kingston council considers potential options for filling mayor's chair
depending on how the federal election goes in kingston and the islands, city council could be looking at a byelection to chose the head of council.
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city councillors greg ridge, left, and ryan boehme congratulate conny glenn after she chaired the city council meeting in kingston, ont. on tuesday.
elliot ferguson
/
the whig-standard
kingston — should conservative candidate bryan paterson win the federal election in kingston and the islands it could be close to year’s end before a replacement mayor is elected.
the deputy mayor position rotates between the 12 councillors every two months.
during the campaign, paterson is on a leave of absence from the mayor’s role.
sydenham dist. coun. conny glenn is to fill in as the head of city council during the election.
but if paterson wins the federal seat, a by-election would need to be held and that would likely take several months to organize.
“i would say it’s going to take us five to six months from the time that we actually start the byelection process, which if the federal election is on the april 28, we are not going to be in a byelection as of april 29,” city clerk janet jaynes told council tuesday night.
“it’s going to take us a couple of weeks to get communications out there, you know, get our dates and our timings in order, so i would think that it’s likely closer to the end of the year by the time we complete the election and have the new mayor inaugurated.”
if a new mayor is needed, council would need to direct staff how it wants to proceed.
a staff report outlining the available options would likely be presented to city council shortly after the federal election.
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elferguson@postmedia.com
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