Among the 11 nominated candidates who contested the recently held Salisbury village council election, electrician Russel Felix found favour with the electorates, amassing over 300 votes to earn himself a seat on the council which has been elected after 59 years.
On March 9th 2022, members of the community went out in large numbers to cast their vote electing Felix as well as two other men and two women -Selma Louis, Ned Toussaint, Sylvia Vidal and Vincent Langlais- to serve as members of the Salisbury Village Council.
Expressing his excitement over the outcome of the election, Felix sounded a call to his fellow villagers to join forces for the development of the farming community.
He says among his top plans are beautification projects for the village, enhancement of the agricultural sector, improvement for the youths in sports and education, proper maintenance of the village and farm access roads, as well as development to the sporting facilities and proper lighting of Salisbury.
Parliamentary Representative for the Salisbury Constituency Hector John, who previously spoke to Dominica News Online (DNO) expressed optimism that the new council will serve for the enhancement of the west coast village.
“After 59 years of not having a village council in Salisbury, I’m very happy that it is being reintroduced in our community…we would like to see transparency, accountability. That is the issue that we have in all the village councils. We would like to learn from that and avoid them and we would like to be sure that the community is involved. We would like to ensure that the community is aware of what is happening, take charge of their business, their development, their growth, advancement, landscaping, the infrastructure, to ensure that our environment is healthy and these are the types of things we like to see happen in the community,” he said.
As further stressed by the veteran politician, the village council is needed to ensure that everyone plays their role in a structured way and he believes that the new council will allow the local government department and central government to also make their contribution towards that village council positively.
He is also hopeful that other Non-Government organisations (NGO’) will use the opportunity to work with the members of the community to help advance different economic sectors forward, such as agriculture, sports, tourism and fisheries.
According to local Government Commissioner Glenroy Toussaint, the council of Salisbury will be reestablished on or before the 9th of April 2022.
He also pointed out that the Salisbury village council will be very similar to that of other communities in Dominica where there will be five elected members and three nominated by the government which will make up the composition of eight members on the village council.
A chairman will be elected among the eight to serve on the Salisbury village council.
The summary of the results are as follows: Russel Felix: 313 votes; Selma Louis: 311 votes; Ned Toussaint: 276 votes; Sylvia Vidal: 251 votes; Vincent Langlais: 233 votes; Dirk Frederick: 212 votes; Ridge Vidal: 160 votes; Franklyn Georges: 114 votes; Jesma Paul-Jeans: 95 votes; Eurilia Thomas: 51 votes and Benoit Lecointe: 38 votes.
The re-establishment of the local body means Salisbury will be served by a village council for the first time since 1965.
Congratulations to all who took part in that historic occasion .It was about time. Salisbury can ask for their piece of the pie with no problem who were saying we had no council as excuse it here now. BAWI AHEAD.
So what have your elected palrep been doing all that time for his salisbury constituency nuh? He good at blocking roads and getting Salisbuery people to attack police and behave disorderly. Is he claiming his salary as a parlrep under false pretence? More importantly, what are Salisbury people going to do about him at the next election? Salsbury people deserve better representation.
We want you for palrep next
That’s the man for the community. We will work with you. You are an example in the community and is people like you we need. Way to go Russel. Put Salisbury on de map.
I think 1965 to 2022 is 57 years or do we now have a new math?
Will the author of the above please note that Selma Louis amassed 311 votes, only two less than Russell Felix.
Had it not been for the then parliamentary representative of Salisbury, Oliver Le blanc. Who arrogantly took upon himself and desolved our village council, it would not be all that historic. The reason for his action. Le blanc said ” There are too many DUPP/Freedomites on the council.”