The formalities take place next week, but Doug Bing’s days on Pitt Meadows council soon will be done.
As of June 1, he’ll no longer collect his annual salary of $24,780, and soon after that, no longer will be on council. Bing said he’ll be taking a leave of absence until January, after which he’ll resign his council seat, sparing the need for a by-election.
That will be confirmed next week after a meeting with Mayor Deb Walters.
“I’ll definitely be stepping down from council. It’s just a question of when,” Bing said Thursday.
During a recent B.C. Liberal caucus meeting, Premier Christy Clark said unpaid leaves are one of the options available to municipal councillors who’ve just been elected MLAs.
“It avoids the cost of a by-election, particularly for larger communities like Surrey. Their projected costs are $600,000 to $800,000 for a by-election.
“For Pitt Meadows, it’s less. It was a maximum of $15,000 here.”
Bing said he doubts if people want a by-election.
“On the other hand, sometimes it’s not a bad idea to have a by-election and break in a new person. Give them a little experience, maybe a better councillor after the next election.”
His decision to step down comes after his May 14 victory and after him stating last week that he wouldn’t double dip, collecting both a councillor’s and MLA’s salary.
With final vote counts in, Bing easily won the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows riding with a 620-vote victory over NDP candidate Elizabeth Rosenau (10,824 versus 10,204).
In Maple Ridge-Mission, Liberal Marc Dalton won with a 1,497 margin over the NDP’s Mike Bocking (10,327 versus 8,830).
In both ridings, the number of votes earned by the Green party could have easily changed the results, if it could be assumed that Green party votes would default to the NDP.
But that’s an assumption, said Rosenau.
Some people wanted to vote Green because they didn’t want to vote for any of the major parties.
“People were looking for a place to park a protest vote for sure, people who didn’t like either of the main parties. So I’m not going to assume that the Green votes would have come our way.
“I need to respect the choices they make.”
In Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows, Green party candidate Michael Patterson earned 2,178 votes, well above the 620-vote Liberal victory margin.
In Maple Ridge-Mission, Green candidate Alex Pope took 1,818 votes – more than the 1,497-vote Liberal victory margin.
Pope also said it’s unlikely, had there been no Green candidate, that those votes would have gone to the NDP.
Pope said he gained almost 500 more votes than in the 2009 campaign, after spending only $1,500.
“My cost per vote is way better.”
Campaign spending limits are about $72,000 in each riding.
“The important thing is to be creative in getting out a positive message.”