June byelection set for Kirkland’s District 2

BY ELYSE AMEND

elyse.amend@transcontinental.ca

There will be a byelection in Kirkland’s District 2 on June 8 in order to fill a council seat left empty by councillor Joe Sanalitro who was recently hired as the town’s director general.

Sanalitro will take over retiring interim DG Jules Renauld’s position as of April 28.

According to Kirkland Mayor John Meaney, Sanalitro had mentioned in the past that if the DG position ever did open up, he would be interested.

When Meaney did not find any internal candidate “that would be the DG in the format (they) wanted,” he took Sanalitro up on his offer.

“He said he needed a couple of days to think about it, and he called me back and said ‘yes,’” Meaney said. “I went back with that to council, and it came out unanimously that they were interested in hiring him.”

Meaney defended his choice not to go public with the job posting, maintaining it was a money- and time-saving move.

“I said, I could go put it in the newspaper, or I could get an agency to come in and we could interview 25 or 30 candidates, full well knowing we already had a candidate,” he said. “I said, no, I can’t do it. I said I prefer to say we’re satisfied with the candidate we have.”

Sanalitro did not return The Chronicle’s multiple phone calls before press time, but Meaney said his new job’s responsibilities will require him to find someone else to run his pizzeria in Kirkland. He added there are no candidates for the June 8 byelection thus far.