MIKE ATHEY
FORT COULONGE Nov. 11, 2020
The mayor of Fort Coulonge resigned from his position on Nov. 11, three years into his four-year term.
Gaston Allard stepped down to concentrate on a job opportunity he said fell into his lap in August.
The new job was too difficult to juggle with his mayoral duties. Not only did it require a three-hour commute but . . .
he found himself sometimes working 12-hour shifts Monday to Friday, which didn’t give a lot of room for mayor duties.
“I’ve been mulling it over for a while, the job was just the tipping point,” said Allard.
His time in office was marked by one crisis after another. The town was ravaged by a flood in May 2019, and even after the water receded, Allard said it took a year before the could get things relatively back in order. Then earlier this year, COVID-19 struck and with it brought a whole new set of problems.
“I had one year of normalcy but didn’t have a DG for that year,” remarked Allard.
In total Fort Coulonge went through five directors general in a three-year span, he continued, which didn’t help in forming any great amount of stability.
Overall he found the experience bittersweet and didn’t feel he reached the objectives he had set out for himself.
“I don’t consider it a success.” said Allard.
Pro-Mayor Debbie Laporte has been helping out over the past few months, serving as the Fort Coulonge representative at several of the recent MRC meetings while Allard was otherwise occupied. He said she was always present and made sure to keep him informed.
Since it is less than a year between when Allard stepped down and next year’s Nov. 6 scheduled election, the village will not be required to hold a by-election. Instead council will have 30 days to pick a new mayor. A meeting was set for Nov. 26 to make the decision.
“Whoever takes my place,” said Allard, “I hope to God they don’t have to go through [a similar] situation.”
