Kenneth Brown
of The Clarion
The Town of Kindersley has called for nominations to fill a vacant seat on town council. The byelection is scheduled for April 11.
The call for nominations was made on Feb. 21 and the deadline to submit nomination papers is March 7 at 4 p.m. You can pick up and drop off nomination papers at the town administration office.
The byelection is set for April 11 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and an advanced poll will take place on April 5 from 4:30 to 8 p.m.
The byelection is being held to replace former councillor Ken Francis, who resigned to run for a spot in the provincial government. The current council’s term ends in October 2020.
To be eligible to run for council, a person has to be a Canadian citizen who is at least 18 years of age on the day of the election. As well, the person must have lived in Saskatchewan for six consecutive months and in the municipality for three consecutive months immediately preceding the date his or her nomination papers are submitted.
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Bernie Morton, the town’s chief administrative officer, is the returning officer for the byelection. He said the town hadn’t received any nomination papers as of Monday.
The town can extend the nomination period if no papers are received by the deadline, Morton said. If only one set of papers is submitted, the town will abandon the polls and the candidate would be elected by acclamation. The town also has an option to make a further call for nominations, but the last resort would be to abandon the polls if the town has exhausted its efforts to fill the vacant seat on council.
Morton said the town could only proceed with six council members – the mayor and five councillors – if all efforts have been exhausted. He noted that it’s sometimes tough to get people to run for council but the goal is to receive at least one nomination.
The returning officer said a municipal council focuses on three things: making and passing laws, establishing and setting public policy to guide the municipality, and developing and passing budgets. He noted that those three basic council roles are important for the municipality.
People often need experience if they are applying for jobs, but there is no experience required to run for municipal council, Morton said. He explained that candidates only have to be able to convince the electorate to vote for them. Council members are doing a service for the community.
“It’s a highly rewarding position,” the returning officer said, recognizing that council members often end up putting in more time, participating in more public engagement, and having more of a rewarding feeling from their service than they had anticipated.
He noted that there’s a learning curve to the position, but the administration and other council members are there to help. It’s important for candidates to know council speaks as a single voice and decisions are made by majority vote, Morton said.
He added that council members have a chance to present ideas and to persuade other council members to support their ideas through healthy discussion.
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