Following the recent resignation of city councillor Candace Martin, Elliot Lake is down yet another councillor.
After 13 years on council, Scot Reinhardt tendered his resignation last week to a city clerk, confirms Mayor Dan Marchisella. With a year left to go before the next municipal election, council will determine the next step on his replacement.
It is unclear why Martin and Reinhardt resigned. ElliotLakeToday reached out to both for comment but has not yet heard back.
In Elliot Lake it is tradition to offer each seat to the next person with the most votes.
Kevin Kucey is next in line to fill the seat Reinhardt vacated and Ed Pearce will be taking his oath to help the city of Elliot Lake to replace Martin who resigned from council last month.
He will be sworn in during the next city council meeting, scheduled for Oct. 10.Born and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan, Pearce studied History and Political Science at the University of Saskatchewan.
“I am honoured to sit on council, but I feel it is unfortunate that Candace felt she had to resign,” he said. “I was chosen because I was next on the list of candidates.”
According to Pearce, he had 53 fewer votes than fellow councillor Reinhardt.
“By tradition, the next candidate is asked if they want to accept the nomination of council,” he explained.
Pearce said he decided to run for council in the 2014 election because he believed the councillors at the time were not doing enough.
“I decided to run for council in the last election because I felt the previous council was unproductive and dysfunctional,” he expressed. “I am particularly interested in Economic Development and diversification and I felt there wasn’t enough being done in this area.”
The next municipal election for all municipalities in Ontario will be Oct. 22, 2018. That leaves Pearce about a year to accomplish his list.
“As for what I want to accomplish, it is only one year,” he said. “I just hope to get council back to dealing with the issues that need to be addressed as soon as possible.”
When asked if he had anything else to say before sworn in, Pearce said “not now. Ask me in 10 months,” when the campaign for 2018 will begin.