Who's running City Hall?

How will City Council fill the void left by Mayor John Rowswell before the new mayor and council take office on December 1?

Normally, a municipal council has two choices on how to fill a mayoral or council vacancy.

It can call a byelection.

Or, council can appoint someone to fill the position.

However, things are complicated in that we are slightly less than eight weeks away from the October 25 election.

The Municipal Elections Act states that byelections to fill a vacant office cannot be held after March 31 in the year of a regular election.

But provincial law also states that a municipality is not required to fill any vacancy that occurs within 90 days before an election.

That leaves Sault Ste. Marie City Council with two choices: appointing a replacement for Mayor Rowswell, or doing nothing. If councillors choose the latter option, a previously agreed-on schedule for acting mayors would kick in.

That means Ward 4 Councillor Lorena Tridico would effectively serve as mayor for the month of September, Ward 2's Susan Myers in October and Ward 6's Ozzie Grandinetti in November.

City Council is expected to discuss the issue at its next meeting on September 13.

Until then, our acting mayor is Lorena Tridico (shown).

Tell 'em what you think

To e-mail your feelings on this issue to every member of City Council except Ward 6 Councillor Frank Manzo, please click here.

Councillor Manzo cannot be reached by e-mail, but you can phone or fax him at 945-9971.

SooToday.com also encourages you to express your opinion on what City Council should do to fill the mayor's chair until December 1, using the poll currently at the bottom of our home page.