By Heather Killen
The Spectator
NovaNewsNow.com
The new faces running for seats in Bridgetown will have some experienced hands to help provide leadership after the fall election.
While the majority of the former Bridgetown council are not likely to re-offer, at least two of them will be asking for their seats back in the upcoming fall election.
While Art Marshall and Richard Flemming say they are not considering another run at council, Ted Agombar and Grant Wright have both confirmed they are willing to run again. John Smith says he isn’t able yet to make a commitment, but he certainly hasn’t ruled out the possibility and hopes to be able to say yes in a few weeks.
Wright said he had been sitting on the fence, but realized after the special August 22 meeting that he would probably regret it if he didn’t re-offer. He says he feels the job that he and the other councillors started at the beginning of the term remains undone and they were robbed of the last two years of their term.
Ted Agombar confirmed Monday that he will run again.
“I’m in. We have unfinished business, I feel our mandate was cut short,” he said. “We only did what we did because we didn’t have a choice.”
Council Resigned
The council resigned on mass last year following the advice of its legal council and other advisors, after it was discovered there had been a misappropriation of funds. Agombar and other members of council have indicated this mass resignation didn’t rest on personal choices to give up, but an act that would save the town from further hardship.
Had the council stayed on, the town would have been forced to shoulder the cost of the forensic audit and wouldn’t have the same access to the skilled expertise it needed to recover. Agombar, Smith, and Wright all say they feel a responsibility to finish the job they started and to help provide some experience to the newly elected council.
John Smith says that being forced to resign the way they did left a bitter taste in his mouth. He agrees there is unfinished business and he wants to make sure there are enough people running for the seats to give the town a proper fall election.
Art Marshall and Richard Flemming both say it’s time for new faces to take the reins. Marshall added that he and the other former councillors who are not re-offering may have stepped down from official municipal service but they continue to serve the community behind the scenes.
“We’ll continue to stay in the background and volunteer the way we always have,” he said. “We haven’t given up on the community, we’re still here and we’re still working on behalf of the community.”
