Naomi Davison to fill Georgina's vacant regional council seat

YorkRegion.com
Nov. 23, 2016
Heidi Riedner

Georgina Ward 1 Councillor Naomi Davison will fill the town's vacant seat at regional council.

“I am humbled to have been selected to represent Georgina residents and businesses at the regional level,” said Davison, who is serving her second term on town council.

“While no one can ever replace Regional Councillor Danny Wheeler, I will make every attempt to follow the excellent example that he set for us all.”

Council weighed three available options to deal with the sad, yet necessary, task of filling the position after Wheeler's death Nov. 1.

Under the Municipal Act, either an appointment had to be made or a by-election declared by Jan. 8, 2017, after the seat was officially declared vacant Nov. 9.

At its Nov. 23 meeting, Georgina council unanimously voted in favour of appointing a current council member over a member from the public deemed qualified for the position, a recruitment and interview process, or holding a by-election.

"We are elected to make decisions and, sometimes, those are tough decisions," Mayor Margaret Quirk said, after raising her concerns surrounding the other options, including the costs and time lag associated with a by-election.

An additional $145,000 would have to be added to the 2017 budget to top up the $130,000 in reserves to hold a town-wide by-election, which would also leave the regional seat vacant until the process concluded by the end of April.

While prepared to pay the “costs of democracy”, Quirk favoured appointing from within current council members over the additional costs to the tax levy, plus potential cuts to services and capital projects, to absorb by-election costs.

A decision boiling down to a few council members "doesn't outweigh the concerns I have of where do we find the money, how do we budget that, and what impact that will have on our tax levy", Quirk said.

"If we were concerned three weeks ago to want to try and get that seat filled on a temporary basis when Councillor Wheeler was ill, then that concern is still there and even increased by the fact we will not have a person down at the region until potentially the end of April," she added.

Council agreed.

Quirk and Ward 3 Councillor Dave Neeson both voted for the ward 1 councillor after Davison put her name forward for the regional position along with fellow councillors Dan Fellini, Frank Sebo and Dave Harding.
 
“Naomi has served Georgina extremely well as a ward councillor and I am confident that she will be a welcome addition at the Regional Council table,” Quirk said.

Davison’s ward seat will be declared vacant as a result.

That will require a similar decision by council between an appointment, recruitment or by-election to fill the ward seat.

While no cost estimates were tabled for a ward by-election, the town of Newmarket's recent ward by-election is expected to have a final cost of roughly $60,000.

Davison has been a member of the Georgina Public Library Board, the town's representative at the Georgina Chamber of Commerce and has served on numerous town committees, including Safe Streets, Economic Development, Georgina Community Health Care and Thane Smelter.