Appointment by Call for Applications

Notice

The Clerk will post a Council Vacancy Notice on the Region’s website, social media and in the local newspapers beginning on July 2, 2025.

The notice shall indicate Council’s intention to appoint an individual to fill a vacancy, the requirements to be considered for an appointment and the application process.

Any individual wishing to be considered for appointment to fill the Council vacancy will be required to provide identification to prove their identity, citizenship, and qualifying address to the satisfaction of the Regional Clerk.

Applicants may submit a personal statement of qualifications, to a maximum of 5 pages in length, with the application, for consideration of Council. Electronic submissions are appreciated.

The Regional Clerk will create an alphabetical list of all eligible Applicants that have complied with the application process. All applications shall be considered public documents and will be made available for public viewing in the same way as a nomination form for a candidate in a municipal election or by-election and shall be available for viewing in the Clerk’s Office at 150 Frederick St. Kitchener.

Copies of all application documents will be included with the agenda package for a Special Regional Council meeting on August 14, 2025, and will be made available as part of the public agenda posted on the Region’s website. The agenda for the Special Council meeting will be available by 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, August 6, 2025.

It is the Applicant’s sole responsibility to meet any deadlines, complete the application in full, and comply with any requirements of this procedure. Failure to do so may result in disqualification from the process.

An Applicant who wishes to withdraw their application may do so in writing to the Regional Clerk at regionalclerk@regionofwaterloo.ca from the email address used by the applicant on their form or in person to the Regional Clerk. The deadline for any withdrawal shall be at any time before the start of the meeting on August 14, 2025.

All eligible Applicants who have submitted an application for the vacant seat will be notified by the Regional Clerk of the date and time of the Special Council meeting, at which time they may address Council for up to five minutes each.  

At the meeting, the following shall take place:

a)    The Regional Chair shall make a short statement of the purpose of the meeting and the general order of the proceedings to be followed;

b)    The Regional Clerk will provide the list of qualified candidates who have completed the Council Appointment Consent of Nominee and Council Vacancy Declaration of Qualifications Forms;

c)     The order of speaking will be determined by lot, where first drawn will be afforded the opportunity to speak first and so on.

1. Applicants may address Regional Council for up to five minutes.
2. Each Member of Council may ask one question and one follow up question of each applicant.

Voting will be conducted in a method determined by the Regional Clerk in accordance with the following:

(a)  Members of Council will select their preferred Candidate;

(b)  Each member of Council may vote for one (1) candidate only in each round; and

(c)   All members of Council present shall vote during the appointment process.

Where a round of voting does not result in a Candidate receiving more than one half (1 /2) of the votes of the Members of Council present:

(a)  In any round, one (1) vote shall be considered the lowest number of possible votes. Where Candidates receive zero (0) votes, they will automatically be excluded from the Official List of Candidates in the next round of voting;

(b)  The Candidate(s) with the fewest number of votes will be automatically excluded

from the Official List of Candidates in the next round of voting;

(c)   All Members of Council will then vote for the remaining candidate(s); and

(d)  This process will be repeated until one (1) Candidate receives more than one-half (1/2) of the votes of the Members of Council present.

Selection/Elimination by Lot

(a)  If the Candidate who received the highest number of votes did not receive more than one-half (1/2) of the votes of all voting members of Council, and removing the Candidates who received the fewest number of votes would result in only the Candidate with the highest number of votes remaining, then the Clerk will select by lot one of the Candidates with the fewest number of votes to be removed from the subsequent rounds of voting. Otherwise, only the Candidate with the highest number of votes would remain and they would not have received more than one-half (1/2) of the votes.

(b)  If there are three (3) or more Candidates remaining and all of them receive an equal number of votes, the Clerk will select by lot one of the Candidates to be removed from the subsequent rounds of voting.

(c)    If only two (2) Candidates remain and receive an equal number of votes, the tie will be broken by the Clerk selecting the successful Candidate by lot.

The Regional Clerk will administer the Declaration of Office required by subsection 232(1) of the Municipal Act, prior to the next meeting of Council.

Where a situation occurs that is not otherwise accounted for in these proceedings, the Regional Clerk shall recommend an alternate process to Council, which Council may adopt with a simple majority vote.

Wazhma Frogh - City of Kitchener

Jey Legarie - City of Waterloo

Ruthann Fisher - City of Kitchener

Christina Schipper - City of Kitchener

Philip Molto - City of Kitchener