Richmond County's new warden vows to 'give it my all' in wake of expense scandal

Cape Breton's Richmond County has a new warden.

District 5 councillor Jason MacLean defeated District 3 councillor and incumbent Brian Marchand in a vote by council Tuesday.

The warden runs council meetings over a two-year term. Marchand was named deputy warden.

MacLean, who won his seat two years ago, is a relative rookie compared to Marchand, who is in his third term on council. 

Motivated by expense scandal

MacLean said a recent expense scandal that rocked the municipality motivated him to run for office in the first place.

"I wouldn't say that I grew up to be an aspiring politician, by any means, but I think it's well-known in the area that Richmond County had a rough patch several years ago, and it really was more so the issues that were happening and thinking that I could bring something to the council table that made me want to get involved," MacLean told CBC Radio's Information Morning Cape Breton.

"And I just really thought that it's either you talk about it or you do something about it."

In the wake of the scandal, the municipality has implemented many of the recommendations made by the provincial ombudsman to improve accountability and tighten up policies and procedures, he said, and council has put the matter behind it.

MacLean said he didn't seek the warden position because he had any specific criticism of Marchand.

"I just thought if I'm going to be in this thing for at least another two years, I just want to give it my all and give it my best shot, and potentially putting my hat in the ring for warden would be a way to do that," said MacLean, who lives in River Bourgeois and is principal at Richmond Education Centre/Academy. 

MacLean said he sees himself as a calm influence on decision-making and said he intends to view issues by keeping in mind the ombudsman's report.

Strategic plan to drive agenda

He also said the municipality recently went through a strategic planning process that included getting public input, and that will drive the council agenda for the next few years.

One of the recommendations expected to come out of that is to boost tourism whenever possible, MacLean said.

A tourism marketing plan fizzled a few years ago, which MacLean said was a large and expensive project.

"A $2.2-million bill on the county was a very heavy bill and yes, we had a lot to benefit from it, but I just didn't get the sense that taxpayers were ready for that heavy hit ... that tax rates definitely would have had to have gone up," he said.

"In a few of the sessions as I was going around and reading some of the comments that people had, much of it was tourist-based, so if that's what the people in Richmond County want, then that's hopefully what council can help deliver."