Cambridge will hold a byelection to replace Frank Monteiro

People living in Ward 7 in Cambridge will vote in a by-election next year to elect a replacement for former councillor Frank Monteiro.

Monteiro died in October after an illness.

The final vote was 6-2 in favour of a byelection, with councillors Donna Reid and Pam Wolf voting against an election. They cited the high cost of the process and preferred to have a nominee appointed by council.

Nomination day is scheduled Feb. 7, 2020, with a proposed byelection date for March 23, 2020.

The cost of the vote would be up to $100,000 and be paid for through the city's election reserve fund which currently has a balance of $273,000.

Wolf proposed to have a selection process at an open council meeting and have the elected candidate begin in January. She pointed to the low turnout during the October 2018 election where three-quarters of eligible voters in Ward 7 did not vote in the last municipal election.

"In the [fall 2018] election Ward 7 had one of the lowest eligible voter turn outs in the city. Unfortunately byelections generally have even less," Wolf said during the council meeting Tuesday night.

"I hope by having an application process and deliberations in open council we can choose a well qualified representative for Ward 7 and not spend 100 thousand that a by election would cost."

In the 2018 municipal election, Monteiro won with 1,016 votes. Connie Cody came in second with 685 votes, followed by Ryan Coles with 237 and Cody Botelho with 218, according to numbers from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.

Despite the low voter turnout Coun. Jan Ligget believes the people living in the ward have a right to vote and elect their representative. 

"It's not a fair process when we have three years left and we don't do a byelection," Ligget said. "It's not a fair process to the residents of ward 7 for us to make a decision that they should be making."