Council looks ahead to election season

By Cecilia Nasmith

The 2022 meeting schedule for Cobourg council Clerk Brent Larmer provided at Monday's council meeting ends in October, because Oct. 24 is election day.

Larmer added another date to remember – Aug. 19, which is the date by which all nominations for municipal office must be filed.

The August and October dates are significant, Larmer's report said, because they are the two dates on which Lame Duck provisions may be invoked in the event it can be determined with certainty that the next council will include fewer than 75% of outgoing council members.

That would apply on Aug. 19 if three or more current council members decided not to run for office again.

It would apply on Oct. 24 if three or more current members are not returning through re-election or acclamation.

Under the Municipal Act, a lame-duck council cannot:

• Appoint or remove from office any officer of the municipality,

• Hire or dismiss any municipal employee.

• Dispose of any real or personal property of the municipality which, at the time of disposal, is worth more than $50,000.

• Make any expenditure or incur any liability which exceeds $50,000.

Otherwise, starting Jan. 3, a three-week cycle applies through Oct. 3 – committee-of-the-whole one Monday, regular council meeting the next Monday and the opportunity for a public meeting (if needed) on the third. The meetings scheduled for Family Day, Easter Monday, Victoria Day and Labour Day will, of course, be delayed until the following day.

The exceptions are the summer schedule in July and August, when the 6 p.m. meetings move to 4 p.m. In July, the committee-of-the-whole meeting is on July 11 and the regular meeting a week later. The following month, there is a committee-of-the-whole meeting Aug. 15 and a regular council meeting Aug. 22.

“I would like to thank Mr. Larmer for putting this together,” Mayor John Henderson said.

“It will certainly help guide council in the coming year.”