By Gordon Lambie
Sherbrooke Mayor Évelyne Beaudin presented the four women she has chosen to serve as her executive committee on Thursday naming veteran councillors Danielle Berthold and Annie Godbout to the group as well as newly-elected Sherbrooke Citoyen party-members Laure Letarte-Lavoie and Fernanda Luz.
“To create the executive committee, I balanced experience and novelty while also working to respect the interests expressed by members of the council” Beaudin said. “The result is the first executive committee made up entirely of women. By reuniting women with a diversity of ideas and experiences around the table, I am sure that we will move the work of the council forward with diligence.”
Berthold, who will serve as the new council’s President, said that she considers the role an honour and a great show of confidence in her abilities.
“We will have fun working together,” the new council president said, explaining that the mayor asked her to try to bring levity to the serious role in light of some of the tensions that were felt during the previous council. “We need to work in the spirit of openness, and I really feel like everyone is in the same place.”
Beaudin, meanwhile, said that she selected Berthold in part because she was the only member of the previous executive who was re-elected, but also because of the councillor’s time-management and leadership skills.
“Presiding over a council like this one requires a particular set of skills,” the mayor said, describing the new president as having ‘an iron fist in a velvet glove.’ “Danielle is not just good at making us laugh, she is also very good at managing our time, which is precious.”
The council as a whole was sworn in on Thursday evening at the Granada Theatre and will hold its first meeting on Monday night, Nov. 22.
