The Town of Massey Drive is without its mayor until next year.

Holly Walsh, who retained the seat on council she held the previous two terms and was later chosen to be mayor of the small town directly neighbouring Corner Brook during the October election, has taken a leave of absence for personal reasons, as she relocated to St. John’s.

Meanwhile, Deputy Mayor Gord Davis will assume the role of acting mayor until what he expects to be next summer. Walsh took the leave in October and Davis said thus far council hasn’t ran into any problems as a result.

“It’s one less voting member on council, but we do have seven voting members anyway,” Davis said. “Truthfully, there’s been no impact yet. It hasn’t affected us in any way and we don’t anticipate having any problems with what is going on in the town. Everything is running quite smoothly.”

The deputy mayor said that doesn’t reflect poorly on the town’s mayor, just that much more positively on the remainder of the council.

“The group we have is a great bunch,” he said. “You need a good group of level-headed councillors, which is what we have with everybody being from different backgrounds and different jobs, so, with everybody’s input and different views on how everything runs in the town, it’s handled quite professionally and in a really good fashion.”

Davis said the mayor’s experience and input will be missed at the council table.

“With Holly’s experience and everything, it’s nice to have someone there who can remember everything that went on previously, especially somebody who has been there on the previous two councils. Holly was the only one who brought that to the group.”

Davis said council and staff continue to keep Walsh up to date on the town’s business while she is away.