Item - 2013.CC38.1

City Council on August 26, 2013, adopted the following:

1.         City Council declare the office of Councillor, Ward 3 - Etobicoke Centre to be vacant.

2.         City Council adopt Option A- Appointment contained in the report (August 19, 2013) from the City Clerk:

a.         Fill the vacancy by appointing a person qualified to hold office in the City of Toronto following the process set out in Appendix "A" to this report; and

i.          schedule a special meeting of Etobicoke York Community Council on Thursday, October 3, 2013 at 9:30 a.m. for the purpose of considering and recommending to Council its preferred candidate; and

ii.         schedule a special meeting of City Council on Thursday, October 10, 2013 at 9:30 a.m. for the purpose of considering and appointing a candidate to the office.

City Council has adopted the following Procedures for Filling the Vacancy in the Office of Councillor Ward 3 – Etobicoke Centre through an Appointment:

1.         Advertisements shall be placed in one major daily newspaper and in one local newspaper serving the ward. The advertisements shall indicate Council's intention to appoint a qualified elector to fill the vacancy and outline the process one must follow to be considered.

2.         All interested persons must complete a Consent of Nominee and Declaration of Qualification and provide personal identification showing their name and qualifying address within the City of Toronto. The forms will be available at the information session to be held at the Etobicoke Civic Centre from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 25, 2013.

3.         The deadline for filing the Consent of Nominee and the Declaration of Qualification for Council’s consideration shall be 12:00 noon on Thursday, September 26, 2013 and must be filed with the City Clerk.

4.         The candidates who have completed a Consent of Nominee and a Declaration of Qualification and provided personal identification satisfactory to the Clerk, may appear before the Etobicoke York Community Council at its special meeting on Thursday, October 3, 2013 at 9:30 a.m.

Procedure at Community Council

5.         The Chair or Presiding Officer shall make a short statement of the purpose of the meeting and the general order of proceedings to be followed.

6.         The Clerk will provide to the Chair or Presiding Officer, a list of the names of those candidates who have completed the Consent of Nominee and Declaration of Qualification and the Chair or Presiding Officer will call for a motion from the Etobicoke York Community Council in the following form:

Moved by...

THAT the following persons, who have signified in writing that they are legally qualified to hold the office of Councillor and consented to accept the office if they are appointed to fill the vacancy of Councillor, Ward 3 – Etobicoke Centre, shall be considered for appointment to fill such vacancy.

7.         Each of the candidates shall be afforded the opportunity to address the Community Council for a period of not more than five minutes. Candidates will speak in the order (date and time) in which they submitted their Consent of Nominee and Declaration of Qualification to the City Clerk.

8.         Each Member of the Etobicoke York Community Council will be allowed no more than one question to each candidate.

9.         Following consideration by the Community Council of all submissions, the Community Council will proceed to vote as follows:

a.         Members of the Community Council will vote by way of ballot;

b.         Members of the Community Council must sign and print their name on the ballot; ballots that do not contain both the signature and name of the Member will be rejected from the count;

c.         if the candidate who receives the greatest number of votes cast does not receive more than one-half the votes of all Members of the Community Council present and voting, the candidate or candidates who received the fewest number of votes shall be excluded from the voting and the vote shall be taken again by the Clerk or designate and, if necessary, more than once, excluding in each successive vote the candidate or candidates who received the fewest number of votes in the proceeding vote, until the candidate receiving the greatest number of votes has also received more than one-half of the votes of the Members of the Community Council present and voting;

d.          where the votes cast are equal for all the candidates:

i.          if there are three or more candidates remaining, the Clerk or designate shall by lot select one such candidate to be excluded from the subsequent voting;

ii.         if only two candidates remain, the tie shall be broken and the candidate selected by lot conducted by the Clerk or designate shall be the candidate selected by the Community Council for Council’s consideration;

iii.        "lot" means the method of determining the candidate to be excluded or the candidate to fill the vacancy, as the case may be, by placing the names of the candidates on equal size pieces of paper placed in a container and one name being drawn by the Clerk or designate.

10.       Upon conclusion of the voting, the Chair or Presiding Officer will declare the candidate receiving the votes of more than one-half of the number of the Members of the Etobicoke York Community Council present and voting to be the candidate selected by the Community Council for Council’s consideration. The name of the selected candidate will be forwarded to Council.

Procedure at City Council

11.       The candidates who completed a Consent of Nominee and a Declaration of Qualification and provided personal identification satisfactory to the Clerk, may appear before City Council at a special meeting of Council to be held at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, October 10, 2013. Candidates may appear before Council whether or not they attended at the Etobicoke York Community Council.

12.       The Speaker or Presiding Officer shall make a short statement of the purpose of the meeting and the general order of proceedings to be followed.

13.       The Clerk will provide to the Speaker or Presiding Officer, a list of the names of those candidates who have completed the Consent of Nominee and Declaration of Qualification and the Speaker or Presiding Officer will call for a motion from Council in the following form:

Moved by...

THAT the following persons, who have signified in writing that they are legally qualified to hold the office of Councillor and consented to accept the office if they are appointed to fill the vacancy of Councillor, Ward 3 – Etobicoke Centre shall be considered for appointment to fill such vacancy.

14.       Each of the candidates shall be afforded the opportunity to address Council for a period of not more than five minutes. The order of speaking will be determined by lot. (The Clerk shall place the names of all candidates on equal size pieces of paper in a container and randomly draw the names.)

15.       Each Member of Council will be allowed no more than one question to each candidate.

16.       Following consideration by Council of all submissions, Council will proceed to vote as follows:

a.         Members of Council will vote by way of ballot;

b.         Members of Council must sign and print their name on the ballot; ballots that do not contain both the signature and name of the Member will be rejected from the count;

c.         if the candidate who receives the greatest number of votes cast does not receive more than one-half the votes of all Members of Council present and voting, the candidate or candidates who received the fewest number of votes shall be excluded from the voting and the vote shall be taken again by the Clerk and, if necessary, more than once, excluding in each successive vote the candidate or candidates who received the fewest number of votes in the proceeding vote, until the candidate receiving the greatest number of votes has also received more than one-half of the votes of the Members of Council present and voting;

d.         where the votes cast are equal for all the candidates:

i.          if there are three or more candidates remaining, the Clerk shall by lot select one such candidate to be excluded from the subsequent voting;

ii.         if only two candidates remain, the tie shall be broken and the vacancy shall be filled by the candidate selected by lot conducted by the Clerk;

iii.        "lot" means the method of determining the candidate to be excluded or the candidate to fill the vacancy, as the case may be, by placing the names of the candidates on equal size pieces of paper placed in a container and one name being drawn by the Clerk.

17.       Upon conclusion of the voting, the Clerk will declare to be appointed the candidate receiving the votes of more than one-half of the number of the Members of Council present and voting.

18.       A by-law confirming the appointment shall be enacted by Council appointing the successful candidate to the office for the remainder of the term of the present Council.