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Editorial: Councillor's resignation leaves far more than an empty chair

While Langley City Coun. Dave Hall’s sudden resignation on Monday came as a surprise, his decision to step away from his duties to focus on his health is completely understandable.

And we certainly wish him all the best for a full and quick recovery.

But his abrupt departure leaves more than just an empty chair at the council table.

Hall has consistently been a dissenting voice on City council during his seven-year tenure.

His stubborn insistence on detailed debate often got under other councillors’ skin, no question.

In announcing the resignation, the mayor  acknowledged that Hall and the other six members of council regularly found themselves on opposite sides of an issue — but not at the expense of councillors’ mutual respect.

The role he played is not always easy or comfortable, but it is important

And though Hall often seemed to delight in his role of gadfly, his motive, from what we could tell, was more to ensure that council remained transparent and that people attending meetings or watching at home had a firm grasp of the issues under discussion.

In his absence, it’s our hope that whoever is elected in February to fill Hall’s seat will be willing to take on that role — to some degree at least.

Or perhaps it will fall to another, sitting, councillor.

That’s not to say that every issue has to be discussed, debated  and dissected to the nth degree, but clearly, Hall’s contribution was valued by the electorate, who placed him at the the top of the polls among council candidates in the 2014 election.

Hall is now facing what has been described as a “significant” battle with cancer — those are frightening words.

But if there is one thing we’ve learned about the former City councillor, it’s that he definitely isn’t one to back away from a fight.