By Jessie Weisner

Lynn MacWilliam resigns from Bassano Town Council

May 1, 2019 | 4:06 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — Lynn MacWilliam has resigned as a councillor with the Town of Bassano.

The former NDP candidate for Brooks-Medicine Hat says she chose to leave for personal reasons.

“The reason I left is for personal family reasons,” says MacWilliam. “Because when you’re a councillor you don’t have the ability to just leave when you need to.”

MacWilliam has served on Bassano Town Council for two terms, and officially resigned at a council meeting on April 23.

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She says her only regret is leaving her crown achievement on council, an initiative to bring tiny homes into the rural community.

“That’s my one regret because it’s just getting off the ground now and I won’t be able to see it in fruition, but I feel like I got that through and I’m very pleased,” says MacWilliam. “We’re just going to do a feasibility study to see how these tiny homes could work in small communities. We basically just want to know how we can utilize tiny homes in small communities, can we use them for seniors, can we use them for young people just starting out, that kind of thing.”

She took a leave at the beginning of March to focus on the provincial election, where she earned 4,008 votes, leaving her in second place behind the UCP’s Michaela Glasgo.

That was her second attempt at running for a provincial NDP seat. She also ran for a federal NDP seat in 2015.

MacWilliam says she may have to leave town quickly, so not having to commit to weekly meetings is important.

“I want to have that flexibility,” says MacWilliam. “If I get a phone call I want to be able to just pack my bags and leave and not have to worry about anything.”

When asked if she’ll continue with politics, she said she doesn’t think so.

“Right at this point in time I don’t think so,” she said. “I am 67-years-old, so I feel that I’m just going to finally take a holiday because when you’re working around council meetings you aren’t able to take a nice long holiday. It’s all those little things that I think I’ll be able to take advantage of.”

She hopes the person chosen to replace her will be as dedicated to the position.

“Now they’ll have the ability to get somebody else, they’re having a by-election so they’ll bring somebody in that can do that,” says MacWilliam. “I just feel I worked hard on council, I think I’ve only missed one or two of my meetings and on my boards and committees I have attended pretty well every one of the meetings in my two terms.”

A by-election will be held for Bassano Town Council on July 17 to fill MacWilliam’s spot.