City of Merritt to hold by-election in April 2024 to fill vacant council seat

Mayor Mike Goetz says in a recent meeting, council opted for a by-election date of April 20, 2024. He says part of why council waited to set a date was to allow time for the city’s new chief administrative officer and a new corporate officer to get settled in their positions.

“We had two brand new people that had to get used to their roles,” he explains, “and we kind of felt with Claire Newman’s 15 years of service, we wanted to give her the respect of the time that she had put in and not replace her as quickly as possible. We decided that we would go until the end of the year and then we would have our by-election announced.”

An exact figure hasn’t been determined yet but Goetz says the by-election cost will likely be around $10,000-to-$15,000, and the municipality has the funds available for it already.