Image

A day of goodbyes at Lambton County Council

November 2, 2022

Three long-time politicians and the top administrator of Lambton said goodbye Wednesday.

Plympton-Wyoming’s Lonny Napper, St. Clair Township’s Steve Arnold and Lambton Shores’ Bill Weber have all served on county council for multiple terms – Arnold since the 1990s. Both Arnold and Weber have served as warden and Napper served as deputy warden. Wednesday was their last county council meeting.

Weber served as warden for four years and was in office on March 18 when the county declared a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “It was a real struggle, but we all work together and that’s what Lambton county does.”

Weber, who appeared emotional toward the end of his remarks, thanked his fellow councillors and staff for their help during his time as warden. “Everyone here is fully dedicated to helping this community.”

Arnold, the longest serving member of the three retiring, was philosophical saying the world is constantly changing and that’s not a bad thing.

“Things will not stay the same…We need to be participatory. I look at these young people up in the gallery here today and I look at them as leaders, they’ll be here to replace us, which is a good thing. And they will bring a different set of knowledge and practical solutions to all the things that we have all tried to do over the last number of years.”

Napper, in what he admitted was a rambling speech, said being the deputy warden during Arnold’s two year term was a great learning experience.

“I just like to thank everybody. It opened up a lot of doors for me, I had a year, two years here with Steve Arnold, that was probably the highlight of my career and I know a lot of doors opened and we got to places that I would never gone before.”

And he added; “I’m sure you won’t miss me for disrupting your meetings at times.”

Councillors also said goodbye to long-time CAO Ron VanHorne. He’s retiring in February after 30 years with the county. Stéphane Thiffeault, general manager of corporate services, and deputy chief administrative officer, will take over the role.

At Wednesday’s meeting VanHorne passed the torch – or rather the red jacket – to Thiffeault.

“When I first got appointed to the county in a senior staff position, I was told that I had to wear a red jacket to council and it’s a it’s a beautiful fashion garment,” he said to laughter in the crowd. County council members stopped wearing the red coats to meetings years ago.

“I was honored to be able to wear it because it meant that I was accepted to the community and I was part of it. It’s a symbolic thing and we kept it all these years – not wearing it very often – Halloween maybe – not around the town or anything,” he said as he took it off.

“So, I thought as a transitional thing, I would give it to Stéphane,” he added helping the soon to be CAO into the red coat.

Share This

Image
Front Page

Pinsonneault ‘disappointed’ Ford government reneges of promise of EA for Dresden dump

April 20, 2025

Province “must ensure we have the tools and resources to respond to any unpredictable decisions” from Trump, MPP adds Heather Wright/The Independent Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MPP Steve Pinsonneault says he’s disappointed the province won’t require the York1 project at the Dresden dump to undergo a full Environmental Assessment. But he seems to be supporting the Ford government’s move, saying “we must ensure

Read More

Image
Front Page

Lamore campaigning for the second time in 2025

April 20, 2025

Blake Ellis/The Independent This is the second time in two months Mark Lamore is on the campaign trail. He ran for the Ontario Party in the Feb.28 provincial election and now is running for the Christian Heritage Party in Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong in the current federal election campaign. The vote will be exactly 60 days later; April 28. Lamore actually had no

Read More

Image
Front Page

PPC’s Everaert runs for a third time saying things haven’t changed for the better

April 20, 2025

Blake Ellis/The Independent “Things haven’t changed for the better in Canada.” That’s why Brian Everaert is once again running for the People’s Party of Canada in Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong. “We want Canadians to come first all of the time.” Everaert is a founding member of the party which sprang to life in 2018 under the leadership of Maxime Bernier. He ran in

Read More

Image
Front Page

NDP’s Chan hoping to make change from the inside

April 20, 2025

Heather Wright/The Independent Lo-Anne Chan says her experiences as an immigrant, a student of criminology and psychology, anentrepreneur and a mom have shaped her to meet people with compassion. And she thinks that may just be the thing voters in Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong may be looking forApril 28 when they vote for their MP. Chan became the candidate for the New Democrats

Read More