Nov. 21 was the final council meeting for outgoing councillor Kirk Duff, who had been been a fixture on Castlegar city council for 18 of the past 21 years.
Towards the end of the meeting, all councillors and Mayor Lawrence Chernoff spoke highly of Duff.
“Kirk’s a dedicated man to the job,” said the re-elected mayor. “Kirk and I have been around for a long time. We’ve been through some tough times and we’ve weathered it for the benefit of the community. The biggest thing in this job is you have to be dedicated. You do it because you love your community.”
“I’ve enjoyed working with Kirk,” said Kevin Chernoff.
“He truly had very good knowledge of provincial politics and federal politics. He’d been doing it for longer than I had, I relied on him for information. I’m sorry to see him go.”
Duff’s daughter and grandaughter joined him and council after the meeting for cake and a last farewell.
“It was pretty overwhelming,” said an emotional Duff.
“It’s nice to know that after 18 years, your work is appreciated. To all the people that voted for me - thank you very much. I wouldn’t have been here without you. I’m glad I could help out. I’m extremely proud to live here in Castlegar and be part of this community. Working with this group of councillors has been fantastic. Everyone here has been of a single thought - to make the city better for all the residents.”