The Municipality of Waltham is holding a by-election this August for a vacant council seat.
Waltham mayor Odette Godin said the election was announced in June after former councillor Jordan Evans resigned due to medical reasons.
“We put out the notice that there would be an election, and people would have to go to the office to pick up the nomination papers and get their signatures,” Godin explained.
The call for nominations was put out on June 15, and candidates could submit nominations between July 15 to July 26.
In this period, two people submitted their names as candidates for the council seat – Brendan Adams and Chantal Fortin.
THE EQUITY reached out to both candidates on Monday to learn more about why they chose to run,
Adams, 33 years old, said he hopes to bring a fresh perspective to the council.
“It’s just to put a young mind at the table,” Adams said. “I thought about running for the last elections but I decided to not [run].”
THE EQUITY did not hear back from Fortin by publication deadline.
Godin said she was happy to see people had applied for the position.
She explained during the last election, where two council seats were available, the municipality had to put out a call for nominations a second time when no one put their name forward in the first round.
After the second call for nominations, two candidates stepped forward for the two available seats, and so both were elected by acclamation into the position.
In August’s by-election, however, two candidates will have to compete for one spot.
“We’re quite pleased,” Godin said. “It’s usually hard to get anybody to run.”
The elections are set to take place on Aug. 25, with early voting scheduled for Aug. 18 at the Waltham Town Hall.
