The Municipality of Meaford will not be holding a byelection to choose a new mayor.

Council, at a special meeting last Thursday night, formally accepted the resignation of former Mayor Wally Reif and declared the mayor's chair vacant. After an intense debatem council also passed a resolution opposing a byelection.

Nobody said it at the meeting, but council's decision clears the path for Deputy Mayor Francis Richardson to be appointed to the mayor's chair in the near future.

Councillor Jim McPherson argued strenuously in favour of holding a byelection, but he found no support from his fellow councillors.

"The mayor needs the validation of the public. The public should have the right to choose," said McPherson.

Councillor McPherson also wanted the Clerk's department to research the legalities of having a byelection. He said he wanted to know if members of council chose to run in a byelection for mayor if they would be required to resign their current council position.

After seeing a preliminary budget report earlier in the meeting that details a $1.5-million budget hole in 2008 (not including the 2007 deficit figure) the other members of council had no interest in holding a byelection.

"I can't in all good conscience, looking at this budget, call a byelection," said councillor Cynthia Lemon.

Councillor Lemon said she feels the public expects the Deputy Mayor to become the Mayor in the event of a vacancy. She pointed out that the Deputy Mayor was elected with a mandate from the public.

"We don't need to go through the conflict of an election. We have people that are capable at the table now," said Lemon.

Councillor Mike Traynor said the municipality is facing massive upheaval as it tries to deal with the 2007 deficit and the 2008 budget. He said he couldn't imagine throwing the distraction of a byelection into the middle of what is already going on.

"We'd be so dysfunctional. We have to take a hard look at the talent base we have here and move forward," said Traynor.

"Does anybody know what lame means? We can't afford to be a lame council. Some members might be pre-occupied with getting elected Mayor and we'd be more ineffective - if that's possible," said Traynor.

Councillor Lynda Stephens said council's priority should be tackling the financial problems.

"Let's do what is least disruptive. That task at hand is fixing the finances and getting us back on track," she said.

Deputy Mayor Richardson stayed quiet during the debate, but he did support the resolution that stopped a byelection. Council will decide at a future meeting how to move forward with an appointment to the mayor's position.