Andy Walker, a long-serving member of municipal council, was granted a leave of absence for medical reasons during Tuesday’s (December 20) regular council meeting. 

“I fell ill about three or four weeks ago and tried to fight it off on my own,” Walker wrote in an e-mail to his fellow councillors requesting the time off. “I ended up being transported to the U of A by ambulance sometime around the end of November and just was released.”

Walker has a kidney problem and had been dealing with the situation at home until his condition worsened. Now requiring hemodialysis — a complex blood filtration process that typically takes place in a clinical environment — he is also waiting for a kidney transplant.

While Walker will not be able to attend regular meetings of council and committees, he told his colleagues that he’ll be keeping up with municipal business as much as he can.

“I’ll be reading minutes and making written observations to all of you,” he wrote. “I will probably drop in on George (Krefting, Municipal Manager) and Beryl (Cahill, Municipal Administrative Officer) on a regular basis to keep up on what’s going on.”

Council voted unanimously in favour of granting the leave to Walker. 

Mayor Richard Ireland said that Walker’s absence from council proceedings would be deeply felt.

“He’s sort of been, in some sense, the social conscience of council,” Ireland said. “His emphasis has been on social issues right from the start.” 

Beyond his advocacy on behalf of Community Outreach Services and similar groups, Walker’s past experience in the financial field was cited by Ireland as a major help to council.

“He’s provided a lot of strength to council through his financial background,” Ireland said. “He does know the questions to ask when it comes to budgets and financial statements.”

Walker, who served on the town committee/improvement district council from 1998 to 2001 before being elected to municipal office in 2001 and 2004, epitomizes a certain approach to town politics, according to the Mayor.

“He has a personal investment in the community and in council,” Ireland said. “I know there have been times when he’s rubbed people or groups the wrong way but he always has had the best interests of Jasper at heart.”

In 2001, Walker was elected both as a municipal councillor and as Jasper’s representative on the Grande Yellowhead Regional Division school board.

“It was just astounding,” Ireland said of Walker’s double duty that ended with Gilbert Wall’s election as GYRD representative in 2004. “You have to admire the committment.” 

Walker’s condition has been known to council for some time. 

“It’s something that we recognize as a fact and we deal with that,” said Ireland. “The guy has put himself on the line for the benefit of the community.”