalty” outlined in the legislation for breaking the rules, either.
The subcommittee voted to bring its recommendation directly to council Wednesday night.