Saint John deputy mayor to be selected by council, not general public
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Saint John city council is changing how the deputy mayor is selected.
On Monday night, councillors voted to select a deputy mayor by a council vote, instead of the person being selected based on the number of votes they got from the general public in the election.
Under the new rules, the deputy mayor can only be selected if they nominate themselves for the position at the first meeting after an election. In the second meeting, the mayor and council select the new deputy mayor by show of hands.
Previously, only one of the two councillors at large could have the title. The position will now be open to councillors at large and the ward councillors.
Five councillors voted for the new option, while four voted against it.
Deputy Mayor Shirley McAlary, who was deputy mayor twice and mayor once, voted to keep the current process in place. She said she got the most votes in the last election, which is what earned her this position. She said the selection of the deputy mayor should be based on public votes, not how popular the councillor is with other council members.
“I’m certainly not in favour of that because I don’t think I would have ever got to be the deputy mayor if I hadn’t had the highest number of votes,” she said. “I think you’re cheating the public and you’re taking away from the position of the deputy mayor.”
Clerk Jonathan Taylor told council the public never actually votes for a deputy mayor. People only cast their votes for their councillor of choice and mayor of choice.
“This is not a position that’s on the ballot for the voters to consider,” he said.
McAlary has previously said she will no be running in the next municipal election on May 10.
The new process was one of three options presented to council. It’s also the one city staff recommended, albeit not very strongly.
“City staff does not have a strong view on this one way or the other,” Taylor told council. “It could have easily gone any other way.”
A deputy mayor takes over the mayoral position if the seat becomes empty or the mayor is absent.
Taylor said finding the appropriate way to choose a deputy mayor was difficult because there is no provincial or federal legislation to guide council, and it’s not standardized between different municipalities. He said even Fredericton and Moncton, N.B., do it differently from each other.
Moncton, Fredericton and Saint John councils now all elect their deputy mayors by in-council votes, but they all have different terms: annually, every two years and every four years, respectively.
“It really is entirely up to the municipality. And it’s it’s hard to point to a best practice,” Taylor said. “It appears that these struggles are quite common for many different councils.”
Staff also recommended the deputy mayor be selected for the full four-year term.
“We do believe there’s some stability required,” he said.