Deputy mayor Overwhelming majority favours giving post to councillor with most votes, but Killen doesn't agree

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Reid Southwick
Telegraph-Journal

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SAINT JOHN - City councillor Carl Killen says he still believes that common council should change the way it selects the deputy mayor, even after an overwhelming majority of people polled in a recent survey said they prefer the status quo.

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Stephen Chase

Killen said the deputy's position has come to be seen as a political one, which he argued was not the intention of provincial law that created the position.

Since the position is now viewed as one with power, the selection process should change to allow all councillors a chance to take the job, Killen said.

"Whether it's by virtue of perception, or by virtue of the way that it's presented through media, the deputy mayor's position has come to be perceived as a matter of individual power and it shouldn't be that, according to the Municipalities Act," said Killen, adding he has no political ambitions to oust Stephen Chase, the current deputy mayor.

"If there is no change in legislation, and you go with the idea that just because you run at-large, one of two people will always end up as deputy mayor. It's a pretty sweet deal for someone who decides to run at-large."

A recent survey of Greater Saint John residents found that 68 per cent of those polled said the deputy's position should go to the councillor who receives the most votes in a municipal election, which is roughly the existing practice.

Right now, the at-large councillor with the most votes is selected as the deputy mayor.

Just 21 per cent said the position should be rotated among the councillors, according to the survey, conducted by Corporate Research Associates on behalf of the Telegraph-Journal.

Chase said he wasn't surprised by the survey results. He said the current selection process for the position is the most logical one.

He said the deputy mayor serves the entire city, which means the politician who secures that position should be elected by the entire city, not a single ward.

Chase said the deputy mayor's position may have come to be seen as a political one since he has taken the office, but he said that is because of his own passion for the city, not because of his job title.

"If I was only a councillor, and not the deputy mayor, I would still be politically charged, I would still have the same attitude and I would still be trying to force the issues," Chase said.

"When you carry a large support from the entire community, your opinion is certainly given some weight."

Killen presented a motion to council last month that ultimately asked the city solicitor to look into rotating the deputy mayor's position among councillors during a four-year mandate.

During the debate, Coun. Chris Titus said he believed the motion was really about council's confidence in Chase, and Titus stressed he had full confidence in the current deputy.

Coun. Bruce Court, meanwhile, said he had no confidence in the deputy.

Killen has since said his motion was merely about what he called an issue of fairness, and not about Chase.

According to the province's Municipalities Act, a municipal council elects the deputy mayor and the official holding that office can act as the mayor in the mayor's absence.

Traditionally in Saint John, the council candidate who polled the most votes in the municipal election became deputy mayor. With the advent of the new ward system, the previous council decided by resolution that the at-large councillor with the most votes should become deputy mayor.

And the current council unanimously selected Chase to serve for the four-year term.

But Killen said the new ward system, which involves most council candidates running for office in four areas of the city, should change the way council looks at the deputy mayor's position.

Since there are only two at-large positions on council, only two people have access to the job. Killen said more people should have the opportunity.

"In the current situation, there may be someone in one of the wards who won the most votes in their ward and could be elected to the position of deputy mayor," Killen said.

Although Killen's motion asked for la egal opinion on rotating the position among councillors, he said there are two other options available to council. The politicians could vote to hold an open election where all councillors would have a chance to take the position, an option he said was ideal.

Or, council could ask the province to change the Municipalities Act to allow political candidates to run for the deputy mayor's position during municipal elections, Killen said.

The survey involved a random sampling of 400 residents 18 years of age or older living in Saint John and surrounding areas.

Overall results are accurate within 4.9 percentage points, 95 per cent of the time.