Pouget appointed county council alternate

By Hailey Zimmerman

Town council discussed the bylaw appointment of an alternate member of council and named its appointee.

Before any decisions about the position were made, Councillor Don McArthur declared that he could not be the representative, or vote on the representative because of a recognized conflict of interest.

“I can’t be the member. I work for the Essex County Council, so I would be my own boss if I sat on the Essex County Council. If I can’t sit there, I shouldn’t be able to vote who sits there either,” McArthur said.

Mayor Michael Prue recognized McArthur’s conflict of interest, and proceeded with the conversation. He stated that there were two options for picking their candidates: nominations, and volunteers, though he said the best way to go about this would be to ask for volunteers among town council members.

Councillor Linden Crain, and Councillor Diane Pouget both showed interest in the position, and a vote was put in place. Though Councillor Crain was supported by Deputy Mayor Chris Gibb, Pouget won the vote with the support of Councillor Molly Allaire and Councillor Peter Courtney.

The motion passed naming Pouget as the alternate member of Essex County council. She will be able to attend if either Prue or Gibb will be absent for one of those meetings. Town council’s vote will be sent to the county for their information.

Critchley said the money from that stream would be for work that the person in that position would do.

“If we don’t have the position, it doesn’t matter if we get the money because there would be no resourcing to complete that work plan that the grant would be funding,” she said.

Deputy CAO/director of development services Melissa Osborne agreed with Critchley, adding “in order to put a grant forward that even has a chance of being approved, it would require a dedicated project manager.” She added if council doesn’t approve the economic development/communications position, the grant application would be set aside for that.

“If council does approve the position, then we would be in a position to bring the grant forward,” said Osborne. “We are not asking this evening (Feb. 13) for council to approve this position.”

McArthur believed the statement by

Osborne means the town does not face any risk by approving the motion. Regarding the Gordon House, he added there “are very tight timelines” to get funding and said while the Gordon House isn’t deteriorating, it needs “a fresh coat of paint, to put it mildly.”

“We ask staff all the time to pursue grants and find opportunities and they found an opportunity. They are bringing it forward at the 11th hour because that’s the time it is,” he said. “We can either reject it, which doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, or we can approve the recommendation to see if we can get some extra money to help address our capital infrastructure deficit.”

McArthur added they are not bound by that motion to hire an economic development/communications officer, though he noted he will support that position during budget deliberations.

“The longer we delay fixing up the assets we do have, the higher the costs will get and the worse condition the building will be in,” added Crain.

Mayor Michael Prue supported the recommendation. “I have never been on this council or seen anyone on this council, even in the past, look away from money that a senior level of government is going to give to the municipality,” said Prue. “This does not bind us to anything. If they want to give us $50,000 or $100,000 or whatever it is, I think we should take it.”

Prue said the Gordon House is in need of repair and also believes the town needs an economic development/communications officer.

“If this helps us move along, then I think we should,” said Prue.

Kings & Queens

Richmond Terrace Long-Term Care

Home crowned its Valentine’s Day Kings & Queens last Tuesday, with each of the four wards choosing their own