Juan de Fuca Electoral director Mike Hicks has announced he will seek a fourth term on the Capital Regional District board.
He was first elected in 2009.
“This is the last time – it was a difficult decision to make,” Hicks told the Sooke News Mirror on Thursday. “Politics can be hard, it takes up so much of your life.”
So far no other candidate has announced their plans to run in the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area. Hicks won the position by acclamation in 2014.
This year’s municipal elections are scheduled for Oct. 20.
“[The Juan de Fuca] has reached a point that it’s recognized now as an entity within the CRD,” Hicks, 66, said. “I don’t want anyone to forget that over the next four years.”
His goals include the completion of the SEAPARC Leisure Complex expansion, infrastructure upgrades at Willis Point and Muir Creek and to continue to solidify the electoral area’s position within the CRD.
“The greatest thing for me after four years is that the Juan de Fuca is an entity upon its own, not part of the CRD,” Hicks said.
When Hicks first ran for CRD director, he ran on a ticket of creating positive change. He said it took more than nine years to get there due to politics and bureaucracy.
It started with the final approval of the regional growth strategy, and gave more governance to the outlying areas of Shirley, Port Renfrew, Otter Point and East Sooke.
But, Hicks said he’s had many other success over the years too: city water to rural areas, the purchase of Sandcut Beach in Port Renfrew, the building of the artificial turf field and Fred Milne Park in Sooke, and the acquisitions of the DeMamiel Creek Golf Course and Pemberton Pool properties on the Charters River.
The Juan de Fuca electoral area includes the west coast of Vancouver Island from Otter Point to Port Renfrew, and the geographically separate communities of East Sooke, Malahat and Willis Point.
