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New era begins at RDEK
The Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) board of directors has entered a new era.
Regional directors met for the first time in their new, and much larger, boardroom April 4 and 5.
Along with federal and provincial and First Nation representatives, RDEK directors and some from the Kootenay East Regional Hospital District (KERHD), celebrated the opening of the new $1.5 million boardroom Friday morning with a ribbon cutting and speeches.
Aqam Chief Jim Whitehead and Coun. Murray Williams attended on behalf of the band and Ktunaxa Nation, providing an opening prayer and welcome.
“I see it as another opportunity to strengthen our emerging relationships. I believe with our hearts and convictions we’ll make the region a better place,” Whitehead stated.
Kootenay-Columbia MP David Wilks, a former RDEK director and board chair, when he was Mayor of Sparwood, said the new, spacious boardroom was much-needed.
“There was a time when we had people outside listening to speakers” during some meetings, he said, suggesting people shouldn’t be make too much about the expansive new room.
“Ten years from now you’ll come back and think, geez, this is too small,” Wilks projected while handing a Canadian flag to board chair, Electoral Area C director Rob Gay.
Noting the 17’ high ceiling, Kootenay East MLA Bill Bennett said the regional government “got the ceiling right. All the hot air can go up.”
Bennett praised the RDEK for “very successfully” handling the governance of the region, and held special praise for chief administrative officer Lee-Ann Crane. “She’s the brains of the outfit,” he said. Bennett then handed a B.C. flag to Gay, who noted the new boardroom will allow for easier public access to meetings, with enough seating for at least 60 people – a marked increase from the 20-30 seat capacity of the old boardroom, opened in 1976.
Gay also praised regional government staff for putting up with the noise and periodic confusion during the addition to the Cranbrook-based office building. Construction began in March 2012.
KERHD board chair and Regional District of Central Kootenay board chair John Kettle said he was impressed with the new boardroom, noting he didn’t want RDCK staff to be jealous. “We have a foyer that holds all of three people,” he laughed. “This is a culmination of what everybody wanted to see of a peoples’ house.”
He told the roughly 60 people attending the opening that New Dawn Developments, the same company that built Kimberley’s Conference Centre, did an excellent job completing the addition.
New Dawn’s Chad Jensen said the project “was done locally.” Over 90% of the project was supplied by and completed by local trades.
Ian Cobb/e-KNOW