BLACK RIVER-MATHESON - The Township of Black River-Matheson is in search of a new Ward 6 councillor.
To fill the seat left empty when Kim Druer stepped down from council, the township is accepting applications for the position until Aug. 30 at 4:30 p.m.
The vacancy is connected to the large budget increase approved earlier this year, says clerk Cassandra Child.
In May, council passed a 34.2 per cent tax levy increase. Child said the township's cash flow requirements hadn't been increased since 2019.
"So you can appreciate that snowballs after some time and it turns into a great big mess that has to be dealt with,” she said.
“The pressure from the public has been a lot, specifically towards this council member who could not tolerate it anymore, which is the reason she withdrew from council.”
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Under the Municipal Act, the remaining members of council can choose to appoint someone willing to accept the seat or hold a byelection.
The township is accepting applications in the hopes of appointing a new councillor from the pool of applicants. If someone isn't found during that process, Child said a byelection is still an option.
Mayor Doug Bender said if they only receive one application and council doesn’t believe the individual would be suitable for the position, they also have the option to advertise again.
“I think a byelection is kind of a waste of taxpayers' money. If you don't get enough interest through the application process, the odds of having people put their name on a ballot are pretty slim too,” he said.
“I know personally if I only see one application and I wasn't happy with that application, I would be suggesting to council that we probably open it back up for for a little longer period so we have an opportunity to make sure people are actually engaged and we beat all the bushes before we waste any taxpayers' dollars.”
The last municipal election was in October 2022. In Black River-Matheson, Child noted all but one council position was acclaimed (meaning they were the only person running for the respective seat).
“In that regard, council didn't feel a byelection would be appropriate considering there was really no interest at the election. So, this is why they've done the appointment process, hopefully, to make it more appealing and easier for people to apply,” she said.
Four people have inquired about the position and one person has applied, said Child.
Bender said they expect to receive more before the deadline.
“I've been with the municipality for over 10 years and it's just recent that we're seeing these vacancies. Recent as in 2020. Prior to that, councils were very respectful of their obligation to stay on council for the four-year term, but the pressure from the public seems to get to members of council, unfortunately, and they're human as well,” Child said.
The public doesn’t view the township in a great light right now, Child said.
“There's a lot of negativity because of such a large increase in our tax levy. So, I feel that is discouraging a lot of potential candidates to apply because they just don't want to deal with the headaches,” she said.
“I'm optimistic we're going to receive more than the one application. However, I do feel under different circumstances we'd be flooded because Black River-Matheson, we've never had an issue like this.”
Bender said he believes the failures of the township’s previous council have a lot to do with the current state of things.
“I hate to be blunt about it, but the facts of life are, due to the failure of the immediate previous council to actually follow the obligation under the Municipal Act to balance the budget via tax increases, instead, they ended up taking reserve money that was set aside for actual physical work and so on and so forth. It can be used for the purposes of budgets too or balancing budget, but under the Municipal Act, the municipality has to balance its budget annually. It can't run an annual deficit,” he said.
According to Bender, the previous council took money from the township’s reserve funds to balance the budget.
He said the provincial government has reduced some of the municipality's grant money, putting more pressure on local residents.
“So, they (past councils) felt that people couldn't afford it so they took it from the reserve funds,” he said.
“And now that they've depleted the reserve funds, that puts us into a stressful situation as far as doing physical capital work. Plus on top of that, those reserves are invested in investment portfolios and that means now we've got $200,000 less a year of investment income for us to apply against our budget, which puts more pressure on us, which is another reason why councillors decide that 'Oh this is too much for me,' or 'I'm not happy being a councillor anymore because people bother me on the street and are mad at me and it's not my fault.’”
Nothing that council does is intended to hurt people, Bender said.
“But the unfortunate part is is when you're in the public domain, it's my responsibility to try and explain it and take the heat. We've got very, very good quality staff that recommended to our council what's the proper way to do things,” he said.
“If the previous council were to listen to the same thing staff members told them, we wouldn't have been in the situation we're in. But that's life. I know most municipalities are dealing with the same thing, but not necessarily dealing with it the same way.”
Child said that council should have its new member by the end of September.
Those interested in applying can contact Child via email at [email protected] or via phone at 705-273-2313 ext. 311.
