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Regional board says Jumbo mayor not welcome until actually elected
The mayor with no town and no population to govern will not be welcome at the Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) board of directors’ table until there is an elected governing council.
RDEK directors Dec. 7 voted to have a letter sent to Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, Bill Bennett, expressing opposition to the provision allowing a non-elected representative from the Jumbo Glacier Mountain Resort Municipality to have a seat at the RDEK board table.
The board had previously requested that there be no representative taking part in board meetings until such time as there is an elected governing council.
“This is a serious issue for us,” said Bob Whetham, City of Cranbrook director, adding he doesn’t support the idea of “an appointed mayor” having a seat at the board table “to represent a development proposal. It’s unheard of! There are implications that go beyond this. If we are going to go down this path we really have to think about how we’ll function as a government.”
On Nov. 20, Bennett, who is also Kootenay East MLA, announced that Cabinet had approved the incorporation of Jumbo as a mountain resort municipality. Additionally, an appointed municipal council was named, with terms ending Nov. 30, 2014. An interim corporate officer has also been named and will serve until the first council meeting of the new municipality.
Appointed as Jumbo’s first mayor and councillors are former Village of Radium Hot Springs Mayor and long-time RDEK board member, vice-chair and chair Greg Deck, Nancy Hugunin and Steve Ostrander. Phil Taylor, formerly of the Town of Golden, will be the interim corporate officer, ensuring that the municipality is operational by its incorporation date of Feb. 19, 2013. (For more: https://www.e-know.ca/news/greg-deck-to-be-first-mayor-of-jumbo/ )
After the incorporation date, Deck could attend RDEK board meetings.
Electoral Area F Director and board vice-chair Wendy Booth pointed out the RDEK already has non-elected people sitting at the board table – in the form of alternate Electoral Area directors. However, she voted in favour of sending the letter to the provincial government.
However, District of Elkford Mayor Dean McKerracher warned of a slippery slope appearing.
“It doesn’t make sense. We need to be very, very careful where we go with this. Where next, Sweetwater?” He stated, referring to the development project on the west side of Lake Koocanusa.
Electoral Area G director Gerry Wilkie said he looked into the District of Elkford’s Letter Patent. Oftentimes the Jumbo municipality concept is compared to Elkford, which was created because of the coal mines. “Quite frankly, in its case there were residents there” when the province proclaimed it a municipality, he said.
Ian Cobb/e-KNOW