Members of Castlegar city council bid teary goodbyes and paid heartfelt tributes to each other at their final meeting before the next council is sworn in.
Four of the current council members won’t be back in November. Maria McFaddin announced in the spring that she would not seek re-election after one term as mayor and one term as a councillor. She has since been named the new executive director of Forestry Works for BC. Meanwhile, councillors Sue Heaton-Sherstobitoff, Sandy Bojechko, and Shirley Falstead were all defeated at the polls.
Councillor Cherryl MacLeod, who was re-elected, said the new group “will step up and find our way and continue to do the job that we’ve been elected to do, with some holes, because you can’t sit around the table with somebody for four years and not miss them.” MacLeod said McFaddin’s leadership has been “incredible.” She told the mayor: “It’s not been easy, but you have led us with tact and dignity and respect.”
Mayor-elect Brian Bogle said the current council “made some very tough decisions in the short term that we will be remembered for in the long term.” He said he has the “utmost respect” for everyone at the table and thanked McFaddin for “the confidence you showed in me, the trust, and for all the things I’ve learned from you about leadership and respect.”
McFaddin said it has been her “greatest joy to get to lead this table” for the last four years and to serve on council for four years before that. “It has been one of the hardest and most challenging leadership tables to learn and to lead from, but it has also been one of the most rewarding,” she said.
McFaddin paid tribute to each councillor as well as to city staff and thanked her family for the support they have provided her and for the sacrifices they have made in allowing her to be mayor. She said the No. 1 question she gets is how she handles public pressure. In response, she invoked her faith.
“The only reason why I could do this job and actually handle all of that is because I have a God that loves me, and I know at the end of the day that’s what matters,” she said. “I would be remiss without saying thank you for that and allowing people to actually know that if you think I’ve done a good job at managing and caring for people, that is the only reason why.”
Following a tradition started in 2022, McFaddin was presented with a gavel inscribed with her name. Chief administrator Chris Barlow also thanked her on behalf of city staff for “continual support that we’ve always had at the council table.”
Outgoing councillor Sandy Bojechko wished the new council good luck. “You’re going to learn a whole bunch of stuff that you never thought you’d have to learn,” she said. “It’s not easy and you take it home at night, but it’s okay because it’s a good thing. Learn as much as you can. Ask as many questions as you can. And at the end of a meeting, just have fun. Just enjoy what you’re doing because this is the best job in the world.”
