City council votes to appoint deputy-deputy mayor
Posted June 11, 2014 7:00 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Toronto city council has approved a request from Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly to appoint a back-up deputy mayor in the event he is unavailable.
The vote was 36-3 in favour of the proposal on Wednesday afternoon.
Kelly, who has been the de facto mayor since Rob Ford took a temporary leave of absence on April 30 to seek rehab, is planning to take a vacation next week.
In a motion submitted at Tuesday’s city council meeting, Kelly requested Coun. Mike Del Grande assume power in his absence.
Ordinarily this sort of request is not necessary. If both the mayor and deputy mayor are absent, a special meeting of council is held to assign an alternate.
But with Kelly taking over most of the mayor’s powers last fall and Ford’s current absence for substance abuse, Kelly made the special request to avoid wasting time and effort and ensure Toronto isn’t left without someone in power.
Kelly chose Del Grande because he’s a veteran on council and isn’t running for office in the next municipal election.
Del Grande would not be given a special title.
In other matters, council unanimously appointed Valerie Jepson as the city’s integrity commissioner. She replaces Janet Leiper whose non-renewable five-year term is about to end. Jepson’s term begins Sept. 6.
Council also unanimously appointed Beverly Romeo-Beehler as the city’s next auditor general. An assistant AG with the Office of the Attorney General for B.C., she will replace Jeffrey Griffiths and take over Dec. 16.
The council meeting began at 9:30 a.m. Click here to watch it.
Click here to read the agenda.
