Port Hope council switches direction in favour of byelection to fill Ward 2 seat

Heading into Tuesday night’s Port Hope council meeting, council had given area businessperson Darrel Toms every reason to believe he would soon be appointed to fill a vacant seat in Ward 2.

Now, he will need to win a byelection in a move that will cost taxpayers an estimated $25,000, but one which council feels will give voters a better say in who they choose to represent them for the next couple of years.

“While I’m disappointed that things didn’t go my way, I’d like to thank Coun. Todd (Todd Aldridge) and Coun. Claire (deputy mayor Claire Holloway Wadhwani) for the unwavering support,” he posted to the Port Hope Politics Facebook page. Both council members spoke in favour of appointing Toms to the role.

“In the coming weeks friends, I will need your support … we need to show that rural Port Hope matters.”

Council hasn’t chosen a date for the byelection, but the municipality says it will take place later this spring or earlier this fall.

The move toward a byelection shocked some on social media who said they were “blindsided,” “snookered,” and “fished in” after council had indicated just two weeks ago that it would appoint Toms to the role. With two council seats available for Ward 2, he had finished third in the 2022 municipal election.

After lengthy debate at its committee of the whole meeting on Feb. 20, council voted to fill its vacant seat in Ward 2 by appointing the ward’s third-place finisher in the 2022 election to replace Chris Collins who stepped down from his post Jan. 26.

If that were to happen, council would have had to ratify that decision Tuesday night. Instead, it voted for the byelection.

With two seats available on council for Ward 2, Toms finished with 374 votes in the fall of 2022, well back of Coun. Vicki Mink (646 votes) and Collins (604 votes).

There were seven candidates who vied for the two rural seats in Port Hope’s Ward 2 during the 2022 municipal election.

Collins was forced to vacate the seat after he was appointed to serve as a provincial justice of the peace.

Per the Justices of the Peace Act, Collins is no longer eligible to serve as a member of town council due to the requirement that a justice of the peace must terminate other employment and abstain from engaging in any political activities upon appointment.

Port Hope council was on the clock in its decision how best to fill the seat left vacant by Collins. It had until just April 13 to decide between an appointment or byelection.

During debate on Feb. 20, Coun. Mink — who had preferred the byelection option — said her own queries among Port Hope residents convinced her it was the most democratic option to fill the seat, but council heard it would cost approximately $25,000 and traditionally voter turnout is low for byelections.

A staff report indicated in 11 similar circumstances in Northumberland Council and Durham Region over the past nine years, seven seats were filled through appointments and four were filled through byelections. The byelection option was rejected in a 4-2 vote.

Council then had to decide how it would appoint someone to the seat.

Options included going with the third-place finisher in Ward 2 from 2022, inviting eligible residents to declare an interest and letting council decide from there, or simply appointed a resident who held eligibility.

Mayor Olena Hankivsky had expressed a desire to invite interested candidates to come before council, but that option was also rejected in a 4-2 vote.

In a statement released by the municipality after Tuesday night's decision to go with the byelection, it stated that engagement with the community over the past several weeks was also conducted by members of council to gather input and determine the preferred options for representation.

“The municipality received a great deal of correspondence from members of the public, expressing their preferred approach for the selection of a new councillor for Ward 2. Members of council considered all feedback in their decision-making,” the statement read.

At the meeting, council also passed a bylaw required to authorize the use of internet and telephone voting as an alternative voting method in the byelection. This method was successfully used for the 2018 and the 2022 municipal elections.

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In the coming weeks friends, I will need your support … we need to show that rural Port Hope matters.

DARREL TOMS PORT HOPE COUNCIL CANDIDATE