Isaac Shouldice appointed to Georgian Bluffs council

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Isaac Shouldice will be appointed to Georgian Bluffs council after councillor-elect Mike Smith resigned due to health reasons.

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On Tuesday, the township council held a special meeting that included an orientation session for the new council. That session was followed by a staff report on the council seat left vacant after Smith provided the clerk with written notice of his resignation from council on Nov. 14.

Smith had been elected one of five councillors on Georgian Bluffs council after receiving 1,963 votes in the Oct. 24 municipal election, the third-most among eight councillor candidates.

On Tuesday, council elected to fill the vacant position left by his resignation by appointing the next highest vote-getter among candidates, which was Shouldice, who finished sixth on election night with 1,644 votes.

Council was given the option of either filling the position by appointment – as recommended by staff — or to hold a byelection.

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Coun. Cathy Moore Coburn said she was in full support of appointing Shouldice to the position as the election candidate with the next highest vote total.

“I don’t think we need to enter into a byelection that will take more time and be costly when we can just simply look at the next highest number of votes,” said Moore Coburn.

On Tuesday council declared the seat on council that would have been held by Smith to be vacant and approved the appointment of Shouldice to the position.

A bylaw to formalize Shouldice’s appointment will be presented at the next council meeting. Georgian Bluffs council is next scheduled to meet on Dec. 7.

Director of Corporate Services and Clerk Brittany Drury said Tuesday she had a very brief conversation with Shouldice and he was still interested in sitting on council and “very excited” to fill the role.

Shouldice will join the new council, which includes Mayor Sue Carleton, Deputy-mayor Grant Pringle and councillors Ryan Thompson, Moore Coburn, Tobin Day and Rick Winters.