Shuswap MLA Greg Kyllo continues to hold a seat on Sicamous council, but not for much longer.
Kyllo told the Eagle Valley News Monday he intended to resign his councillor’s seat within the next week.
“I’m going to be far too busy with provincial matters to resume my duties as a councillor for Sicamous,” he said. “I can not give my fair attention to both, so I will be stepping down.”
Last week, Sicamous council made a decision against extending Kyllo’s leave of absence until Jan. 1, 2014, a move which put the next step back in Kyllo’s court.
It would be perfectly legal for him to continue to do both jobs, however, Kyllo’s announcement that he will resign will prompt a byelection.
Kyllo took a leave of absence from April 18 to May 15 to conduct his successful run in the provincial election.
Kyllo said his decision to request the extended leave was to potentially provide Sicamous council with an option to save the costs of a byelection.
“Clearly with the results of the vote, council is giving me direction that they want to see a byelection and now that this has given me instructions as to their position, I can give my resignation.”
Ironically, council’s vote on a motion to support the request was defeated as a result of a tie, with Mayor Darrell Trouton and Couns. Terry Rysz and Don Richardson in favour, and Couns. Fred Busch, Charlotte Hutchinson and Joan Thomson opposed.
A memo from district administrator Heidi Frank listed the pros and cons of approving Kyllo’s request. On the plus side, it would have saved the district the $10,000 cost of a byelection (allowing the funds to be used on other projects) and save municipal staff and council both time and resources. Trouton later added that with the councillor’s remuneration not being paid to Kyllo, the district would stand to save $24,000 total.
Deputy manager of corporate services Mary Geall noted that if the district holds another byelection, it will have had three elections in four years.
Countering the cost savings, Frank stated a byelection would be expected by the public and there are already at least four citizens who have expressed interest in running. As well, the district would only have six council members for over an 18-month period until the next general election in November 2014. This increased the potential for deadlock votes.
Busch, Hutchinson and Thomson were all uncomfortable with Kyllo’s request. Hutchinson questioned whether or not Kyllo could “serve two masters.” Trouton said, however, that legally it’s possible for Kyllo to be an MLA and hold a seat on council.
“How the heck can you do that, I would just like to know?” asked Hutchinson.
For Richardson and Rysz, the opportunity to save the district money appeared to help sway their decisions.
“I had the same concerns as Charlotte; however, in the scheme of things, we don’t need another big bunch of expenses, and I agree with Terry, maybe we need to form our coalition and cohesiveness a lot better…”
Thomson said that if Kyllo were to resign, it’s unlikely the district would be able to hold the byelection until September, saving the some of his remuneration. She noted council already budgeted to hold the byelection this year.
Trouton said he would be happy which ever way council voted.
“Of course we would love to have seven (councillors), and it makes it a lot nicer and cleaner process. I think the community would like us to have seven,” said Trouton. “There’s going to be some controversy over it. On the other hand, we’re sitting here trying to find $2,000 to fix the ball fields, and here we are saying we’ll save $24,000 if we get through this. It’s a tough one on both sides and I’m happy with whatever you guys are happy with.”
After the deadlocked vote that defeated the motion, Trouton commented, “and this is the reason maybe why we need a byelection.”