After more than a month of being left in the dark to wonder why two members of New Tecumseth council suddenly sent a letter to the mayor saying they were resigning all of the committees they were members of, some light was finally shed Monday night on their reasons why.

Ward 2 Counc. Dennis Egan and Ward 3 Counc. Barb Huson refused to elaborate last month when they announced they would be stepping down from the committees. Mayor Mike MacEachern was forced to miss a couple of meetings in the interim and wanted to be at the meeting where the issue was discussed. That meant it got put off for a few weeks and many, including the councillors’ own constituents, were left wondering why.

It turns out that The Herald was pretty close to the mark when we asked a few in the know what might have upset the pair enough to make such a drastic decision. Our sources told us that Egan and Huson both work pretty hard outside of regular council meetings and were angry that others didn’t do the same. Who can blame them?

The Herald has spent the past two weeks awaiting the attendance records for the meetings of committees of council and lo and behold they turn up the very night the issue hits the council meeting for discussion.

Were there any surprises? Not really. At least not for us. We’d already heard many councillors were not fulfilling their committee obligations. Alright, Counc. Jim Stone’s attendance record of just turning out to 11 per cent of the meetings of his three committees was a little surprising to us. We thought better of him. Others such as Ward 4 Counc. Richard Norcross only making it out to about half of his meetings or Deputy Mayor Rick Milne only showing up 40 per cent of the time were certainly no great shock though.

These politicians new the workload when they ran for office for heaven’s sake. For most it’s not even their first time. If you can’t put in the time, then don’t run.

We lost two of the very best politicians this area has ever seen in the last election when Bob Marrs and Betty Aldridge weren’t returned. They knew the commitment council takes and were prepared to put in the effort as they had in the past It’s a shame the voters chose other who don’t.

There’s a name in the real world for people who only showed up for work 11 or 40 per cent of the time... the unemployed. Kudos to Huson and Egan for having the courage to shine a light on this problem. And shame on council for ignoring the pleas of two of its members who only wanted a little equality.