Rolland Larabie is the new Ward 6 councillor
After opponent withdraws, Larabie is acclaimed.
Last night West Nipissing council held a special meeting to appoint the new councillor for ward 6. Last month, councillor Anne Tessier resigned leaving a vacancy on council for the second time this year.
Along with Rolland Larabie, Paul Finley had applied for the position but withdrew his name at the last minute. Finley and Larabie are both former councillors. Finley represented ward 6 from 2000 to 2014 while Larabie sat for two terms from 2014 to 2022.
In his opening remarks yesterday, Larabie praised council for their work so far and noted he wanted to keep working on the priorities it had set out in 2022. He stated that council has already passed important bylaws and will have more work to do including creating a trailer bylaw in the near future. He joked that he hopes it won’t be as controversial as the chicken bylaw.
Each councillor asked Larabie a question. They used the same questions offered to the ward 8 candidates earlier this year.
When asked what the councillor would do in the event that a vote did not go his way, Larabie said he would always respect the democratic process and accept an outcome even if he disagreed with it. During the 2018-2022 council term, Larabie was one of four councillors who objected to proposed agenda items and skipped multiple meetings in protest. Council did not ask Larabie about his 2022 election financial disclosure irregularities which still state that his campaign did not advertise contrary to what has been observed in local newspapers at the time. An offence that carries the penalty of being ineligible for a council position.
After questions, Larabie was acclaimed and sworn in as the new councillor. His first meeting will be next week when council takes on a packed agenda including the Verner water, a motion to formally support the controversial LGBT campground in Lavigne as well as more chicken bylaw discussions.
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I strongly oppose my tax dollars being used for these types of special interest groups. They have no positive effect on our community and the money would be better spent on more appropriate endeavors.
Unfortunately past experience proven incompetence. Could things have changed and developed in a positive proactive get the issues done not delayed attitude before? No confidence here, so Unfortunately no payment committed to fund the civil servants considered dismissed already. Fixing you fixes everything in most cases when political redundancy continues to orchestrate deteriorating systems of leadership proven the constant fail.