After 28 years in politics, Mae Reid has decided it is time to retire.
The longtime Coquitlam city councillor told The Tri-City News Monday she will not seek re-election this fall, saying she hopes to spend more time reading and traveling. “It is time to move on,” she said. “I’ve got to retire sometime.”
Over the course of her lengthy tenure, Reid has served on almost every committee and has been a Metro Vancouver board representative. She also brings vast institutional knowledge to the role, something she said will be important for the next council to consider.
“Knowing where you have been helps you know where you are going,” she added.
As she gets ready for the next chapter in her life, Reid said she wants to make one thing clear: She is not getting a pension for her municipal work.
Since making her decision to quit politics, she said her phone has been ringing with people asking what she is going to do with her retirement allowance, a proposal announced by Metro Vancouver earlier this year before being scuttled after blowback from the public.
“They want to know what I’m going to do with my big pension,” she said. “We get absolutely zippo.”
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