With the election in the rearview mirror, the board of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) is set to move forward with some new faces around the table.
"It's a big loss to the region and to the board that (outgoing Squamish Mayor) Patty Heintzman has decided to step aside from local government," SLRD chair Jack Crompton said. "Patty has been a stalwart of the SLRD for a long time now. We will miss her."
While residents in Areas C and D have returning directors (Russell Mack and Tony Rainbow, respectively), communities around Lillooet will have all new representation, Crompton noted, with newcomers Vivian Birch-Jones (acclaimed in Area B) and John Courchesne (elected in Area A) set to join the board.
"I look forward to getting to know these people, and also will miss those (outgoing directors)," Crompton said.
The first meeting of the new board will take place Wednesday, Nov. 28 at 10:30 a.m. in Pemberton.
WILDFIRE BOUNDARIES CAUSE FOR CONCERN?
The SLRD will also seek a meeting with the Coastal and Kamloops fire centre managers to discuss "communication issues" between the centres and the regional district.
"On the whole, communications this summer were positive," Crompton said. "That said, the fire boundaries meant that the fires on Anderson Lake were managed out of Kamloops, rather than Coastal Fire service."
The Pemberton fire department, meanwhile, is managed by the Coastal Fire Centre, Crompton noted.
"So we're wanting to understand from the experts whether it makes sense to redraw the maps," he said.
While the fire situation was well managed locally this year, part of the reason for the meeting is to better understand the potential risks with conflicting boundaries.
"I think that's our question to those with the expertise, is from a layperson's perspective, it seems to make more sense that Coastal Fire service manage fires in and around Pemberton. Are we right about that?" Crompton said.
"So that conversation will focus on our experiences during the summer and then input from the experts who understand how to best battle these fires."
SLRD SEEKS GEOHAZARD MONITORING
The SLRD is appealing to the province for assistance with geohazard monitoring.
The board will seek a meeting with Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development Doug Donaldson to ask for provincial support for a regional geohazard monitoring program in the SLRD.
The support the SLRD is asking for is "primarily financial, although their professional insight and expertise is also critical," Crompton said, adding that the board's primary geohazard concern at this time is Mount C0urrie.
"We'd like to see the same kind of monitoring that's currently applied to Mount Meager also undertaken at Mount Currie," he said.
