Village of Glendon Mayor Larry Lofstrand tendered his intention to resign at last Thursday's council meeting.
The council chambers were standing room only as Lofstrand read a prepared statement during the meeting, explaining his reasoning behind his decision to resign.
“I was elected as mayor to represent the people of Glendon…but I believe my input (to this council) is no longer being acknowledged. I do not feel respected anymore,” said Lofstrand.
“One of my objectives when I was elected was to improve the accountability and transparency of our council for the citizens but that does not seem to be happening,” he continued.
Lofstrand was elected mayor in October 2010, along with councilors Rick Stieben and William Moleschi.
Lofstrand clarified his intent to resign, stating he would officially file his resignation on May 1, allowing residents of Glendon a chance contact himself or the Village Office prior to him stepping down.
During the meeting, Lofstrand specified some of the issues he felt led to this decision, including council discussions taking place without him present and letters sent out by council without his signature.
As the floor was opened up to questions and concerns from the public, several people spoke up with concerns about the state of the village and its council.
“There's something wrong here. There's clearly turmoil, we can see it happening, we hear about it. The mayor is stepping down…We're concerned about our town,” said one Glendon resident who wished to remain anonymous.
He said he supports the mayor but believes there should an independent inspection done by a representative from the province's Municipal Affairs department “to find out what's wrong and fix it.”
When it was motioned to have an independent inspection done, Lofstrand voted in favour of it, while Coun. Stieben and Coun. Moleschi voted against it, defeating the motion.
Stieben said he believes council is following the rules and protocol laid out by the Municipal Government Act and added that an independent inspection would be too expensive for the village to do at this point. Stieben said they would revisit the issue at a future council meeting.
Lofstrand said an independent inspection would “bring things out and give us recommendations to improve.”
He added, “There are some things we might not be doing properly. Some of it is my fault, I'll admit to that. But we could all learn from it. We need to learn from it.”
Once the meeting was adjourned residents gathered in the common area of the Village Office where there was talk of starting a petition to have an inspection done.
The next council meeting is scheduled for May 15.