Kitchener council set to consider options to fill vacant seat

Kitchener city councillors will discuss how to fill a vacant seat during a committee meeting Monday afternoon.

The seat is open after Kitchener Centre MPP Aislinn Clancy resigned from council following her win in the November provincial byelection.

City council declared the Ward 10 seat vacant on Dec. 14 and have 60 days from that date to decide how to proceed with filling the position.

There are two options offered to council in a staff report from city clerk Amanda Fusco:

• Appoint someone to the council seat.
• Hold a byelection.

If council decides to appoint someone, they also have options on how to do that. They can:

• Appoint the runner up in the 2022 municipal election.
• Call for people to apply for the seat and then appoint someone from that list.
• Directly appoint an eligible individual without a public process.

If council decides to ask people to apply, it's expected the application period would run from Jan. 9 to 25. They would be considered on Jan. 29 and the new councillor would be sworn in on Feb. 12.

If they hold a byelection, it's expected voting would take place in April with the new councillor being sworn in on April 15.

Cost to hold a byelection

Holding a byelection could cost between $77,000 and $97,000, a report from city clerk Amanda Fusco said. That would include $54,000 for voting equipment and approximately $23,000 to mail out voter notification cards. There would also be the cost of staffing polling stations.

Another potential hiccup that could lead to increased costs is that as of this year, any byelection held will get its preliminary voters' list from Elections Ontario. In the past, the city used a list provided by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation. 

"As this is a new process, there may be additional fees and/or processes to be established to integrate the [preliminary list of electors] into the city's voter's list management system," Fusco's report said.

The cost of a byelection is not currently in the city's budget and would need to be added, Fusco's report noted.

Appointing a person would cost much less, Fusco noted. 

"There are some costs for the appointment method if we do issue a call for applications, but it would be nominal," Fusco told CBC News.

It would mostly include the cost of advertising in newspapers and online "to ensure that members of the public understand that there is an appointment process underway and they can complete an application form and what that process could look like."

The other two appointment options would not cost the city any additional money, she said.

The staff report will be discussed during the finance and corporate services committee meeting which is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m.