It was a bittersweet night tinged with humour for three outgoing school trustees as they attended their last New Westminster school board meeting.
Brent Atkinson and Lori Watt, who decided to not seek re-election after 31 and nine years respectively, bid goodbye along with Jim Goring, who lost his seat in the Nov. 19 civic election.
Watt may have provided the moment of the night when she presented an old adversary with a gift.
"I just moved and I came across the Tappie Award," said Watt. "I handed it to trustee (Casey) Cook last night and he pretended not to hear me and handed it to Barb (Basden, the recording secretary for the meeting)."
The Tappie Award became a lightning rod of controversy for the New Westminster school district after Watt moved a motion directing staff to stop providing bottled water at events hosted by the school district, the phasing out of contracts for bottled water companies and asking for a report on the status of water fountains in schools.
On a more serious note, Watt said her last term was the toughest of the three she served.
"The last three years were incredibly challenging," she said. "We've done a lot of good things on the board ... but I'm not going to miss serving on a school board with Casey Cook on it. I won't miss him one bit."
Watt's words point to some of the behind-the-scenes tension trustees experienced between 2008 and 2011.
Atkinson had referred to those tensions in a letter he sent to supporters prior to the Nov. 19 election, but on Tuesday, he decided to go out on a high note.
"I congratulated everybody and I took the high road," said Atkinson. "I saw no sense in going backward."
Atkinson said he'll definitely miss the job he's had for 31 of the last 32 years, but because he'll stay on as the chief executive officer of the SD40 Business Company, he'll still be a major voice in the district.
Atkinson, who has served on the board and as the CEO on a volunteer, unpaid basis, said that may change in the future, as he will talk to the business company board and see what the best course of action for the future will be.
For Goring, this is the second time he's had to bid adieu to the board, after previously serving from 1996 to 1999.
"Nothing big happened," said an understated Goring on Wednesday. "We did some good and cooperative wordsmithing on a couple of motions and it was a good meeting."
Goring said the upside of losing was being able to spend more time with his family, and to that end, he'll be volunteering with the NWSS Dry Grad committee because his son is graduating.
"I'll continue to keep an interest in district issues," he said.
And as for the "gift" Watt had for Cook, Goring said he was too far away to see what happened.
"I did see some plumbing on the desk," he said. "What was said, I don't know."
The New Westminster school board will hold its inaugural meeting on Dec. 6, where new trustees Jonina Campbell, Dave Phelan and MaryAnn Mortensen will officially take their seats. At that meeting, trustees are also scheduled to vote on who the next chair of the board will be and what their annual stipend will be.
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