“It looks like a busy year coming up,” says John Harwood.
The Clearwater mayor spends quite a bit of time in Kamloops as the municipality’s representative to the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board.
The TNRD held its inaugural board meeting on Dec. 8 in Kamloops.
Electoral Area M (Quilchena and area) director Randy Murray was elected the new chair.
Ashcroft Mayor Andy Anderson was elected vice-chair.
“The hospital board chair still has to determined, as well as the committee appointments,” Harwood said.
He expected those roles would be decided during the next regional district board meeting, which will be held Dec. 22.
Harwood noted that the TNRD vice-chair formerly was automatically the chair of the Thompson Regional Hospital District board, but that is no longer the case.
Randy Murray replaces outgoing TNRD chair (and Kamloops mayor) Peter Milobar, who had served in that position for five years.
“There is a lot of strength on the board and I’m looking forward to continuing to work to harness that power,” said Murray. “We want to keep a sense of continuity in our actions as we move forward into the future.”
The new TNRD vice-chair, Andy Anderson, echoed Murray’s comments.
“I appreciate the confidence the board has in me in Randy’s absence, and I’m looking forward to continuing to bring the electoral areas and the municipalities together at the TNRD level.”
The chair is elected each year by secret ballot by the TNRD board, and receives an additional $18,000 along with the director’s stipend of $12,000.
The following are the TNRD’s electoral area directors - Electoral Area N: Herb Graham; Electoral Area O (Lower North Thompson): Bonnie CruzelleMyram; Electoral Area P (Rivers and the Peaks): John Sternig; Electoral Area A (Wells Gray Country): Tim Pennell; Electoral Area B (Thompson Headwaters): Willow Macdonald; Electoral Area E (Bonaparte Plateau): Sally Watson; Electoral Area I (Blue Sky Country): Steven Rice; Electoral Area J (Copper Desert Country): Ronaye Elliott; Electoral Area L: Ken Gillis; Electoral Area M: Randy Murray; and Ashcroft: Mayor Andy Anderson.
The following are the municipal directors - Barriere: Mayor Bill Humphreys; Cache Creek: Mayor John Ranta, Chase: Mayor Ron Anderson; Clearwater: Mayor John Harwood; Clinton: Mayor Jim Rivett; Kamloops: Mayor Peter Milobar, Pat Wallace, Tina Lange, Nancy Bepple and Marg Spina; Logan Lake: Mayor Marlon Dosch; Lytton: Mayor Jessoa Lightfoot; Merritt: Mayor Susan Roline; and Sun Peaks: Mayor Al Raine.