NOTL has tradition of appointing ninth candidate to vacant seat

Council is now in the position of deciding how to fill a council seat left vacant by Nick Ruller, and while the municipal act offers options, the town has a history of past councils following the tradition of appointing the ninth-place candidate in the previous election.

This occurred most recently in the last term, by choosing to have Sandra O’Connor replace Stuart McCormack, who resigned.

In his letter explaining his resignation, printed in the NOTL Local, he said continuing on council was no longer viable for him. “The direction that council is taking, and its process of decision-making underlying that direction, does not allow me to appropriately represent the interests of the residents who put their trust in me, and to contribute to the future of our community as I hoped and expected.”

O’Connor was elected to this term of council in 2022.

Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa got his start in municipal politics when he was first appointed to fill a town council seat left vacant by the passing of Bob Howse. Zalepa had been the ninth-place finisher in the 2006 election, and went on to win an elected seat in 2010.

Rob Copeland from Queenston was elected to town council three times: 1994, 1997, 2000, and 2003. In the 2000 election, Copeland was deputy mayor, with the most amount of votes of the candidates for councillor. During that term of council, the Queenston Community Association, which originated back in the 1970s, took on the issue of Part IV heritage designation for the village, which Copeland had spearheaded, believing he had community support. When he found out he didn’t, he resigned in protest.

Tom Braybrook, the ninth-place candidate in the 2000 election, was appointed to replace Copeland in October, 2002. However there was discussion from what Braybrook considered “old-guard” politicians at the time to bypass Braybrook and choose the 10th candidate, but the majority of councillors of the day supported going with traditional.

Both Braybrook and Copeland went on to win seats in the 2003 election, replacing a couple of those old-guard politicians of the previous term.

In September, 1987, realtor Kevan O’Connor, who passed away in 2018, was appointed to a position left vacant on council by the resignation of Alderman Mike Dietsch, who left to take the position of  MPP for the local riding, representing the Liberal party. O’Connor had placed 10th in the municipal election held in 1985.

Long-time municipal councillor Jim Collard had been the ninth-place candidate, and at that point had already been appointed to his first term on council in 1985, shortly after a municipal election. Collard was asked to fill the council position left vacant when Harold Clement, who served as a municipal politician for more than three decades, was appointed to regional council to replace Wilbert Dick, who had been named regional chair.

Council did step away from tradition in 2010, when Gary Burroughs was elected to regional council, and then voted chair. Town councillors voted to have Dave Lepp step into the seat vacated by Burroughs when he was elected chair. Lepp had run against Burroughs for the seat at the regional council table, and councillors decided the vote was close enough to have Lepp fill the vacant seat rather than calling a by-election or choosing the option followed in the same situation in 1985.