The recent shuffling of Belleville City Council has led to a need to fill a pair of vacancies on some city committees.
The vacancies on the city’s Transit Committee and Belleville Library Board come after Carol Feeney, who had held those positions as a civilian member, was sworn in as a councillor.
While Mayor Mitch Panciuk was ready to name two qualified replacements (Michael Harris and Jennifer May-Anderson) on Monday, many councillors, including Councillor Paul Carr, felt that those positions should be posted, giving the general public to apply.
“I think there’s an opportunity here to put it out. I know it is only two different boards, but I would think that these are two very important boards in a group of many important boards, and I think if we’re going to talk about opportunity and inclusiveness, then this is an opportunity to practice that.”
Panciuk’s selections had been chosen from a pool of candidates who applied to fill committee vacancies back in February, but he agreed to post the new opportunities, which will be added to the city website and circulated on social media.
All councillors who opposed noted that they had nothing against the specific candidates, but wanted to see the process conducted as openly and transparent as possible.
