Wright remains stripped of council appointments
Fallout from New Brunswick trip in May continues in mayor’s council appointments for the coming year
Mayor Diane Therrien has released her list of council appointments for the next year, and Coun. Stephen Wright remains shut out of it.
Wright was stripped of his position as economic development vice-chair and dropped as city council’s representative on the Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce board in June.
City councillors made the decision after Wright took a road trip to New Brunswick in May — in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic — to see for himself how restaurant reopenings were working out in the province.
Wright later issued an apology, admitting he made “an error in judgment” and he was being “overzealous.”
Therrien had earlier demanded the apology after New Brunswick’s premier and the mayor of Saint John, N.B., criticized the trip for putting New Brunswick residents at risk of the virus.
Therrien said in June that the apology wasn’t enough and moved that Wright be removed
from the two positions (which council agreed to do).
Now, the mayor has a new list of appointments to take effect from Dec. 1, 2020, until Nov. 30, 2021, and Wright isn’t reinstated to any chair position or to the chamber of commerce board.
And Coun. Don Vassiliadis was appointed in June to take over from Wright as vice-chair of economic development (with the mayor as the chair); now Vassiliadis is the chair of economic development, with no vice-chair.
Vassiliadis remains on the board of the chamber of commerce (another position he took over from Wright). Meanwhile, Wright remains the only councillor without a portfolio.
Many other councillors keep the same noteworthy positions: for example Coun. Andrew Beamer is still first deputy mayor, Coun. Kemi Akapo is still second deputy mayor.
Coun. Dean Pappas stays on as finance chair, with Coun. Keith Riel as the new vice-chair (in 2020 the finance vice-chair has been Coun. Gary Baldwin).
Although the list of appointments remains nearly the same from 2020 to 2021, there are some minor changes: á Coun. Akapo becomes chair of transportation, with Coun. Vassiliadis as co-chair (previously they were both co-chairs).
Coun. Henry Clarke becomes chair of housing, with Coun. Riel as co-chair (previously they were both co-chairs).
Coun. Kim Zippel becomes planning chair, taking over from Mayor Therrien. á Mayor Therrien becomes planning vice-chair, taking over from Coun. Baldwin in the role.
Councillors will review the list at a general committee meeting on Tuesday at 6 p.m. This is a special meeting of the general committee on Tuesday, following the regular city council meeting at 6 p.m. on Monday.