11-07-2025
How should council fill the vacant seat in Ward 2?
Members of city council will decide next week how they want to fill a vacant seat in Windsor's west end.
An administration report going before the July 14 meeting first requires that the Ward 2 seat held by former councillor Fabio Costante be officially declared vacant.
Once that happens, council will consider two options to fill the seat: appoint a person who has consented to accept the office if appointed or pass a bylaw requiring a byelection to be held to fill the vacancy.
Costante submitted his resignation on June 22 after accepting a job as chief executive officer of the Windsor Essex Community Housing Corporation.
He was first elected to city council in 2018 and then re-elected in 2022.
If council approves a byelection to fill the seat, the nomination period would commence Monday, July 21, and end on Friday, Sept. 12, at 2 p.m. — election day would be held on Monday, Oct. 27.
A byelection to fill the vacant seat is estimated to cost approximately $150,000 to $200,000 based on actual costs from the 2022 Municipal Election, according to the report to council.
The costs include the payment for voting stations, voting equipment and technology, advertising, hiring election officials, and voter notices.
The last time council appointed someone to fill a vacant seat was on Oct. 2, 1984, when Howard McCurdy was elected to a federal parliament seat and council appointed Mike Patrick to the vacant Ward 3 seat for the remainder of the three-year term ending Nov. 30, 1985.
Ward 2 is bounded by the Town of LaSalle on the west, the Detroit River on the north, Wards 3 and 10 on the east, and Tecumseh Road and Huron Church Road on the south and has a total population of 22,826 (based on 2021 Census information) persons living in the ward.
The next municipal election is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 26, 2026.
— Rusty Thomson/AM800 News
