MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY – Nominations are being accepted to fill a Mountain View County council seat vacated by a Division 4 councillor last month.
Nominations will be accepted until noon on Sept. 18.
A byelection to fill the seat vacated by Gord Krebs on Aug. 13 will be held on Oct. 16 if possible.
Division 4 includes the areas of Elkton/Rugby, Westcott, parts of Fallentimber, Bergen, Harmattan and Westerdale.
Council voted during its Aug. 28 meeting in favour of filling the vacant seat before the next municipal election, scheduled for October 2025.
According to the Municipal Government Act, if council vacancies occur within 18 months of a general election and there are six or more members of council remaining, holding a byelection is discretionary, said Christopher Atchison, the county’s director of Legislative, Community and Agricultural Services.
A byelection, he added, must be held within 120 days after the vacancy occurs unless council chooses an earlier date.
Th defacto date would be Dec. 11, 2024, he said.
Council agreed to an earlier date to help ensure the incoming councillor could be part of the annual organizational meeting held in October where council members are given committee and board appointments for the year.
Reeve Angela Aalbers said the earlier date would also maximize the amount of time the incoming councillor would have on council before the next municipal election.
In order to suffice all the legislated requirements before the byelection is held, Atchison said the earliest date would be Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024.
“It is an aggressive date,” Atchison said. “It would require us to begin advertising nearly immediately.”
He recommended doing two advance polls and having two polling stations on election day.
The byelection, including election workers, supplies, advertising and rentals, would roughly cost about $10,000, he said.
The county’s chief administrative officer, Jeff Holmes, accepted Krebs’s resignation on Aug. 13.
At the time, Krebs was still under sanctions imposed on Nov. 30, 2022 after being found in violation of two sections of the Council Code of Conduct Bylaw 09/22.
The sanction called for his removal from all council committees until at least the Oct. 25, 2023 organizational meeting.
At the 2023 organizational meeting, council made the decision not to appoint Krebs to any council committees for the 2023-2024 term following in-camera deliberations.
The reeve said at the time he hadn't completed requirements for the sanction to be removed.
Holmes said at the time the county would not be releasing details of the Code of Conduct violations that led to Krebs being sanctioned.
Krebs said earlier that the sanctions stem from advice he gave to a county staff member.
As part of the sanction, Krebs was required to complete an in-person training course approved by the chief administrative officer that addresses respect in the workforce.
