Elected Alternate Directors for RD Boards?

At their meeting on Thursday - the Peace River Regional District Board will consider an draft letter to the Province in regards to the system of Alternate Directors' for Regional District Boards'

At their meeting of August 11th - the Peace River RD Board resolved the following, at the request of Peace River RD Area 'C' Director Brad Sperling:

That a letter be forwarded to the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development regarding the appointment of Alternate Directors to a Regional District Board to:

* Request information as to the number of alternate directors that may be appointed from municipalities and rural areas; and
* Suggest that the Local Government Act be amended to allow the appointment of more than one alternate director for a municipality or rural area.

Sections 200/201 of the Local Government Act speaks to the currently authorized system of appointing Alternate Directors, both for Electoral Area and Municipal Directors' serving on a Regional District Board which you can review here

In response, the Peace River RD CAO, Chris Cvik, has drafted a letter for the Peace River RD Board's endorsement, which you can read here

In part of the draft letter, it states:

"Can you please suggest next steps to lobby for changes to the legislation to have Alternate Rural Directors elected to their positions?"

While I am aware of some who think the antiquated Alternate Director system should go entirely, electing Alternate Directors would cause real problems within Electoral Areas given there is only 1 political representative for an Electoral Area however it could work for Municipal Councils' who don't want to get into 'Survivor Week' lobbying each other for the position(s) (Director/Alternate Director) on a Regional District Board yearly or at the beginning of their elected term

For Electoral Area Directors' - I feel the current system of appointing an Alternate Director works well.  If you can't make a meeting, your options include:

* Change your schedule to make meetings or send in your Alternate Director to represent you in your absence

* Allow for Tele/Video Conferencing to deal with "one off's" through your Board Procedure Bylaw 
* Arrange for your fellow Electoral Area Director colleagues on your Regional District Board to take up your Area issue(s) on your behalf at the meeting(s) you expect to be absent from

I will be watching this item closely.  Should the Peace River Regional District Board agree to send the draft letter as proposed by their CAO, then I will be approaching my own Board and requesting that a letter be forwarded to the Province advising that the Cariboo Regional District Board strongly opposes a system of electing Alternate Electoral Area Directors' and that the status quo of appointing an alternate Electoral Area Director for the duly-elected Electoral Area Director remain

~SF