Anderson speaks about his resignation from council

Dear Editor,
In response to your recent article, I want to attempt to clear up the “mystery”, especially for council, as much as possible. I did submit my resignation to the Town’s CAO effective June 30th.
I want to thank the residents of Rainy River who entrusted me with their vote to be one of their representatives on Town Council for the past ten years. It has been a privilege for which I will always be grateful.
However, there is no single reason that prompted me to make the decision to resign at this time; there were numerous factors related to my role on council. I will not discuss those reasons publically for obvious reasons. I was not surprised that the members of council could not respond to your queries on my reasons for my resignation as I was never contacted by any member of Council or the Mayor from the date I submitted my resignation, up to and including the writing of this letter. I suspect my “mysterious” departure is not only a surprise but perhaps even a relief for some members of this council.
As the Finance Chair for the past several years, I always believed it was my responsibility to convey to the residents of Rainy River the true financial position of this community, ensure any increases in fees or taxes were absolutely necessary rather than just increased “because it was expected,” to make certain that the yearly budgets were balanced, and reserves were only used when absolutely necessary. I believed I performed those responsibilities to the best of my abilities while remaining true to my values and principles.
I also believe that there are many ways to serve your community and being a member of council is only one of many opportunities and, arguably, not the most important. Rainy River residents have the reputation that they answer the call to serve their community wherever and whenever the need arises and I am confident that will always be the case.
My resignation from Council at this time does not end my own desire to volunteer or to continue to find other ways to serve our great community. Finally, in view of the fact that I was a representative of the residents of Rainy River, I do not have need of a letter of thanks from the Mayor or Town Council, rather it is I who want to thank and express my sincerest appreciation to the residents of Rainy River for the opportunity to be a member of Council for the Town of Rainy River, it was an exceptional honor.

–Regards;
Brent Anderson