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MERRITT HERALD FREE
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
Murdoch resigns from city council Seat to be vacated Oct. 31 By Michael Potestio THE HERALD
reporter@merrittherald.com
A FIGHTING CHANCE Kevin Lindquist (left) takes one on the cheek from Matthew Wigglesworth, who dodges a punch coming his way at the Unified Combat League 19 event held in Merritt on Saturday at the rodeo grounds. Lindquist went on to win the match by a knockout. Michael Potestio/Herald
Merritt city councillor Alastair Murdoch is resigning from council effective Oct. 31. Murdoch has been living in Kamloops part-time since May of 2012 and recently sent an email to the mayor and council informing them of his resignation. Murdoch told the Herald he believes it’s fair to the voters to have a councillor who lives in Merritt as opposed to one who commutes once a week, as he has for the past three months. He also said he doesn’t desire to be on council anymore. “Not desperately, no. It’s fairly frustrating being on council these days,” Murdoch said. City of Merritt Deputy Clerk and Human Resources Manager Carole Fraser said Murdoch didn’t have to resign, as under the Local Government Act, a councillor does not need to reside in the community in which he or she is an elected official. “He didn’t have to resign,” Fraser said. “There’s no legislation that says that because he has moved out of the community he had to resign.” Fraser said according to the Local Government Act, had Murdoch remained on
council until Jan. 2, 2014, council could have opted to not hold a byelection. Under the act, a byelection isn’t necessary if the vacancy occurs after Jan. 1 of the election year, the vacancy is not in an office elected on the basis of a neighbourhood constituency and the number of remaining councillors is at least one greater than the quorum. Murdoch said he was aware of that, but didn’t decide to stay on longer because he believes council needs a full set of councillors. Murdoch told the Herald he was hoping to have a byelection in place prior to his leaving. Fraser said a byelection cannot be held until a councillor submits his or her official written resignation. “You cannot wait until you have a replacement before you leave and a byelection cannot be called unless there’s been a resignation received,” Fraser said. Murdoch said he doesn’t necessarily think Fraser is wrong, but not being able to have a byelection prior to his resignation seems “weird” to him. “It doesn’t matter when I would’ve resigned, there would’ve been a period of time in which there would’ve been a vacancy on council,” Murdoch said. “That seems very strange
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that that’s the only choice,” Murdoch said. Fraser said the process for a byelection involves the creation of a bylaw for the byelection, a report to council appointing a Chief Election Officer and a Deputy Chief Election Officer. “The byelection must be held within 80 days of the appointment of that officer,” Fraser said. Fraser said the bylaw is also required to be adopted six weeks before the first day of the nomination period for the election. Fraser said it’s unlikely the byelection will occur this year. “I don’t know that I can get a byelection organized for November,” she said. A byelection typically costs the city about $10,000, she said. Murdoch said in May 2012 he bought his new practice, McIntyre Murdoch, in Kamloops. For the next year, he spent half the week living in Kamloops and the other half in Merritt until Carrie Ware bought his Merritt practice in May 2013. Murdoch said he began living full-time in Kamloops on May 15 of this year when he bought a home there, and began commuting less and less to Merritt, about once a week.
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