The Town of Smithers is expected to go to the polls to vote for a new mayor no later than Oct 17.
A special open meeting to appoint the chief and deputy chief election officers has been called for July 29.
After the Chief Election Officer is appointed they must set a general voting day no later than 80 days from the date of the appointment.
According to Deputy Mayor Gladys Atrill Director of Corporate Services Dianna Plouffe will be the Chief Election Officer.
“It [the byelection] isn’t really in the hands of council as it shouldn’t be; the election is operated separately but it is a different process, a byelection is different from a general election it’s a longer period of time and there are some different processes,” she said.
The byelection was called earlier this year but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Town and the Province have decided to lift restrictions on byelections as part of BC’s COVID-19 Restart Plan.
Atrill also said the Town has been ready for an election for a while.
“We’ve been in a strange position and kind of ready for a byelection for quite a long time and now that date will be confirmed on Wednesday,” she said.
So far, Attrill has been the only candidate to express interest in running for the Mayor position.
Smithers has been without a mayor since November after Taylor Bachrach resigned following the 2019 Federal Election where he won the Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP position.
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