By Mark Squibb/September 23, 2021
Exactly one week out from the municipal election, the Town of Bay Bulls publicly confirmed that only five, not seven, councilors will be elected to council.
A press released published to the town’s Facebook page Tuesday evening, September 21, pointed out that the reduction was made in 2020 due to concerns about quorum, and that no thought was given to increasing the complement in time for this election.
“Prior to the reduction in seats, seven seats meant that four councilors were required for quorum to vote on a matter. With only five of seven seats filled, there were many items that could not be dealt with because we lost quorum for reasons such as conflict of interest or when councilors were unable to attend meetings,” read the release. “These items include the approval of accessory buildings, cheque releases and awarding tenders for major projects. Having to request ministerial approval to have less than four councilors approve items frequently was problematic and caused unnecessary delays.”
The press release notes that for several years the town has been unable to fill a full complement of seven councilors, and that ministerial approval, following a request from council, had been granted in September 2020 to reduce the compliment to five, reducing the number needed for quorum to three.
The press release then ends by saying that council did not anticipate that so many folks would put their names forward for this election.
“On August 31, 2021, we had 10 candidates put themselves forward for election to council. The town did not request to have the number of seats increased, as we could not have foreseen this level of interest prior to nominations closing.”
