Peter Milobar watches the provincial polling results at the B.C. Liberal election party on May 9, 2017.
(KIM ANDERSON / iNFOnews.ca)
May 10, 2017 - 11:56 AM
KAMLOOPS – Mayor Peter Milobar’s month long leave from Kamloops city council expired this morning and he is back in his office at city hall today.
Milobar was elected MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson in last night’s provincial election, May 9. Council will decide what will happen next regarding the mayor's job when it meets on Tuesday, May 16.
“Truthfully I anticipate that very well could be my last council meeting,” Milobar said last night at the Liberal victory celebration.
Calling a byelection to fill the mayor’s seat could cause complications in council chambers.
Milobar has said he didn't have to resign his position as mayor to run for provincial office, but a city councillor would have to resign to run in for mayor in a byelection.
“If that was to take place and a couple (councillors) decided to do that, you could have quite a few empty seats (on council) and it might be more pragmatic for me to stay on until the byelection happened just so we have enough people to actually have a quorum around the council table.”
The next set of B.C. municipal elections are scheduled for Oct. 20, 2018, so it’s likely a mayor elected in a byelection would only hold the position for about a year.
Elections B.C.’s preliminary results for Kamloops-North Thompson show Milobar won by 48.93 per cent of the popular vote with 11,010 votes. B.C. NDP candidate Barb Nederpel came in second with 30.04 per cent and 6,760 votes. The B.C. Green Party candidate Dan Hines surprised had a strong showing with 20.29 per cent and 4,566 votes.
Peter Milobar and Todd Stone gave their acceptance speeches to a boisterous crowd at Hotel 540 on the evening of May 9, 2017.
(KIM ANDERSON / iNFOnews.ca)
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