At times his term as Summerland’s mayor has been difficult, but Peter Waterman says he has had some significant accomplishments in municipal government over the past four years.
“It was challenging and frustrating at times, but also rewarding,” he said.
Waterman, who had served as a councillor in past years, was elected mayor in 2014, from a pool of five mayoral candidates. He received 1,197 of the 4,428 ballots cast in the mayoral race, just 77 more than the second-place finisher.
He was the only member of council to have served in the previous council.
Waterman and the council were elected on a promise to reverse a controversial land exchange in the community.
The land swap involved removing from 80.34 hectares of land from near the core of the community from the Agricultural Land Reserve and adding 91.7 hectares in the Prairie Valley area to the land reserve.
The resolution to reverse the land was passed during the first regular meeting of the council.
But since that time, Waterman and members of council have taken on other community projects and initiatives.
Some of his proudest accomplishments over the past four years as mayor include water upgrades, the Garnet Valley Road improvement project and a significant water system maintenance project in March, 2017.
The maintenance work on Pressure Reducing Valve #10 took place over a weekend in March and was completed ahead of schedule. Waterman said the maintenance work is now being held up as a model of project management in B.C.
Other accomplishments have been the start of construction on a new skatepark, a development plan for Wharton Street and a solar/battery alternative energy project.
He added that he had made the arts a priority during his time as mayor.
The structure of municipal council meetings has changed during his time in the mayor’s chair.
Meetings now include two question periods, one near the beginning of the meeting and one at the end. The additional public comment time allows up to half an hour for comments during the course of a regular council meeting.
While Waterman will not seek re-election to municipal council, his political career may continue. He has put his name forward as a Summerland school trustee candidate in the upcoming municipal and school board elections on Oct. 20.
