Wasaga Beach town councillor walks out of meeting and quits

By Heather Butts CTV News Barrie

A town councillor in Wasaga Beach walked out of a public meeting on Tuesday night and quit.
Less than 24 hours after walking out of the council meeting and quitting, Ron Anderson is moving on and focusing on his accounting firm. He has served as a town councillor for several terms.
“My business is based on reputation and being associated with a council like that just isn’t good for me,” Anderson says.
Anderson handed in his resignation letter as he left council on Tuesday night, saying he was unhappy with how council has handled decisions surrounding the leases of some beachfront businesses that the town now owns.
“Basically I was tired of the decision making process that people would reverse decisions, making decision for private gain versus public good,” says Anderson. “There’s people at town hall I don’t trust as far as I can throw them and I just can’t work in those situations.”

The mayor says Anderson told him that he might resign, but says it’s unfortunate that it’s come to this.
“He’s a strong minded, heavy willed person. I have the utmost respect for him and I consider him a friend and this is a sad day for me, but at the end of the day it’s his decision,” says Wasaga Beach Mayor Brian Smith.
The mayor admits this has been a challenging term so far, with lots of change and big decisions.
“There’s two things that most people don’t like: change and the way things are. This council, the majority of this council is about change. The campaign was ran on change, mine was, several other members.”
Anderson sees things differently. He says it’s about making a decision for the right reason and sticking with it – something he says he’s doing now.
“I do feel bad for the people who voted for me, but I hope they can understand my reasoning.”
Council is now faced with filling the empty seat. They have three options: hold a byelection, appoint the person who was runner up in the last election, or put out a call for applications and go through a selection process.
They can either make a decision at their next meeting in late May or hold a special council session before then.