BARB BROUWER
Black Press
There were no shoe-ins for the chairperson position as the board of the Columbia-Shuswap Regional District met for the first time since the municipal election in November.
It took two rounds of voting to elect rural Sicamous-Malakwa director Rhona Martin as chairperson and two votes and a coin toss to put South Shuswap director Paul Demenok in the vice-chairperson’s seat.
In the first call for nominations for board chairperson, Falkland director Rene Talbot nominated Demenok. Rural Revelstoke director Loni Parker then nominated Martin.
The first round of voting resulted in a tie, with Martin picking up the win in the second round.
Accepting a nomination for vice-chairperson, Parker noted she has been a CSRD director for 21 years and has garnered a wealth of experience in the position and as vice-chair, a position she held previously.
Nominated for vice-chairperson by Talbot, Demenok quipped, “Here we go again.”
The first round of voting ended in a tie as did the second round.
As dictated in the CSRD procedural bylaw, administrator Charles Hamilton flipped a coin, giving Parker the opportunity to call heads or tails.
Parker chose tails, the coin landed head-side-up and Demenok became the new vice- chairperson.
“There’s going to be some interesting discussions around this table, all of us will have projects we want to bring online,” said Martin, noting each one would be subject to the budget process.
