The date, election officers and money is now in place for the City of Parksville to conduct a byelection to fill its vacant city council seat.
Council last week approved the appointment of Keeva Kehler as chief election officer and Amanda Weeks as deputy chief election officer.
Under provisions of the Local Government Act, those appointments started a clock and Saturday, Oct. 22 will be election day.
Kehler is the city’s director of administrative services. Weeks is deputy corporate officer. Kehler’s report to council last week addressed the costs of the city holding this byelection.
“As this was not an anticipated event for 2016, there was no money put forward in the 2016 budget,” read Kehler’s report. “But judging by previous year’s budgets, staff anticipate costs of the forthcoming byelection to be about $35,000, using internal staff.”
The byelection became necessary when Al Greir resigned from council on July 11, citing health concerns. This council’s term does not end until the fall of 2018.
Those who are interested in being a candidate must file their nominations at city hall from 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 6 to 4 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 16.
Two people — Kim Burden and Doug O’Brien — have publicly stated their intentions to seek the vacant seat in the byelection.
