This week is BC Local Government Awareness Week 2026 (May 10-16, 2026) and today, I look at the role of a Regional District Board...
Prior to 1965, local governance matters for those living outside incorporated communities was handled directly by Victoria but the Provincial Government of W.A.C Bennett in 1965 - the then Municipal Act was amended to establish the Regional District governance model for those living in unincorporated communities in order to allow local governing to occur at home, rather than directly from Victoria...According to the Province of BC - there are 27 Regional Districts' in British Columbia today from Fort Nelson down to Sparwood, over to Vancouver Island and up the Coast of British Columbia. Primary provincial legislation for Regional Districts' is the Local Government Act however there are aspect of the Community Charter that apply to Regional Districts' as well including the sections covering closed meetings and conflict of interest. Regional Districts' have what is referred to as corporate powers which means that RD Boards' don't have the ability to regulate as Municipalities do. If a RD Board wanted to, for example, create a Tree Bylaw in a rural area -- the Regional District Board would have to seek permission of the Provincial Cabinet to have that power conferred onto that Regional District (which rarely occurs). The full list of the 27 Regional Districts' of BC can be viewed here
The 3 primary roles of Regional Districts' are:
1) Local Government for Unincorporated Communities within Electoral Areas
2) Establish/Maintain sub-Regional Services for Electoral Areas/Municipalities
3) Be a Framework for Regional Discussions or Services benefitting ALL residents', whether they live in the Electoral Areas or Municipalities
A more lengthy description about Regional Districts' from the Province of BC can be viewed here. One primary difference between Municipalities and Regional Districts' is that every Regional District (RD) "service" is firewalled meaning funds from that RD Service can NOT be moved into another Service as RD Services are taxed on the basis that money is collected for that specific service or money collected must be returned to those in the service area for that particular RD Service. RD Services can take the form of (again, not meant to be an exhaustive list):
1) Water/Sewer Services
2) Street-lighting
3) Fire Protection
4) Grants in Aide/Grants for Assistance
5) Recreation
6) Economic Development
7) Administration -- Electoral Area (Rural) or General (Regional)
Each of the 160 Electoral Areas in BC elect a Director to represent that Electoral Area at the local Regional District Board table every 4 years. It is sometimes described that Area Director is the "Mayor" for that Area however that is factually incorrect -- he/she is the representative for that Area but the "Mayor" for that Area is the local Regional District Board Chair. RD's can also be described as a ward form of local government wherein there is a representative for each "ward" or Electoral Area in each of the 27 Regional Districts. The balance of Electoral Area Directors' to Municipal Directors' in each RD can range from Metro Vancouver RD (1 EA Director to 39 Municipal Directors') to Cariboo RD (12 EA Directors to 4 Municipal Directors). Only the Central Coast RD has all Electoral Area Directors' and no Municipal Directors'. EA Directors' are required, by provincial legislation, to have an Alternate Director appointed, in case they are not able to attend meetings which is different from municipal councils' wherein should a Councillor be absent, there are enough of their colleagues to help manage their affairs of that community whereas an Electoral Area needs to have a representative at all times for local government affairs - whether it is the elected Area Director or their appointed Alternate to ensure the business of local government for that Area goes on. There is debate about the role of the Alternate Director, given technology options of today however many Electoral Area Directors' still value the role and this was last debated in January 2019 with no consensus achieved...
Meanwhile, the Cariboo RD Board adopted a Best Practice for Alternate Directors' which was created in 2019 and you can read here
Unlike Mayors being elected every 4 years -- their Regional District counterparts - the Board Chair and Vice-Chair - are elected annually at the RD Board meeting after November 1st. Every Director, whether a Municipal/Electoral Area, of a Regional District Board has one vote. A majority of those votes elects the Regional District Chair. This also applies for the Regional District Board Vice-Chair (also applies to Regional Hospital Districts' annually). In most cases -- the Chair, doing his/her job, will be checking in with their colleagues year round to support them. In turn, Chair elections can a mundane exercise. However, an upset RD Board or RHD Board can result in the Chair being challenged and lobbying then begins... but this occurs very infrequently in the 27 Regional Districts' of British Columbia. The RD Chairs' in the Central Interior of BC are:
1) Regional District of Fraser Fort George -- Lara Beckett (RDFFG Area "C" Director). Been the Chair of the RDFFG Board since November 2022
2) Cariboo Regional District -- Margo Wagner (Cariboo RD Area H Director). Has been Cariboo RD Board Chair since November 2017. Only the 3rd women in 57 years to be Chair of the Cariboo Regional District.
3) Thompson Nicola Regional District - Barb Roden (Mayor of Ashcroft). Only the 2nd women to serve as Chair of the Thompson Nicola Regional District (the 1st was the late Patricia Wallace, a Councillor with the City of Kamloops)
Each Electoral Area Director decides for themselves how they want to engage their electorate in their unincorporated communities and bring those issues to their local RD Board table and beyond to the Provincial/Federal Governments via the local MLA/MP respectively and ultimately - they will answer for all that goes right or wrong in their Electoral Area each election. However, a cursory look at the 160 Electoral Areas state that local elections do occur every 4 years but it is not uncommon for an Electoral Area Director to be acclaimed for many years. For example -- former Cariboo Regional District Electoral Area 'A' Director Ted Armstrong served for 40 years consecutively (1978-2018) while having to go through 3 Elections in 40 years and being re-elected in each of those occasions. For myself -- I attend all local community meetings to keep them up to date on Cariboo Regional District matters plus attend community events. I also try to drive around my own Electoral Area to keep up to speed on local matters plus engage on local social media groups to respond to inquiries plus answering phone calls/emails plus monthly reporting out. Many of my constituents know how to get a hold of me very quickly - whether by phone, email or social media and my general commitment is returning of inquiries within the same day. In Cariboo RD's Electoral Area D -- I have 10 "distinct" unincorporated communities from Commodore Heights in the south abutting the City of Williams Lake to the old Marguerite Ferry Landing in the North, Jackson's Hole in the East and Rudy Johnson Bridge to the West.
As one misunderstood item -- I often receive inquiries about why those living mere minutes outside of Williams Lake are not able to vote for Mayor/Council and I gently explain that they are not within the boundaries of the City of Williams Lake so they aren't able to vote accordingly but could if their property was included in the City's boundaries. The last such attempt to include a portion of Cariboo RD Area D (Commodore Heights to Wildwood) was in 1996 and eventually was voted down as well as an effort in the early 2000's to merge Pine Valley into the City of Williams Lake boundaries and that too failed...
Another sometimes misunderstood things about RD's is the complex voting rules at a Regional District table. The voting rules are broken down primarily into two groups:
1) Corporate - Unweighted/Weighted
2) Stakeholder - Unweighted/Weighted
Corporate-Unweighted Voting is reserved for receipt of items or election of the Board Chair whereas Corporate-Weighted Voting is reserved for contract issues, acquisition of property, adoption of a financial plan and weighted votes are based on a formula that revolves around population size and the voting quotient for that RD which gets you a number of votes for that Director. More Population = More Votes. A Director can not have more than 5 Weighted Votes. Anything over that allows, typically, an Municipality would then have more representatives at the RD Board table
Stakeholder-Unweighted is reserved voting for those participants in a RD Service like Land Use Planning.
Stakeholder-Weighted is again reserved voting for those participants in a RD Service like Land Use Planning or Recreation in relation to "Administration/Operation" of a RD Service. Voting is a combined votes of participants and a majority is them is required to pass a Resolution. One example -- Central Cariboo Recreation at the Cariboo RD Board Table has a combined vote structure of 12 (Area D - 2; Area E - 2; Area F - 3; City of WL - 5). A majority of 7 is required to pass a resolution in relation to "Administration/Operation" of the Central Cariboo Recreation Service
In terms of issues that RD Boards' are working on (but not an exhaustive list) may include:
1) Climate Change/Emergency Events -- Floods/Fires
2) Sustainable Communities and Infrastructure to support those Communities
3) Sustainable Funding for Electoral Area Services
4) Relationships with First Nations'
5) Relationships with Provincial/Federal Governments'
6) Provincial Land Use Decisions
Unlike Municipalities -- Each Electoral Area Director also maintains a contact list for MLA's/MP's or their staff and Provincial/Federal Ministry Staff in order to address issues that come up as RD Boards' usually meet once a month and issues can be solved more quickly through the establishment of these relationships which does take time to forge.
As mentioned yesterday in describing the role of a Municipal Council -- EA Directors' also partake in annual professional development opportunities like local Area Associations', UBCM, FCM and LGLA to stay up to date on Regional District matters as do their Regional District Staff to stay up to date on best practices, etc on their area of expertise (land use, finance, communications, Regional District administration, etc). Also - RD Directors' (with the exception of one following an election year) get together each January in 3 of the 4 years in a term, typically in Richmond to discuss Electoral Area issues. Example of Agenda -- click here
Finally - Regional Districts' also serve as Regional Hospital Districts (RHD's) as a separate entity, as per the Hospital District Act - click here. In the 1990's - the Greater Vancouver Regional Hospital District was dissolved, in favour of creating "tax room" for TransLink (Metro Vancouver Transit Authority). In the Cariboo-Chilcotin -- we have the Cariboo-Chilcotin Regional Hospital District (CCRHD) which comprises all 16 Directors of the Cariboo RD plus Thompson Nicola RD Area E Director Jim Smith as the CCRHD partially falls into his Electoral Area. RHD's provide for 40% capital for local hospital facilities, typically at the request of the local Health Authority (ie: Northern/Interior Health)
As an Electoral Area Director - as much as it sometimes can be frustrating some days, I do appreciate the support of my fellow Mayors/Councillors' in local government as their support is crucial for getting Electoral Area matters resolved. Support comes from people like Kamloops Councillor Mike O'Reilly (he currently serves on the TNRD Board as well as Chair of the Thompson Regional Hospital District) and many, many other Mayors/Councillors & Electoral Area Directors' elsewhere in BC...
Other sources of information include:
1) UBCM Fact Sheets for Regional Districts -- click here
2) Local Government in BC - click here
Tomorrow, I will review the role of an Improvement District Board of Trustees
SF
A more lengthy description about Regional Districts' from the Province of BC can be viewed here. One primary difference between Municipalities and Regional Districts' is that every Regional District (RD) "service" is firewalled meaning funds from that RD Service can NOT be moved into another Service as RD Services are taxed on the basis that money is collected for that specific service or money collected must be returned to those in the service area for that particular RD Service. RD Services can take the form of (again, not meant to be an exhaustive list):
1) Water/Sewer Services
2) Street-lighting
3) Fire Protection
4) Grants in Aide/Grants for Assistance
5) Recreation
6) Economic Development
7) Administration -- Electoral Area (Rural) or General (Regional)
Each of the 160 Electoral Areas in BC elect a Director to represent that Electoral Area at the local Regional District Board table every 4 years. It is sometimes described that Area Director is the "Mayor" for that Area however that is factually incorrect -- he/she is the representative for that Area but the "Mayor" for that Area is the local Regional District Board Chair. RD's can also be described as a ward form of local government wherein there is a representative for each "ward" or Electoral Area in each of the 27 Regional Districts. The balance of Electoral Area Directors' to Municipal Directors' in each RD can range from Metro Vancouver RD (1 EA Director to 39 Municipal Directors') to Cariboo RD (12 EA Directors to 4 Municipal Directors). Only the Central Coast RD has all Electoral Area Directors' and no Municipal Directors'. EA Directors' are required, by provincial legislation, to have an Alternate Director appointed, in case they are not able to attend meetings which is different from municipal councils' wherein should a Councillor be absent, there are enough of their colleagues to help manage their affairs of that community whereas an Electoral Area needs to have a representative at all times for local government affairs - whether it is the elected Area Director or their appointed Alternate to ensure the business of local government for that Area goes on. There is debate about the role of the Alternate Director, given technology options of today however many Electoral Area Directors' still value the role and this was last debated in January 2019 with no consensus achieved...
Meanwhile, the Cariboo RD Board adopted a Best Practice for Alternate Directors' which was created in 2019 and you can read here
Unlike Mayors being elected every 4 years -- their Regional District counterparts - the Board Chair and Vice-Chair - are elected annually at the RD Board meeting after November 1st. Every Director, whether a Municipal/Electoral Area, of a Regional District Board has one vote. A majority of those votes elects the Regional District Chair. This also applies for the Regional District Board Vice-Chair (also applies to Regional Hospital Districts' annually). In most cases -- the Chair, doing his/her job, will be checking in with their colleagues year round to support them. In turn, Chair elections can a mundane exercise. However, an upset RD Board or RHD Board can result in the Chair being challenged and lobbying then begins... but this occurs very infrequently in the 27 Regional Districts' of British Columbia. The RD Chairs' in the Central Interior of BC are:
1) Regional District of Fraser Fort George -- Lara Beckett (RDFFG Area "C" Director). Been the Chair of the RDFFG Board since November 2022
2) Cariboo Regional District -- Margo Wagner (Cariboo RD Area H Director). Has been Cariboo RD Board Chair since November 2017. Only the 3rd women in 57 years to be Chair of the Cariboo Regional District.
3) Thompson Nicola Regional District - Barb Roden (Mayor of Ashcroft). Only the 2nd women to serve as Chair of the Thompson Nicola Regional District (the 1st was the late Patricia Wallace, a Councillor with the City of Kamloops)
Each Electoral Area Director decides for themselves how they want to engage their electorate in their unincorporated communities and bring those issues to their local RD Board table and beyond to the Provincial/Federal Governments via the local MLA/MP respectively and ultimately - they will answer for all that goes right or wrong in their Electoral Area each election. However, a cursory look at the 160 Electoral Areas state that local elections do occur every 4 years but it is not uncommon for an Electoral Area Director to be acclaimed for many years. For example -- former Cariboo Regional District Electoral Area 'A' Director Ted Armstrong served for 40 years consecutively (1978-2018) while having to go through 3 Elections in 40 years and being re-elected in each of those occasions. For myself -- I attend all local community meetings to keep them up to date on Cariboo Regional District matters plus attend community events. I also try to drive around my own Electoral Area to keep up to speed on local matters plus engage on local social media groups to respond to inquiries plus answering phone calls/emails plus monthly reporting out. Many of my constituents know how to get a hold of me very quickly - whether by phone, email or social media and my general commitment is returning of inquiries within the same day. In Cariboo RD's Electoral Area D -- I have 10 "distinct" unincorporated communities from Commodore Heights in the south abutting the City of Williams Lake to the old Marguerite Ferry Landing in the North, Jackson's Hole in the East and Rudy Johnson Bridge to the West.
As one misunderstood item -- I often receive inquiries about why those living mere minutes outside of Williams Lake are not able to vote for Mayor/Council and I gently explain that they are not within the boundaries of the City of Williams Lake so they aren't able to vote accordingly but could if their property was included in the City's boundaries. The last such attempt to include a portion of Cariboo RD Area D (Commodore Heights to Wildwood) was in 1996 and eventually was voted down as well as an effort in the early 2000's to merge Pine Valley into the City of Williams Lake boundaries and that too failed...
Another sometimes misunderstood things about RD's is the complex voting rules at a Regional District table. The voting rules are broken down primarily into two groups:
1) Corporate - Unweighted/Weighted
2) Stakeholder - Unweighted/Weighted
Corporate-Unweighted Voting is reserved for receipt of items or election of the Board Chair whereas Corporate-Weighted Voting is reserved for contract issues, acquisition of property, adoption of a financial plan and weighted votes are based on a formula that revolves around population size and the voting quotient for that RD which gets you a number of votes for that Director. More Population = More Votes. A Director can not have more than 5 Weighted Votes. Anything over that allows, typically, an Municipality would then have more representatives at the RD Board table
Stakeholder-Unweighted is reserved voting for those participants in a RD Service like Land Use Planning.
Stakeholder-Weighted is again reserved voting for those participants in a RD Service like Land Use Planning or Recreation in relation to "Administration/Operation" of a RD Service. Voting is a combined votes of participants and a majority is them is required to pass a Resolution. One example -- Central Cariboo Recreation at the Cariboo RD Board Table has a combined vote structure of 12 (Area D - 2; Area E - 2; Area F - 3; City of WL - 5). A majority of 7 is required to pass a resolution in relation to "Administration/Operation" of the Central Cariboo Recreation Service
In terms of issues that RD Boards' are working on (but not an exhaustive list) may include:
1) Climate Change/Emergency Events -- Floods/Fires
2) Sustainable Communities and Infrastructure to support those Communities
3) Sustainable Funding for Electoral Area Services
4) Relationships with First Nations'
5) Relationships with Provincial/Federal Governments'
6) Provincial Land Use Decisions
Unlike Municipalities -- Each Electoral Area Director also maintains a contact list for MLA's/MP's or their staff and Provincial/Federal Ministry Staff in order to address issues that come up as RD Boards' usually meet once a month and issues can be solved more quickly through the establishment of these relationships which does take time to forge.
As mentioned yesterday in describing the role of a Municipal Council -- EA Directors' also partake in annual professional development opportunities like local Area Associations', UBCM, FCM and LGLA to stay up to date on Regional District matters as do their Regional District Staff to stay up to date on best practices, etc on their area of expertise (land use, finance, communications, Regional District administration, etc). Also - RD Directors' (with the exception of one following an election year) get together each January in 3 of the 4 years in a term, typically in Richmond to discuss Electoral Area issues. Example of Agenda -- click here
Finally - Regional Districts' also serve as Regional Hospital Districts (RHD's) as a separate entity, as per the Hospital District Act - click here. In the 1990's - the Greater Vancouver Regional Hospital District was dissolved, in favour of creating "tax room" for TransLink (Metro Vancouver Transit Authority). In the Cariboo-Chilcotin -- we have the Cariboo-Chilcotin Regional Hospital District (CCRHD) which comprises all 16 Directors of the Cariboo RD plus Thompson Nicola RD Area E Director Jim Smith as the CCRHD partially falls into his Electoral Area. RHD's provide for 40% capital for local hospital facilities, typically at the request of the local Health Authority (ie: Northern/Interior Health)
As an Electoral Area Director - as much as it sometimes can be frustrating some days, I do appreciate the support of my fellow Mayors/Councillors' in local government as their support is crucial for getting Electoral Area matters resolved. Support comes from people like Kamloops Councillor Mike O'Reilly (he currently serves on the TNRD Board as well as Chair of the Thompson Regional Hospital District) and many, many other Mayors/Councillors & Electoral Area Directors' elsewhere in BC...
Other sources of information include:
1) UBCM Fact Sheets for Regional Districts -- click here
2) Local Government in BC - click here
Tomorrow, I will review the role of an Improvement District Board of Trustees
SF
