Who sits in the deputy mayor's seat in Essex will now be decided by the voters.
Since 1997, the council for the Town of Essex has appointed its deputy mayor from the six winning council members.
Council has voted to eliminate that process and put the deputy mayor position on the ballot in the upcoming 2018 municipal election.
Mayor Ron McDermott was the lone vote against the change and says the $50,000 spent on public consultation should have been used elsewhere.
"I was the only one that said no and the reason being — we had two open houses and we had a total of 45 people who attended the two public meetings, but it passed that it's going to be voted at large," says McDermott.
He says many residents he spoke with felt the same.
"Now, do I think it's worth $50,000 so far? No," says McDermott. "I've had people out there tell me spend that on the roads, spend it some place that we can see it. And that's why I was against it."
McDermott says another study is planned to determine if the municipality's ward boundaries need to be adjusted as well.