Dave Wrobel is taking the matter to court after city council decided not to consider an order to recount the votes for mayor of Brantford in the October municipal election.
“I will be providing no comments until such time as the matter is heard before the courts,” Wrobel said in an email after a brief special council meeting on Tuesday.
count. Richard Carpenter introduced a notice of motion at the meeting ordering the city clerk to conduct a recount.
Kevin Davis was re-elected mayor in a close race, with 208 votes separating him from Wrobel, his closest challenger.
The final count gave Davis 9,220 votes (45.95 per cent) and Wrobel, 9,012 (44.91 per cent).
Challengers Ryan Smith received 1,491 votes and John Turmel finished with 343 votes.
Wrobel called for recount, first asking Davis early this month to request one. Davis said he was unable to do that because he would have put him in violation of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act.
A conflict of interest is when a person in public life is in a position where a personal interest may, or may appear to, conflict with their role as a municipal councilor.
On Tuesday, Davis refrained from voting, handing over chairing of the meeting to Coun. Greg Martin.
But Carpenter’s notice of motion wasn’t even discussed after it failed to receive support from at least two-thirds of councilors to “waive the rules” in order for it to be heard.
Under meeting procedure, a notice of motion must first be presented at a committee of the whole meeting (composed of all councilors) and again, at a later date, at the next committee of the whole meeting.
Because there isn’t a committee meeting scheduled within deadline to ask for a recount – 30 days from the votes being declared official, which, in this case, ends on Thursday — a waiving of the rules was necessary.
The motion to waive the rules was lost on a tie vote. Voting in favor were councilors Carpenter, Michael Sullivan, Brian VanTilborg, Mandy Samwell and Linda Hunt. Voting against were councilors Martin, Gino Caputo, Dan McCreary, Rose Sicoli and John Sless.
The only other ways the city clerk can be directed to conduct a recount are:
- An order from the Minister of Municipal Affairs;
- Through an application to the Superior Court of Justice if “a person who is entitled to vote in an election has reasonable grounds for believing the election results may be in doubt.” The application must be started within 30 days of the election results becoming official.
On Oct. 30, Wrobel posted an open letter on Facebook to Davis, who has started his second term as mayor.
“Two hundred and eight votes, approximately one per cent: this is all that separates incumbent Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis and myself,” said Wrobel in his letter. “A narrow margin of apparent victory, and so narrow it’s well within the margin of error. Most reasonable people would assume a recount would be conducted to validate such a close contest.”