Essex town council will decide how it's going to handle electing its deputy mayor in the next election.
Council will receive a ward structure review Monday night.
The deputy mayor is currently a member that is voted to the position by council.
Councilor Bill Caixeiro says should that change, but more amendments to the ward structure could follow. One option in the report is simply adding an additional council member, while another could result in the dissolution of the ward structure in favour of an at large election across the board.
He says the deputy mayor position is too important to not give the public more input on who represents the town.
"That is a position that I feel is representing our whole municipality," says Caixeiro. "In a lot of peoples minds it would be unfair for that person to be elected just in one ward to then just be appointed by council versus being elected by the whole municipality."
Caixeiro says making the deputy mayor position an elected position is what the people of Essex want.
"From the consultation that the consultant did with the municipality having two public meetings," says Caixeiro. "One in Essex, one in Harrow — Ward 4; it seems as though about 80% of the people that gave their thoughts through the survey questionnaire support the deputy mayor being elected at large."
Caixeiro says the issue might be resolved at Monday's council meeting, but it could also be the start of a much longer process.