Niagara-on-the-Lake’s town council has chosen Andrew Niven to fill the seat left vacant after Nick Ruller’s departure.
Councillors and the lord mayor made the decision during an hour-long meeting that was closed to the public Wednesday night, breaking a tradition of selecting the next democratically elected runner-up. That would have been Allan Bisback, who served during the last term of council.
Speaking with Bisback, who says several residents were interested in seeing him assume the position, he says he’s as in the dark on the details as others who watched the live video feed of the closed session meeting.
“I actually don’t have any thoughts, because as I was watching it, the video — whether it was by design — the video on my end went blank, so I never did see them come back in from in-camera,” Bisback told The Lake Report Wednesday night.
Niven is the chair of the NOTL Chamber of Commerce and a director of marketing at Konzelmann Estate Winery.
He also ran for council in 2018 unsuccessfully.
Council’s options for filling the position included a byelection, choosing a candidate from the 2022 election list or council putting out a call for candidates, Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa told The Lake Report in an interview last week.
Zalepa did not answer several attempts to reach him by phone Wednesday night for comment.
Allan Bisback was the ninth-place finisher in the 2022 council election, behind Maria Mavridis by 66 votes.
In 2020, after former councillor Stuart McCormack resigned, Coun. Sandra O’Connor — who finished ninth in the polling for eight council positions in the 2018 municipal election — was appointed to fill the vacancy.
“Typically, the practice has been that you go to the next person, but, I mean, that’s not required, so I really have no comment until I know the details of how the decision was made and who the individual is,” Bisback said.
Bisback said he and Zalepa spoke about the vacancy abound a week after Ruller announced his departure.
“We had a good discussion,” Bisback said.
“I told him that I certainly was prepared to let my name stand, and that I would endeavor to work as hard as I did the four years I was in before — which is not treating it as a part-time job, but actually full-time.”
Some community members were contacted regarding their interest in the vacant position, Zalepa told The Lake Report last week.
When asked the names of those contacted, Zalepa refused to provide them.
Bisback served as a councillor for four years before the 2022 election.
People know, based on his previous four years on council, he tries to be as practical as possible as a part of municipal government, Bisback said.
One of his main priorities is bringing all of NOTL’s communities together, including Old Town, Virgil, St. Davids, Queenston and Glendale, he said.
“The way our council is structured, you’re a councillor of the whole — you’re a councillor for everyone,” Bisback said.
The decision comes after former councillor Nick Ruller stepped down on Sept. 11 and the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake announced a vacancy, which it was required to fill within 60 days.
