By Cecilia Nasmith
Along with such municipal-election landmarks as voting day and nomination period, Cobourg council set the Lame Duck Council Period at Monday's committee-of-the-whole meeting.
Municipal Clerk Brent Larmer's report said such a designation recognizes that council may undergo a significant shift in membership on Election Day (Oct. 24). With that in mind, certain acts have been designated as restricted from taking place during the Lame Duck period – appointment or removal from office of any officer of the municipality, hiring or dismissal of any municipal employee, disposition of any municipal property worth more than $50,000, and making any expenditures or incurring any liability which exceeds $50,000 (that is not otherwise provided for in the 2022 budget).
The Lame Duck period is not invoked in the event that at least 75% of the incumbent council will be returning to office. Otherwise, these acts must wait until the next term begins. On a council of seven members, this would mean at least six of them will be unchallenged.
The Lame Duck period approved by council – to be codified by bylaw – is from the final day of the nomination period (Aug. 19) through the end of the current council term on Nov. 14.
