Legislative History: Enacted January 28, 2020 (By-law No. CPOL.-398-43); Amended November 7, 2023 (By-law No. CPOL.-398(a)-301)
Last Review Date: November 7, 2023
Service Area Lead: City Clerk
1. Policy Statement
1.1 The City of London is committed to ensuring the appointment of qualified candidates to boards, commissions and committees in a manner that is open, transparent, and equitable. This policy outlines the selection process by which candidates to fill a position on a board, commission or committee are selected for recommendation.
2. Definitions
For the purposes of this policy:
2.1 Absolute Majority – shall mean fifty percent plus one (50% +1) of the available votes.
2.2 Clerk – shall mean the City Clerk of the City of London, or designate.
2.3 Committee – shall mean the Standing Committee responsible for recommending appointments for consideration by the Municipal Council or, in applicable circumstances, the Municipal Council.
2.4 Qualified Candidate – shall mean an individual who has expressed an interest in filling a vacant position on a board, commission or committee and meets the relevant membership requirements.
2.5 Qualified Voter – shall mean a member of the Committee or, in applicable circumstances, Municipal Council, qualified to make the appointment recommendation(s) to the Municipal Council.
3. Applicability
3.1 The policy shall apply to Committee members.
4. General
4.1 The names of candidates who have expressed an interest in filling a vacancy or a position to which the Municipal Council appoints members shall be placed on an agenda for consideration and a selection process to recommend a candidate to fill the position(s) shall be conducted in accordance with this policy.
5. Appointments
5.1 Appointments for boards, commissions and all committees to which Council appoints members shall be recommended for consideration in accordance with the Council Procedure By-law and the relevant terms of reference, policy or by-law for that board, commission or committee.
5.2 Advisory Committee appointments occurring mid-term shall be recommended for consideration in accordance with the Council Policy “General Policy for Advisory Committees”.
5.3 Prior to making a recommendation for appointment to Municipal Council, Committee may utilize the selection process detailed in this policy to short-list applicants for further consideration via a formal interview process.
6. Selection Process
6.1 Qualified candidates will be placed on a Committee Agenda as a slate for consideration by the Committee.
6.1.1 In accordance with the Council Procedure By-law, in the year of a municipal election, the Striking Committee shall meet to make recommendations for initial Qualified Candidate appointments to boards, commissions and advisory committees and shall submit its recommendations to the new Municipal Council through the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee.
6.2 The Committee may, by consensus, accept a slate for the recommendation of Qualified Candidate(s) to fill the position(s).
Every effort shall be made to achieve consensus amongst Committee Members on recommended appointments. The Clerk shall assist in the process by displaying a slate of potential appointees to each vacancy, and by amending that slate as consensus is achieved.
In the event consensus is achieved, the Chair shall immediately call for a motion to recommend the appointment for the candidates’ for which consensus was reached.
6.3 Where the number of candidates recommended for appointment exceeds the number of positions available, all potential appointees’ names for whom consensus has not been reached shall be listed in alphabetical order on a ballot and a selection process shall be conducted in accordance with the procedure outlined in this policy.
6.4 Voting - one (1) position to be filled
Where there is one (1) position to be filled and the number of candidates recommended for appointment exceeds one (1), the following procedure shall be followed, for as many voting rounds as necessary:
6.4.1 Each Qualified Voter on the Committee shall vote for one (1) candidate to be recommended for appointment. All votes will be tabulated electronically by the Clerk.
6.4.2 The candidate that receives an Absolute Majority of the available votes shall be recommended for appointment.
6.4.3 If after the first round of counting, one candidate does not receive an Absolute Majority of available votes, the candidate(s) who received the least amount of votes and those with zero votes are removed from the slate and the vote is held again until one candidate to be recommended for appointment receives an Absolute Majority of the available votes.
6.5 Voting – more than one (1) position to be filled
Where the number of positions to be filled is greater than one (1) and the number of candidates recommended for appointment exceeds the number of positions available, the following procedure shall be followed, for as many voting rounds as necessary:
6.5.1 Each Qualified Voter on the Committee shall vote for as many candidates for a position as there are positions to be filled, but may only vote once for each candidate. All votes will be tabulated electronically by the Clerk.
6.5.2 All candidates run against each other in a race for the required number of positions to be filled.
6.5.3 After the first round of counting, candidates with the least amount of votes and those with zero votes will be removed from the slate, and the vote is held again for all positions until the number of candidates left on the ballot equals the number of positions to be filled.
6.5.4 After all voting rounds have completed, the candidates that remain shall be recommended for appointment, up to the required number of positions to be filled.
6.6 Resolution of tie – recommended candidate
In the event of a tie between two or more candidates who receive the same number of votes and cannot both or all be appointed to the position(s), the following procedure shall be followed with any modifications the Committee deems necessary:
6.6.1 A run-off vote between the tied candidates shall be conducted and tabulated electronically. The candidate(s) that receive(s) the most votes in the run-off shall be recommended for appointment.
6.6.2 In the event of a tie between the same two or more candidates in a run-off vote, the tie will be resolved by lot as follows and the candidate chosen by lot shall be declared eligible for recommendation:
a) The Clerk shall, in full view of the Committee, write the name of each tied candidate on a similar size paper, fold the papers with each candidate’s name in two (2) equal parts and deposit these papers, in full view of all persons present, in an open-end box.
b) The Clerk shall ensure that the contents have been displaced sufficiently, and proceed to draw name(s) for the purpose of determining the candidate(s) who shall be recommended for appointment.
6.7 If it becomes apparent by reason of an equality of votes that no candidate can obtain sufficient votes to be recommended for appointment by the Committee, the Committee may repeat the selection process detailed in this policy with any necessary modifications in order to make a recommendation for appointment.
6.8 If it becomes impractical to tabulate the votes electronically, the selection process may be conducted and recorded manually in accordance with this Policy. The manual process shall follow the procedures outlined in sections 6.4 to 6.8 of this Policy, to the extent possible.
6.9 Once the number of candidates recommended for appointment equals the number of vacancies to be filled, the Chair shall immediately call for a motion to recommend the selected candidates for appointment.
6.10 The Clerk shall record the result and shall record how each Committee member voted in the selection process, and shall form a part of the public record.