CENTRE WELLINGTON – With the potential of a lame duck situation hanging over Centre Wellington, council has approved a bylaw delegating some authority to the CAO if that should happen.
A lame duck council happens when less than 75 per cent of incumbent councillors are seeking re-election in the fall. This applies during the restricted acts period starting after the nomination deadline of Aug. 19 until Nov. 15 when the next council is affirmed.
In this situation, council wouldn’t be allowed to sell or otherwise dispose of municipal property with a value of $50,000 or more, or approve un-budgeted expenditures of the same value.
At a special meeting on Aug. 11, council approved a delegation of authority bylaw which grants CAO Dan Wilson the ability to handle those matters should the township find itself in a lame duck scenario.
It also gave Wilson the ability to negotiate and execute agreements related to the acquisition of temporary and permanent easements at 190 and 200 Victoria Cres. in Elora.
As of Thursday afternoon, councillors Neil Dunsmore and Kirk McElwain are the only incumbents so far to file nomination papers for mayor and councillor respectively.
Mayor Kelly Linton had previously announced he is not running for re-election.
Councillors Ian MacRae, Bob Foster, Stephen Kitras and Steven VanLeeuwen have not announced their intentions or filed nomination papers.
