Kitimat city council appointed two election officers August 2 for November’s municipal elections.
Walter McLellan, who works as Kitimat’s municipal clerk, was appointed Chief Election Officer. Shirley Boudreault, Kitimat’s deputy clerk, was appointed deputy chief election officer.
Both have previous experience in each of their appointed positions.
Council voted unanimously to appoint them, but first, councillor Randy Halyk asked some questions.
“Is it general that the same persons be appointed each and every time or is it something that’s looked at as being a little odd?,” he said at the meeting.
“The reason for these two is that they’ve been trained, they’re the clerks, and they tend to be the ones in any local government,” municipal manager Ron Poole responded.
While their roles begin officially once appointed, their duties will start late August said McLellan after council in an email.
“The chief election officer and deputy chief election officer are responsible for all aspects of running the election,” he said.
Duties include updating the voters list, calling for nominations, receiving nominations, arranging for the polls, hiring workers, counting ballots and reporting the results.
In 2008, the chief was paid $615 and the deputy $505.
But McLellan explained rates are looked at before each election.
Part of this process involves surveying communities of a similar size to see what they pay.