Two Coquitlam city councillors who were sworn in as MLAs this week are no longer on the municipal payroll.
On Monday, city council granted leaves of absence to Coun. Linda Reimer - the BC Liberal MLA for Port Moody-Coquitlam and now the parliamentary secretary to the minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development for Communities - and Coun. Selina Robinson, the NDP MLA for Coquitlam-Maillardville, who won her seat after a judicial recount.
But while the pair had asked city council for leaves until Jan. 3, 2014 - the date when a municipality can legally forgo holding a byelection - councillors on Monday took a different route, saying they wanted to weigh the pros and cons of asking for the councillors' resignations and holding a byelection instead.
Council, which voted 5-1 to grant the leaves of absence until July 8, said difficult decisions had to be made since more than one seat is vacant.
Top of mind is the cost of a potential byelection, a bill that added up to $142,000 - plus staff costs - in 2010 when Fin Donnelly resigned to become MP for New Westminster-Coquitlam.
Council has already budgeted for a byelection and the city's election reserve stands at $639,000.
Still, byelection turnouts are typically poor. In 2007, when Louella Hollington quit, only 4.9% of registered voters went to the polls; three years later, the turnout was 7.5%, with referendum questions on the ballot.
"When only 5% come out to vote, is that a good way to spend the money?" Coun. Craig Hodge asked.
Hanging over the financial debate are comments made last week by Coun. Lou Sekora (who did not attend Monday's meeting) that focused in on taxpayers' dollars being used by his council colleagues for hotel rooms to attend a national conference. He suggested they could have commuted instead and saved the public cash.
Besides the cost of a byelection, council also said it wanted to look at how other cities with now vacant civic seats are moving forward. About a dozen B.C. municipalities are also coming to grips with possible mid-term campaigns.
And many are seeking help from Premier Christy Clark's new government, including asking for funding, Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart said. He plans to bring a motion before council to lobby the government - via the Union of BC Municipalities - to change the Local Government Act to avoid byelections.
Stewart is suggesting if a vacancy is created in the first half of the term, the candidate with the highest number of votes who lost should be automatically moved into the open council position; for the second half of the term, no byelection would be required.
Coun. Brent Asmundson said the provincial government should pay the price as the parties recruited municipal candidates to run.
Adding to the debate is the extra workload that council will have to pick up if there is no byelection (see sidebar) and the need to maintain quorum of four councillors plus the mayor.
Councillors Asmundson and Terry O'Neill took issue with the pressure Reimer and Robinson have placed on council - and with breaking their commitments to stay in office.
Both recalled the Tri-Cities' Chamber of Commerce all-candidates' meeting in November 2011, when contenders were asked if they would serve the full three years if elected.
"All 16 of us said we would not be vacating a seat on council to run in another election somewhere and yet we're faced with two people who have done exactly that," O'Neill said.
Asmundson said there has been "angst in the community" about the level of commitment by city councillors given the past two terms have each seen byelections.
"To me, when I run for council, I'm committing a full three years here," he said. "If I want to run for federal or provincial politics, I would finish my term and take my chances, not having the security blanket of having this if I don't get that."
Coun. Mae Reid voted against Coun. Neal Nicholson's motion to grant the leaves of absence until July 8, saying it is contrary to Reimer and Robinson's wishes.
Reimer, Robinson and a spokesperson from the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development for Communities were unavailable to comment.
There's more to councillors' duties than attending meetings on Mondays. Selina Robinson's 2013 appointments include:
vice chair of the Celebrate Coquitlam Advisory Panel;
vice chair of the Coquitlam River Aggregate Committee;
vice chair of the Universal Access-Ability Advisory Committee;
alternate director on the Metro Vancouver Board of Directors;
member of the Metro Vancouver Environment and Parks Committee;
council representative on the Coquitlam River Watershed Roundtable;
council representative on the Tri-Cities Homelessness and Housing Task Group.
And Linda Reimer's 2013 appointments are:
vice chair of the Multiculturalism Advisory Committee;
council representative on the Joint Family Court Youth Justice Committee;
council representative on the Tri Cities Early Childhood Development Committee;
council representative for Tri Cities Planning Partnership;
acting mayor for Sept. 1 to Oct. 10.
