Mayor Aitchison to begin unpaid leave of absence starting Sept. 1

Council has approved a request by Huntsville Mayor Scott Aitchison to go on an unpaid leave of absence while he runs for a seat in Ottawa, effective from September 1, 2019, to election day on October 21, 2019.

If Aitchison is successful, council will have to decide how to proceed for the remainder of the term. Its options could involve a by-election or appointing a substitute for the Mayor.

If Aitchison is not elected as this area’s Member of Parliament on October 21, he will resume his duties as Mayor of Huntsville following the election.

In the interim, Deputy Mayor Karin Terziano will fill in as head of council while Aitchison is away. She will sit on Huntsville’s planning committee and carry out other mayoral duties including conducting council meetings and signing resolutions of council. Most of the groups, boards or committees Aitchison sits on already have an alternate designated, which means they’ll be filling in for the mayor over the next couple of months.

Meanwhile, Terziano will see her remuneration increase while she fulfills mayoral duties. She will get an additional $3,585.33 (gross), which is the difference between the gross earnings of the Deputy Mayor ($3,381.92) during the period from September 1, 2019, to October 21, 2019, and the gross earnings of the Mayor ($6,967.25) during that same period.

“Thank you for granting me the leave of absence. Win, lose or draw I will be back on the last council meeting in October after the election either to resign or haunt you for the next three or four years,” he told councillors at their August 26 meeting.

“Thank you, everyone, for the support and… just so the media knows, of course, I was not required to request a leave of absence and I will be around, obviously,” he said, adding that the mayor’s golf tournament will still take place as planned on September 12.

“I appreciate your support of me but more than anything I appreciate your support of Deputy Mayor Karin Terziano as she fills in for me, there’s a lot of things to sign during the course of the week so she will be doing that now and I know you’ll all give her your full support, so I appreciate that,” he said.

According to a report compiled by municipal clerk Tanya Calleja the mayor is not required to take a leave of absence. The Municipal Act states: “The office of a member of council of a municipality becomes vacant if the member is absent from the meetings of council for three successive months without being authorized to do so by a resolution of council,” states Calleja, adding, “As the Mayor will not be absent for three successive months he is not required under the Act to take a leave.”

Following the council meeting, Terziano was asked by Doppler whether she’d consider taking on mayoral duties for the remainder of the council term if Aitchison is successful. “If Scott’s successful in his bid to become the federal MP, then I’m starting to think about long-term. Right now we’re talking seven weeks and we’ll see what happens on the 21st of October,” said Terziano.

The next municipal election is scheduled to take place on Monday, October 4, 2022.

Don’t miss out on Doppler!

Sign up here to receive our email digest with links to our most recent stories.
Local news in your inbox three times per week!