As N.W.T. MP Rebecca Alty prepares to head to Ottawa, city council will decide whether to appoint a new mayor or call a by-election.
MP elect Alty told True North she submitted her formal resignation to the city council.
“I have submitted my resignation and so Council then determines next steps, which is played out by legislation, but in the meantime, Deputy Mayor Hendriksen continues to serve as the acting mayor. With the resignation now council will determine whether they would like to appoint one of themselves to be mayor for the next year or call a bi-election,” explained MP Alty.
Alty said it was a “hard” decision to leave council and run for MP.
“I enjoyed my time as mayor and so it was a hard decision but I wanted to help in a bigger way when it comes to issues like housing, and mental health, and addictions, and the economy, and really felt that at the federal level, I’d be able to tackle those issues more, so that’s why I decided to put my name forward,” MP Rebecca Alty told True North FM.
Over the last 36 days MP Alty travelled across N.W.T. to talk with people across the territories and said she looks forward to bringing their “words” and their “priorities” to Ottawa now.
Saxon Chung, who is the corporate communications advisor, confirmed that Councillor Ben Hendricksen, will serve as mayor in the meantime.
“Decisions regarding whether to hold a by-election to fill a vacancy on Council rest with City Council. Vacancies are managed under the provisions of the Local Authorities Elections Act and Council Procedures By-law No. 4975,” explained Chung.
According to Section 47 of the Act and Section 14 of the By-law, Council can either appoint a new mayor or call a by-election, said Chung.
“If the office of Mayor becomes vacant prior to the end of the term, the Council may either appoint a current Council member as Mayor or call a by-election. By-elections must follow procedures similar to those of a general election and is estimated to cost between $100,000 and $150,000 and require approximately 4 months to prepare and conduct.”
The city council will be discussing the matter sometime in the coming weeks.
“Council needs to discuss how to move forward. Our options are to leave the Mayor seat vacant, appoint a sitting Councillor to the role for the remainder of our term or hold a by-election,” confirmed Councillor Tom McLennan.
While a by-election is one option it may not be practical.
“I believe appointing a Councillor would be the best course of action. This is because I feel the next election is too far away to leave the seat vacant yet too close to justify a four-month by-election process that would cost $100,000 or more,” said McLennan.
“I’m not sure when the matter will be discussed but I can’t imagine there will be too much delay,” added McLennan.
