Thunder Bay city council has voted in favour of not promoting one of its own into the role of mayor for the remainder of the 2018-2022 term. This comes following the resignation of Bill Mauro, which was announced in August and came into effect Monday.

Council had the option to appoint someone to the role, however members sided with a recommendation by city staff to declare the Mayor’s seat vacant and not fill it. City Manager Norm Gale says this would save the city approximately 15 thousand dollars, and additionally would save time and other resources that would be needed to get a new mayor up to speed. He notes current policies make this a workable situation for the short term.

“In order to ensure the corporation is protected and has proper signing authority, the acting mayor bylaw is already in place.” However Gale stresses this does not make the acting mayor the Mayor of Thunder Bay adding, “acting mayors receive no additional compensation, and most importantly, they are prohibited from using the position of acting mayor to further their campaigns….as per your ‘Use of Corporate Resources Policy’.

Brian Hamilton is currently serving as the acting mayor and Albert Aiello will assume the post in November.

The next meeting of council will take place on November 14th.