‘I’d sell every piece of property I had in town’: Ex-mayor says he’d resign in the face of a recall petition

“I’d probably sell every piece of property I had in town and move to Mexico and you’d never see me again,” he said.

A petition to recall mayor Clark was launched by resident Nicole Frey in October. Frey has until early December to get 40 per cent of eligible voters to sign the petition to successfully remove the mayor.

Clugston acknowledged it would be difficult for the petition to reach the signature threshold.

“The hurdle is 26,000 signatures – the 40 per cent is really, really difficult to reach – there really should be different hurdles for different municipalities,” he said.

It’s currently unclear how many signatures the petition has.

The former mayor argued the skyrocket in utility rates earlier this year was avoidable and placed the blame squarely on council.

“They ended up really upsetting the community and hurting people, especially people with young families. This should have never happened,” Clugston said.

“But at least, finally, they got to the right solution…kudos to them.”

Clugston wasn’t hopeful about an upcoming rate review scheduled to come before council in December.

“The thing is, a rate review is nothing new, I’ve seen this movie before,” he said.

“This council kept saying that it was the province’s fault that the electricity rates were so high and that they had no control over electricity. Well, they proved themselves wrong because obviously they did because they were able to set the rates.”

If he were mayor, Clugston said he’d advocate the city find a formula and stick to it or else they will constantly be changing rates amid pressure from residents.

Clugston said he was grateful for the presence of Coun. Darren Hirsch on council.

“It needs to be run by people who know what they’re doing,” Clugston said.

“Thankfully, we now have a councillor – Coun. [Darren] Hirsch – who does have some business experience and does know quite a bit more about the utility than some of the NDP puppets that were put in place.”

When asked by Parent how Clugston would improve communication between the city and residents when it comes to utility rates, the former mayor said it’s a tricky ask.

“It is complicated and it takes years of study to understand them.”

by Eli J. Ridder | @EliRidder

‘I’d sell every piece of property I had in town’: Ex-mayor says he’d resign in the face of a recall petition

Our Community