"Unelected" Alternate Electoral Area Directors' - An Options Paper

Next week - many of BC's 160 Electoral Area Directors' representing a very large part of Rural BC and many unincorporated communities will be attending both the Union of BC Municipalities' (UBCM) Electoral Area Directors' Forum followed by the annual Local Government Leadership Academy's 2018 Leadership Forum, both of which are being held in Richmond, BC from Jan 30th to Feb 2nd, 2018. 

View the UBCM EA Directors' Forum Final Agenda here while you can view the LGLA 2018 Leadership Forum Final Agenda here

One of the topics at the UBCM EA Directors' Forum that will generate a fair bit of discussion, I'd wager, is the topic of 'Unelected' Alternate Electoral Area Directors'.  This issue results of either Electoral Area Directors' being absent, due to illness or leave, for a significant period of time and the 'unelected' Alternate Electoral Area Director serving in the absence of the elected Electoral Area Director for many months if not years or even a entire 4 year local government term.  An Ad Hoc Committee was formed last April (2017) to look at the options and report back to Electoral Area Directors as to what next steps to take, if any

The Committee places 4 Options, including thought provoking questions to consider with each Option, before the Province's 160 Electoral Area Directors' for consideration.  Those are:

1) Remove the legislative requirement to appoint an alternate (for the Electoral Area Director, duly elected/sworn in)

2) If an alternate is appointed, the alternate must be an elected official. The alternate could be a councillor, mayor or other elected electoral area director

3) In the absence of an electoral area director or an ‘elected’ alternate, the board would be responsible for making decisions

4) Amend legislation to trigger a by-election within a reasonable period of time (possibly 6 months) in the case of illness or injury of the sitting electoral area director

I'm looking forward to seeing what my fellow Electoral Area Directors', including my fellow Electoral Area Directors' on the Cariboo RD Board, have to say on the subject next week

~SF