Connie Tabbert
Editor
Izett McBride, the deputy-mayor of Whitewater Region Township, officially announced last week he will not be seeking re-election.
Duruing the last minutes of the council meeting, he said he wasn’t sure if what he was about to say was good for the community or not … then said his name would not be on the ballot box.
“I have decided not to run for another term,” he said.
There’s his health and his wife Gail’s health to consider as well as a “bucket list of travelling” to complete, he said.
All members of council wished him well in his next venture, which is spending more time emptying the bucket list.
Following the meeting, he said, “I’ve had Parkinson’s (disease) for eight years now and it has a gradual deterioration factor to it that makes you less agile and less articulate, so I figured it was time to move on.”
He and Gail haven’t written their travelling list in stone, but they do have their sights set on Europe, he admitted.
When asked what was one of his most memorable moments on council, he said, “Perhaps it was yesterday (Aug. 12). The day that I came on council eight years ago, was the period of time when they (council) started this amendment to the official plan. Yesterday, at county council, they (county councillors) unanimously agreed to back it.”
Deputy-Mayor McBride was chair of that committee for the last four years, following the death of former deputy-mayor Ron Lowe.
Unfortunately, there are also negative moments, he said.
“The most negative moment was when we realized the train service from Ottawa to Pembroke was not going to be happening,” he said. “We spent a lot of time on that.”
While Deputy-Mayor McBride has been on this council for eight years, in the 1970s, he was a member of the former Westmeath Township council for six years.
When asked about advice for anyone thinking of running for a council seat, he said being a member of council is a lot more work than outsiders appreciate.
“It’s a good idea to have a good sense of humour and thick skin,” the deputy-mayor said. “You get comments made about council, what they’re doing, or how dumb they are…part of the spirit of the political industry, but I think people starting out on council don’t think about that. They think of it as more of an exciting adventure the first while.”
