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Former Huntsville Councillor Bob Stone will return to the council table as the newly minted Huntsville Ward Councillor following a nail-biter of an appointment process at a special council meeting on Feb. 11, 2020.<\/p>\n
Eleven candidates applied for the position. Four of them\u2014Ken Inglis, Peggy Peterson, Helena Renwick, and Bob Stone\u2014ran unsuccessfully in Huntsville\u2019s 2018 municipal election.<\/p>\n
The other candidates were Charles Cooper, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Lake of Bays in 2018, Cory Clarke, the son of former Huntsville Mayor Len Clarke, David Caplan, Kathleen de Vries May, Mallary Duncan, Doug Howell, and Jamie Jordan.<\/p>\n
Each candidate was allotted 10 minutes at the meeting to introduce themselves and field questions from council members before councillors were asked to simultaneously write their choice on a card and hold it up for all to see.<\/p>\n
Councillor Tim Withey, an insurance broker, declared a conflict and recused himself from voting for a candidate. With Councillor Withey not voting and a council vacancy, a candidate needed four votes in their favour to be successful.<\/p>\n
It took just two rounds to declare a winner. On the first round, Bob Stone and Helena Renwick were tied with Mayor Karin Terziano and councillors Dione Schumacher and Jason FitzGerald voting for Renwick and councillors Brian Thompson, Dan Armour and Nancy Alcock voting for Stone. Councillor Jonathan Wiebe, who would later break the tie, voted for David Caplan on the first round.<\/p>\n
On the second round, Councillor Wiebe broke the tie and voted for Stone along with Alcock, Thomspon, and Armour, thereby giving Stone the four votes he needed to be declared the winner.<\/p>\n
Following the meeting, Stone described the process as horribly nerve-wracking. “It really was and Helena did a wonderful job with her speech and her answers to her questions and I very much feel badly for her. She said she’s going to meet me at the next election and kick my ass so I say bring it on, but it’s all good. I’m excited to be back. Last term truly was a passion. When somebody gave me a call, I couldn’t wait to get to their door to see how I could help, and I just can’t wait,” he said.<\/p>\n
The position became vacant when former Huntsville Mayor Scott Aitchison ran federally in last October\u2019s election and succeeded in becoming Member of Parliament for Parry Sound-Muskoka. Council proceeded to appoint Deputy Mayor and Huntsville Ward Councillor Karin Terziano as Mayor, which meant her Huntsville Ward seat became vacant.<\/p>\n
At their January meeting, council voted unanimously to fill Terziano\u2019s former ward by appointment.<\/p>\n
Watch Bob Stone being sworn in as Huntsville Ward Councillor below.<\/p>\n