Rossland residents will go to the polls this spring to choose a new city councillor.
The by-election is needed to fill the seat left vacant by Scott Forsyth.
The first-time councillor resigned from council on Jan. 7, a little over a year after being elected in the general municipal election of October 2018.
Forsyth said he didn’t want to go into detail about why he resigned, but indicated he was frustrated with council and decision-making at the municipal level.
“I found I could not contribute meaningfully and that the process moves slowly. I am much better at project-based stuff where I can make plans and make things happen,” he says. “I have a long history of community involvement in Rossland and doing stuff, and I’d rather get back to that.”
Forsyth said he didn’t want to comment further “so as not to undermine council.”
Forsyth told Rossland News he had been feeling that way for some time. At the Dec. 9 council meeting, he walked out before the end of the meeting, and he didn’t attend the first council meeting of 2020 on Jan. 6. He made his resignation official the next day.
“It is with regret that the city accepts Scott Forsyth’s resignation from city council, and I want to thank him for his service this past year,” said Mayor Kathy Moore, in announcing Forsyth’s decision.
Forsyth represented council on the Tourism Rossland board.
In the lead-up to the election in 2018, Forsyth suffered a heart attack during the campaign. He said his health — mental and physical — also contributed to his decision to quit municipal politics.
SEE: Rossland council candidate runs for office from hospital bed
No date has been set for the by-election.
