As councillors said goodbye, mayor-elect Sarah Good told The Seeker that a difficult budget would be her first priority.
When Carilyne Hébert’s name was called at Cornwall’s Nov. 9 council meeting, she took a deep breath before answering. It was a brief pause, easy to miss if you weren’t watching. From where I sat, it seemed like the moment it sank in that, after 12 years on council, this was her last roll call.
The meeting had opened with a moment of personal reflection. I looked around the table and wondered what that silence felt like for the people sitting there. Some had been re-elected. Some had chosen to step away. Others had hoped voters would send them back. They still had a night’s work ahead of them, but it was the last time they’d do it together.
Katherine Wells walked council through what it had accomplished and what the next council still had to do. The report’s advice was pretty straightforward. Pick fewer priorities, be clear about what progress looks like, and show how you’ll pay for them. Elaine MacDonald asked about expanding transit, with the city’s Transit Master Plan still underway.
Maurice Dupelle asked why three affordable housing units that had previously housed on-site security tenants were still empty. He said they’d been vacant for some time and raised residents’ concerns about losing that on-site presence. Claude McIntosh spoke bluntly about the difficulty of finding a place for a homeless shelter when people who supported having one in Cornwall objected to having it in their neighbourhood.
Around the table one last time
“Okay, honey, crank up the VCR,” McIntosh joked as he began his farewell. Denis Sabourin later called him “the official unofficial historian of everything Cornwall.”
McIntosh asked where else but at the municipal level you could get a Liberal, a New Democrat and a Conservative to agree. He had Sabourin, MacDonald and himself in mind. Todd Bennett reflected on what it takes to chair a council meeting with “the outside world staring in on the fishbowl.” And to the colleagues who wouldn’t be back, MacDonald said simply, “We won’t be strangers.”
Hébert remembered why she’d first run. She wanted to be a voice for people who felt they weren’t being heard. She talked about what she’d learned, the progress she’d helped make and the environmental work she’d been part of. She joked that she might take up Zumba now that her Monday nights were free. Then she said something that stuck with me.
“My love for Cornwall has never been tied to the seat at this table.”
Fred Ngoundjo thanked residents for giving him the chance to serve. “People are amazing here,” he said. Syd Gardiner spoke about a difficult year with his health and thanked the people who helped him through it. Dean Hollingsworth thanked local media for fair coverage at a time when so much of the conversation plays out on social media.
Fighting back tears, Dupelle thanked city administration, frontline workers, past and present councillors, and his family. He remembered how proud his mother was when he was elected. He said he’d served under five mayors, then turned to Justin Towndale. “By far, you had the most respect and dedication, and I’ll always appreciate that.”
What Sarah Good takes into the next term
After the meeting, I asked mayor-elect Sarah Good what had stayed with her from the farewells. She talked about how often council’s work starts with something as simple as a phone call or an email. One resident raises a concern, it starts a conversation, and sometimes that conversation leads to a change that helps a lot more people.
Good said she’d learned from her colleagues and from city staff, from administration to the front lines. She and Hébert were friends before they served together. They disagreed on plenty, Good said, but shared a commitment to Cornwall. When Good had doubts about running for mayor, Hébert was one of the people who encouraged her.
“I am so sad that she’s not going to be here with me. But I’m so happy for her,” Good said.
Good thanked Towndale during the public farewells. In our interview, she said she respected him and had learned from him. After a heated campaign, she said, both recognized that their responsibility to Cornwall mattered more than their personal differences.
Two incoming councillors were in the audience that night, and I asked what they wanted to focus on. In a follow-up Facebook message, Jason Riley said he wanted to rein in spending “without cutting services” and grow Cornwall’s tax base to ease the debt burden on taxpayers. Joël Côté pointed to St. Lawrence College and the importance of keeping programs and jobs at the Cornwall campus.
When I put the same question to Good, she said she couldn’t pick one priority for the whole term. For the next few weeks, though, she had a clear answer. The budget comes first.
Good expects a difficult budget. She said the incoming council will have to weigh what Cornwall needs against what residents can afford. She’d already met with staff and spoken with every incoming councillor about priorities and committee assignments.
Good also wants to improve morale at City Hall and give frontline employees more say in decisions that affect their day-to-day work. Sometimes, she said, a small change can make someone’s job easier. She also wants the city to get better at collecting data and reporting results. A public dashboard, an idea she raised during the campaign, could give residents a way to see what the city is measuring and whether its decisions are making a difference. Good called the coming year a “foundation-setting year.”
What Towndale asked of those who ran
Towndale spoke last. He looked back on 12 years at the council table, including four as mayor, and spoke with pride about representing Cornwall. He pointed to Sunday bus service and the purchase of skate park equipment. He also recalled council’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including raising the Ukrainian flag at the traffic circle.
He took particular pride in Cornwall’s relationship with Akwesasne, saying he thought it might be among the strongest relationships between a city and an Indigenous community in Canada. He spoke about what Cornwall had gained by working with Indigenous partners, surrounding counties and neighbours to the south.
“We succeed together and we fail alone,” he said.
Towndale congratulated Good and the incoming council. McIntosh had already praised the handover, and Towndale spoke about why it mattered to get it right. He thanked residents, city administration and the municipal workers he credited with getting the work done. He thanked his parents and his fiancée, Sarah. He said he’d take a little break before finding ways to stay involved in Cornwall.
Then he thanked the people who had run and hadn’t been elected. He acknowledged the work they’d put in and asked them to stay involved after the election.
I was one of those candidates. As he spoke, I thought I caught him glance in my direction. When I moved to Cornwall, I hardly knew anyone. During the campaign, Justin was one of the first people to introduce himself, and I’ve since come to know him as a friend.
After the meeting, Towndale told me how he’d thought about his time in office from the beginning. He later gave me permission to share that reflection.
“I always knew when I first got elected, there was a time frame. I knew there was a clock. It started. It would never be forever, and I never wanted it to be forever. I just didn’t know exactly where it would end.”
I’d gone to City Hall thinking about whose names wouldn’t be called next time. I left thinking about Hébert saying her love for Cornwall had never been tied to her seat, and about Towndale asking those of us who ran to stay involved. The sun was setting on this council, and soon it would rise on a new one. There’s still work to do in Cornwall, and you don’t need a seat at the table to do some of it.
Photos by Jason Mousseau, in order
1. Mayor-elect Sarah Good, left, sits beside Coun. Carilyne Hébert at the council table.
2. Coun. Maurice Dupelle addresses council as Mayor Justin Towndale listens.
3. Mayor Justin Towndale at the microphone during the final meeting of the council term.
Shared on Facebook by Jason Mousseau.
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