Castlegar city council spent quite a bit of time at their Jan. 18 Committee of the Whole meeting sorting out how to cover the responsibilities left vacant after Bruno Tassone resigned as mayor at the beginning of January.
A byelection will be held in the coming months to fill the mayor position for the remainder of the current electoral term ending in the fall of 2022. City council is expected to appoint a chief electoral officer in the coming weeks. Once that step is completed, the election will be held within 80 days.
In the meanwhile, councillor Dan Rye will serve as acting “deputy” mayor until May 17.
He will also fill in at the Regional District of Central Kootenay board as Castlegar’s representative, a position that has traditionally been fulfilled by Castlegar’s mayors. Rye has spent the last two years as the alternate director at the RDCK table. Council decided to appoint Rye to the RDCK position for the remainder of the electoral term. Sue Heaton-Sherstibitoff will become the alternate director.
Council also decided on a secondary deputy mayor schedule to cover in the event that councillor Rye is unavailable. Heaton-Sherstibitoff will cover February, Cherryl Macleod will cover March, Maria McFaddin will cover April, Bergen Price will cover May.
Heaton-Sherstibitoff was appointed to the Castlegar and District Recreation Commission through May.
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