One of Toronto’s most high profile police officers says he’s interested in being appointed to city council in the wake of Doug Holyday’s exit.
In an interview with the Toronto Sun Tuesday, Toronto police spokesman Const. Tony Vella said he’s thinking about putting his name forward as a candidate for appointment to the Ward 3 council seat.
“This is something I’ve always wanted to do and in life sometimes you just have to take a chance,” he told the paper.
Vella confirmed the story to CP24, but wasn’t immediately available to comment.
Holyday vacated his long-held city council seat after winning a provincial byelection for the Progressive Conservatives in the riding of Etobicoke Lakeshore on Aug. 1.
Mayor Rob Ford had been pushing for a byelection to fill Holyday’s seat. However with just more than a year to go before the next round of municipal elections, city council voted 22-11 to appoint an interim replacement instead.
Etobicoke York Community Council will hold a special meeting Oct. 3 to select a preferred candidate and city council will then meet on Oct. 10 to vote on that recommendation.
Whoever is chosen to fill the seat will serve until the term expires on November 30, 2014. While some councillors have said they’d like to appoint a candidate who promises not run in the next election, council is not able to bar someone from running.
Vella told the Sun he would run in the next election if appointed.
Aside from Vella, former mayoral candidates Sarah Thomson and John Nunziata have also expressed interest in an appointment.
An information session will be held Sept. 25 at Etobicoke Civic Centre for anyone interested in being appointed to fill the seat.
The deadline for filing an application to be considered for appointment is September 26.
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