The Chatham-Kent Board of Health has new leadership.
At the board’s Jan. 18 meeting, members unanimously chose McGregor leadership: Chatham Coun. Brock McGregor as chair, and Wallaceburg Coun. Carmen McGregor as vice-chair.
Brock McGregor replaces former municipal councillor Joe Faas, who did not seek re-election in October.
“I’m happy to be taking over the role from Joe after he did it for eight years,” Brock McGregor said upon accepting the role as chair.
Carmen McGregor has also been named chair of the C-K Food Policy Council.
The council was formed in May 2013, with a vision that “Chatham-Kent is a healthy community with a vibrant local food system where a healthy choice is an easy choice,” Sharmini Balakrishnan, public health nutritionist, said.
Alysson Storey and Lauren Anderson, newly minted municipal councillors representing Chatham and West Kent respectively, are now members of the Board of Health. They replace Faas and Karen Kirkwood-Whyte, who lost her re-election bid in October. And Storey is actually a temporary replacement for Coun. Melissa Harrigan, who is off on a leave of absence battling breast cancer.
The turnover on the Board of Health will go beyond municipal council positions as well. Noreen Blake, a provincial appointee to the board for a decade, announced she it stepping down at the end of February.
“She has spent a lot of time with us. She has been an advocate for public health for years, prior to the pandemic and through the pandemic,” April Rietdyk, general manager of health and family services, said. “We wish her well in her future endeavours.”
