New Ward 6 councillor drawn from fishbowl (update)

Ozzie Grandinetti has been appointed to fill Ross Romano's Ward 6 seat on City Council.

Grandinetti's name was drawn from a clear glass fishbowl by City Clerk Malcolm White after three rounds of voting tonight resulted in a 6-6 tie with Luca Robibaro.

There were 10 applicants for the job:

• Osvaldo Grandinetti
• Luca Robibaro
• Dean Wade
• Nancy Pinelli
• Luke Dufour
• Dustin Grandin
• Wanda McQueen
• Heather Cook
• Sam Cistaro
• Michael Jalak

The list of candidates was cut in half after only five applicants were nominated by councillors: Ozzie Grandinetti, Luca Robibaro, Luke Dufour, Michael Jalak and Dean Wade.

Dean Wade was eliminated in the first round of voting.

Luke Dufour and Michael Jalak were eliminated in the second round.

That left Grandinetti and Robibaro, who tied 6-6 in the third round of voting.

City Clerk White said that the traditional way to break a tie is to draw from a hat.

Asked by Mayor Christian Provenzano whether that's standard procedure, White replied: "Not that clerks across Ontario are particularly happy with it. Yes it's a standard procedure."

Ward 4 Councillor Rick Niro asked whether another round of voting was possible instead of drawing from a hat.

"I'm just uncomfortable with that," Niro said.

Mayor Provenzano commented that an additional round of voting could well result in another deadlock.

White said that a tie had never occurred before in Sault Ste. Marie so drawing from a hat had never been necessary.

The council chambers erupted in laughter when the third round of voting resulted in a 6-6 tie.

Instead of a hat, the glass fishbowl was produced and White wrote the names of Grandinetti and Robibaro on two folded pieces of paper.

The ballots were inspected by Chief Administrative Officer Al Horsman and were placed in the fishbowl, from which Grandinetti's name was drawn by White.

Ross Romano stepped down as Ward 6 councillor after recently being elected as Sault Ste. Marie's MPP.