Councillor-elect Everett Baker will be sworn in a day later than expected owing to a legislative technicality, city hall told The Gazette Friday, Dec. 11.
READ MORE: Baker wins Grand Forks byelection
Baker’s inauguration had been scheduled for city council’s next meeting Monday, Dec. 14. City hall had assumed this would satisfy sections of the Local Government Act dealing with municipal elections.
Deputy Chief Election Officer (CEO) Kevin McKinnon reaches for the latest polling results in Grand Forks’ council byelection Saturday, Dec. 5, as CEO Patti Ferguson and election worker Jennifer Fenn look on. Photo: Laurie Tritschler
The Act provides for a nine-day period after an election when the city is required to follow up on judicial reviews of contested polling results, as in the case of close elections, Corporate Officer Kevin McKinnon explained. Baker’s swearing-in has been delayed until Tuesday, Dec. 15 because the judicial review period began the day after last Saturday’s election (Dec.5) rather than the day of, according to the act.
“We are held to that timeline,” McKinnon said, adding that city hall realized the scheduling conflict earlier this week.
The city does not anticipate that anyone will file for a judicial review of the byelection, he continued.
Baker won the council byelection against candidate Ian Mitchell by a vote of 433 to 228, according to results released by Chief Election Officer Patti Ferguson.
Baker will sit for his first council meeting in the New Year, barring an ad-hoc council meeting called by the mayor, McKinnon said.
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