LETTER – The joys of serving on City council have another side
(Image: Mel Rothenburger file photo)
Dear Armchair Mayor,
In response to the column by Arjun Singh about his joys of serving on council, may I respectfully reply to it?
There are three primary reasons why I rule out myself from running for council: my age of 71 years and that I have a chronic health condition that may impair my ability to commit to four years on council. The third reason, of no lesser value than the other two, is how being on council may affect my wife of almost 27 years.
In married life, “two have become one” and what might affect me would affect my wife. Simply put, I can’t allow the love of my life to be hurt by things that are directed at me.
I truly hope that we have some good people run for council this time around.
JOHN NOAKES,
Citizen of Westmount
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Disrupters of all kinds are a liability to the corporation hence put up, move out or stay out of the way. Prior to RHJ, D. Cavers and D. Walsh had a hell of a hard time navigating the (often) unnecessary chaos of City Hall.
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This term has shown what can happen if councillors form a single entity against a council member who doesn’t align with their status quo.
I think any person wanting changes at city hall that could affect current policies, staffing or spending could be in for a rough time.
Certainly a deterrent to running for council for anyone who wants to encourage public input, to discover actual numbers of “wet” vs. “dry” shelters, to require performance reviews for top administrators, to change committee memberships or to put limits on how AAPs are used.
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