The mayors of Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Anmore were among several speakers who paid tribute to Port Moody’s outgoing mayor Mike Clay at his last council meeting on Tuesday.
Clay was defeated by councillor Rob Vagramov for the city’s top job in last Saturday’s civic election.
Greg Moore, who’s retiring as the mayor of Port Coquitlam, noted Clay’s work at Metro Vancouver’s housing committee and dealing with regional issues like homelessness.
“I think our work at Metro doesn’t get recognized in our own backyard,” he said.
Coquitlam’s Richard Stewart noted he and Clay were first elected to their respective council’s in 2005 and since then he’s seen the Tri-Cities’ efforts to work together to resolve common issues improve.
“We as a region have worked together better than I could have hoped for,” he said.
But he added, jokingly, his gratitude didn’t extend to sharing time with Clay in the close confines of a motor home. In 2014 and 2015 all three Tri-City mayors travelled together in a motor home to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conventions in Niagara Falls and then Edmonton.
“I will never do that again,” Stewart said.
Anmore mayor John McEwen also noted the relationship between his community and Port Moody improved under Clay’s guidance.
“We crossed a lot of borders,” he said.
Several members of the public took the opportunity to thank Clay, as well as councillor Barbara Junker, who was also not reelected on Saturday.
Clay said he wished members of council could hear those kinds of sentiments expressed more often.
“I wish we just didn’t hear complaints,” he said. “It pains me when people criticize us for things that are out of our control.”
Clay also choked up as he related a story about a young man he first met when he was a city councillor. Clay said the 15 year-old told him he wanted to become a police officer and he was working towards that by volunteering on things like community bike patrols. But as he got older, various challenges prevented him from successfully applying for a position on Port Moody’s police department until coaching from Clay as well as chief constable David Fleugel got him over the hump.
“We’re a community that cares about its people,” Clay said, adding he was present at the Justice Institute earlier this year when the young man received his badge as a new officer for Port Moody’s police department.
Clay also acknowledged his successor, mayor-elect Vagramov.
“Rob is going to be an exceptional mayor who has different priorities than me,” he said.
The new mayor, new councillors Amy Lubik and Steve Milani, as well as the incumbents, Hunter Madsen, Meghan Lahti, Diana Dilworth and Zoe Royer, will be swarn into office Nov. 6. They'll have their first regular council meeting on Nov. 13.
Oct. 27: additional information about beginning of new council added.
Oct. 30: added Coun. Diana Dilworth to list of incumbents.
