City of Port Alberni residents will head to the polls for a byelection in December.
Following the death of former councillor John Douglas earlier this year, the city is required to hold a byelection to fill his seat. Council agreed during their most recent regular meeting to schedule the voting day for Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, with two advance voting opportunities, on Dec. 4 and Dec. 11.
Due to a lack of staff, the city will engage contractor Mark Brown of Panneton & Associates to conduct the byelection. It is expected to cost approximately $29,000 for contract services, plus an additional $60,000 in operational requirements.
“A byelection generally takes the same amount of work and planning as a full general local election, even though it is only filling a single vacancy,” said Sara Darling, the city's director of corporate services.
City CAO Mike Fox said the city had reached out to the provincial government to see if they could "piggyback" on the provincial election process this year, but the province declined.
Fox says funding for the byelection is expected to come out of the city's corporate services budget, which has seen some staff vacancies this year.
