IT WAS all change at the monthly meeting of Fermanagh District Council as Enniskillen DUP councillor Alison Brimstone was no longer in position, having resigned from her post.
A solicitor working in Portadown, the mother of one who is expecting another child later this year resigned on Wednesday, February 26 after the Herald reported her rumoured departure before the formal announcement.
Her party position in Enniskillen goes to Keith Elliott who will contest the seat at the upcoming elections. Ms Brimstone replaced party colleague Arlene Foster on the council back in June 2010 and was retained her seat in the 2011 local government elections.
Council chairman Alex Baird led the tributes to Councillor Brimstone.
“I always enjoyed working with Alison, she was professional in everything she did and I pass on good will to her in all she does in the rest of her life.”
Independent councillor Bernice Swift echoed the sentiments of the chairman and wished the outgoing councillor good luck in retirement, as did Sinn Fein’s Ruth Lynch.
SDLP councillor Frank Britton expressed his sadness at Ms Brimstone’s departure from the chamber.
“She was a lady with great integrity, brought her own qualities and a new dimension to our debates and she will be missed.”
In other news from the meeting the council chairman announced his “great pleasure at waking up with a grandmother for the first time” after his daughter Alison gave birth to a son Oliver Boreland last week, while the SDLP’s Brendan Gallagher was at his first meeting of the full council since he married wife Marion and subsequently broke his arm on his ‘mini-moon’. “It must have been some honeymoon,” joked the chairman.
Monday night’s meeting was also the first chaired by acting Chief Executive Robert Gibson. He confirmed that the new chief executive of the amalgamated Fermanagh Omagh council Brendan Hegarty will split his time between Enniskillen and Omagh during the transitionary period.
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