The Town of The Blue Mountains (TBM) will soon appoint a new deputy mayor, following the death of former deputy mayor Rob Potter on Nov. 14.
Council was presented with numerous options to fill the role, including appointing a new deputy mayor from within their ranks or holding a by-election to let the public decide.
Given that there is less than a year left in the current term, council moved to appoint a new deputy mayor from its current council members.
"I think it's important to support an experienced person within council," said councillor Paula Hope. "For anyone to come up to speed as deputy mayor I think would be very, very difficult, so I do think an internal appointee makes the most sense."
"This late in our term, I think what we probably need the most right now is some consistency, particularly at the county level," said councillor Jim Uram.
Potter himself was appointed as deputy mayor following the resignation of Odette Bartnicki in January 2020, due to the fact that he was an alternate member at Grey County council and received the most votes of any council members in the 2018 municipal election.
Looking to appoint the new deputy mayor with the same strategy, council pointed to Rob Sampson, the current alternate member at Grey County council, and Peter Bordignon, who received the most votes following Potter in the 2018 municipal election, as the appropriate candidates to fill the role.
Uram viewed Sampson as the ideal choice for the position due to his experience at the county level, as the deputy mayor represents TBM on county council.
"I think Peter would do a fantastic job there, but I think there are some things going on at the county right now that Mr. Sampson is much more familiar with and may have a little bit of a better understanding of how things work."
However, Sampson turned down the chance to become deputy mayor.
"Thanks for your vote of confidence, Jim," Sampson said. "At any rate, I will actually decline that that offer - I have no interest in taking on the role of deputy mayor."
Following Sampson's refusal, council endorsed Bordignon as the choice for the position.
I think both gentlemen are in excellent positions in order to be able to see us through to the end of this term ... so I would be happy to support Councillor Bordignon," said Councillor Andrea Matrosovs.
Bordignon said that while Potter leaves large shoes to fill, he is happy to take on the role.
"I'm grateful and humbled by my colleagues," Bordignon said. "Deputy Mayor Potter was probably the most likeable individual we could ever have on a council at any level, so whoever steps into that role, it will be hard shoes to fill ... Rob had a way of bringing everybody together."
"If it's the will of the council ... whatever I could do to help, I most definitely would step in for the interim."
Though council endorsed Bordignon as the new deputy mayor in their discussion, they have yet to officially appoint anyone for the role.
A special meeting of council will be scheduled in the near future to officially decide upon the matter.
Following the appointment of a council member to the deputy mayor position, council will have to decide how to best fill the consequently vacant councillor role.