Standard fills council seat

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Mike Worthington has stepped up to fill the vacant seat on Standard’s municipal council, and will serve the remainder of the current term until the next election.

Worthington will be replacing Carol Allard, who submitted his resignation from council in December, after holding the position for a little more than two years. 

“I have kind of followed politics my whole life and I also believe you have to give back to your community. When I was younger, I also coached sports,” said Worthington. “I grew up in Standard, and my wife and I recently moved back, and a lot of my peer groups, they give to the community through other means such as coaching or the Lions or what have you. This is a way to give back to the community.”

This will be Worthington’s first foray into politics. He explained following his move back to Standard, he saw there was an opening on council with little other interest to fill the position, and was curious to achieve a better understanding of how municipal government operates. 

Worthington was the sole applicant to fill the position vacated by Allard. The Village of Standard had initially intended to close the application window, Jan. 29, but had to instead close it, Jan. 31 due to a lack of submissions.

“I want to just learn the role as best I can, and then then when I find out where there is need and my skillset can fill that need, that is where I will have the most impact. I do not have a whole bunch of pre-set objectives,” said Worthington. “There are a few projects around (the village) such as expanding some roadworks or maybe some kind of housing stuff. There is lots of interesting things that the (village) can do … to attract new residents and increase its tax base.”

As Worthington was the sole applicant, he won his seat by acclimation, rather than the Village of Standard being required to hold a byelection. 

After the closure of the nomination period, Worthington was notified of his acclamation by the village, and was given a period of 24 hours to accept his position, prior to his name and participation on council being made public knowledge. 

Village of Standard Mayor, Martin Gauthier, stated in December he anticipated application numbers to be low in regards to filling the seat. 

Outside of council, Worthington is a partial owner of Worthington Construction, and is an engineering consultant for the oil and gas sector.