McBride, B.C. –  Yesterday, the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development  advised that it has taken steps to rectify  the situation in McBride where  three councillors recently resigned, leaving  Mayor Loranne Martin and Councillor Rick Thompson without quorum to conduct  Village business.  Mayor Martin is waiting for more details.

One of the steps allows Mayor Loranne Martion and Councillor Thompson to constitute quorum,  another   calls for the Village to appoint a Chief Electoral Officer  and Deputy  as soon as possible so there can be a by-election.  “We  have the Ministry assisting the CAO on that” says Mayor Martin “so we’ll have to wait for their  information as to when we will move ahead,  but I assume it will be as quickly as possible  of course.”

Once  a Chief Electoral Officer and Deputy have been  named,   a by-election will have to be held within  80 days.  Mayor Martin says  she would like to see a by-election held sooner, rather than later “It’s too important to leave hanging.”

She says  the next scheduled Council meeting in McBride is  set for the 13th of December “I imagine we will have  everything in play by that  point in time,  It’s just a matter of figuring out the details.  There’s a lot  of work that goes into a by-election, so it’s just a matter of getting those details down and hammering out the date and making sure we comply with all legislation  while  we’re doing it.”

It is possible, McBride voters could be back at the polls  before the end of February.

With no quorum over the  past two weeks since  the trio  of Councillors resigned, Mayor Martin says  things have been  quiet “When you don’t have a full quorum, you can’t  do Council business, so it’s been quiet in that way.”  She says administration has been running the “day to day  business of the village.”

The Ministry  has also  appointed a municipal  advisor to  assist the village through what it calls ” a transition period”.  Mayor Martin says she is waiting for more information on  that  appointment “We are just working out the details now,  so we’ve  only had one  preliminary discussion on the matter and we haven’t  gone any farther than that as of yet.   So, as soon as the Ministry get’s back to us, then we can follow up.”