Published January 20, 2025

By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

For the first time in nearly 40 years, the town of Sainte-Sabine has a new mayor.

Laurent Phoenix, 81, who was first elected mayor of the small municipality next to Farnham in 1987, resigned at the end of November. Members of the town council, called upon to name an interim mayor until the fall 2025 elections, elected second-term councillor Vicky Poulin to the position by acclamation.

Poulin is an engineer and mother of two who grew up in Stanbridge Station and has lived in Sainte-Sabine for the last 16 years. She first took an interest in local governance as a member of a primary school parents’ committee. After an unsuccessful run for town council in 2013, she was named to the town’s urban planning consultative committee. She was elected to council on her second try in 2017.

Poulin had served as acting mayor on a number of occasions over the last two years as Phoenix dealt with health issues and cared for his wife, who has since passed away. “I was a little more present during that period, because he did have to step away. I was acting mayor, but everyone on council was very available, everyone did their part. The plan was for him to finish his term, and that’s not how it happened, but since the idea [of stepping down] came from him, it was easier.”

“It’s a great thing to have access to someone like him – he’s a mentor, a great resource person,” she added.

The town’s budget and infrastructure plan, which were passed before the holidays, are not yet publicly available as of this writing. Poulin, a civil engineer by training, said she wanted to take advantage of her year as mayor to build on her predecessor’s legacy and modernize some of the ways the municipality communicates with citizens, while maintaining a personable leadership style. “You still do things the old-fashioned way here – when something’s going on, the councillors come and knock on your door…and that’s something I want to keep,” she said. 

The town’s 2025 budget and infrastructure plan, passed before the holidays, were not yet available for public consultation as of this writing. Poulin said her efforts in the year ahead will be forced on maintaining existing infrastructure, ensuring the town “gets its money’s worth” from contractors and looking at long-established practices with “a new pair of eyes.”

“Mr. Phoenix, roads and infrastructure were his thing. As an engineer, I can’t say I’m against that…but maintaining infrastructure is a big challenge these days. We have 55 kilometres of roads here; that’s a lot for a small municipality.  Everything has gone up over the past few years, and we don’t want to add to people’s tax burden either. Government grants don’t follow [inflation]… and we’re not always eligible for the grants.  We have to do less with the same amount of money. That’s the big challenge.”

Poulin said she hasn’t decided whether she will run for a full term this fall. “This is a great opportunity I have, to test out [being mayor]. Over the next few months, I’ll see how it works.” 

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