The mayor of Belleville says the commitment to gender equality in municipal affairs is continuing, after council approved 10 new appointees to empty seats on various city committees.
Mayor Mitch Panciuk says of the 10 appointees that were officially approved Monday afternoon, seven are women and four of those women had previously applied to fill the vacant seat on City Council last fall.
Panciuk says a total of 60 people applied to fill the 10 vacant spots and he sees that as an encouraging sign that more people are getting engaged in what’s happening in the city, potentially leading to a more diverse pool of candidates in the next municipal election.
“I was really pleased to see the applicants that came forward, that are much more representative of the diversity of Belleville and I think that these appointments that we’ve made are much more along these lines. They’re interested, we want to keep them interested and we want to keep them driving towards the finish line to run for council in 2022.”
