WL News - Oct 25th edition

a) Election Announcements or News:

City of WL - Mike Bouchard wants a seat on Council - see here
                     Danica Hughes wants a seat on Council - see here

Editor's Note - Ms. Hughes, on the Rush, suggested that "certain candidates" were running to line their own pockets rather than serving the community interest.  I profoundly regret her making that comment.  Let us all keep the debate to policies or positions that candidates advocate for, and not what a candidate(s) personal motivation is for running.  Interesting that she came right out and endorsed Kerry Cook for Mayor.  I wonder if that will hurt her bid for a Councillor seat or not...

Mayoral Candidate Walt Cobb accuses WL City Hall of "deceit" on the fluoride referendum question - see the video here

Brice O'Neill says "too little, too late" on current WL Council's action with regard to economic development - see here

CRD - Both Stacy Wong (see here) and Bill Carruthers (see here) explain their reasons for running for the Electoral Area 'E' Directorship

School District #27 - Both Jackie Austin & Heather McKenzie explains why they want to become the new Zone 4 Trustee - see here (Austin) and here (McKenzie)

b) Other News...

TNG Tribal Chief Joe Alphonse reports out on their recent trip to Ottawa re: lobbying effort to kill 2nd Prosperity Mine Proposal - see here

Event on using the Internet safely tomorrow evening at the Gibraltar Room - see here
WL and District Chamber of Commerce questioned on why no free forum for WL Mayoral candidates - see here

Local Election News...

In today's Williams Lake Tribune - the final two incumbents on WL Council have announced re-election bids. See stories on Geoff Bourdon's re-election bid here and Sue Zacharias's re-election bid here.  This leaves 6 people running for WL Councillor and 3 for WL Mayor with 5 days to go before the nomination period expires next Friday.  I'm informed as many as 4 more could file for WL Councillor positions.  At this point - I don't have any new names forthcoming for WL Mayor and some report to me their general dissatisfaction with the 3 current candidates for WL Mayor - incumbent Kerry Cook and current challengers Scott Nelson/Walt Cobb

In Quesnel - Sushil Thapar will seek his 4th term on Quesnel Council while Ed Coleman (brother of Energy Minister Rich Coleman) will seek his 1st term on Quesnel Council

Meanwhile - over at School District #27:

There will be a battle in Zones 4 and 5...

In Zone 4 (as I noted yesterday) - it'll be current Trustee Heather McKenzie against 150 Mile resident Jackie Austin (Mrs. Austin will make her bid official next week)

In Zone 5 - it'll be Sheila Boehm vs Oleh Lazarchuk

Finally - in Zone 2, local 108 Mile Ranch resident Tanya Guenther has filed her election papers for the Zone 2 seat on the School District #27 Board

Election Races in both CRD Area 'H' and SD #27 - Zones 4/5

Today, in the 100 Mile Free Press, they report that Area 'H' residents Ron Lister (Deputy Chief of the Forest Grove VFD) and Margo Wagner (Canim Lake resident and retiree for the past seven years, she arrived from England 36 years ago and worked as a nurse in Alberta) will both compete for the Directorship of CRD Area 'H'. See more here

Note - current CRD Area 'H' Director Art Dumaresq is on public record backing the election bid of Ron Lister to become the new CRD Area 'H' Director

Meanwhile - in Williams Lake, the Cariboo Advisor reports that 150 Mile resident Jackie Austin wants to become the new Zone 4 Trustee.  So - it'll be an interesting election battle to watch as Ms. Austin goes up against current Zone 4 Trustee Heather McKenzie and to observe what the election issue(s) that will be raised by both parties will be.

Finally - Sheila Boehm, who has previously announced, has file nomination papers yesterday seeking the Zone 5 Trustee seat (WL Fringe) which is being vacated by outgoing SD #27 Board Chair Wayne Rodier

School District #27 Board Highlights - Sept 27th meeting

Trustees Present: Chair W. Rodier and W. Van Osch, P. Penner, P. Baker, H. McKenzie and R. Elliot
Trustees Absent: Vice-Chair B. Mack

Meeting called to order at 7:00pm
Meeting Agenda adopted
Minutes from June 28th Board of Education meeting adopted

Business:

1) Motion to support the local Student Leadership Conference in October rescinded
2) Secretary-Treasurer read out a legal opinion sought from the BCSTA (BC School Trustees Assoc) on duties required under Child, Family and Community Service Act with regard to SD #27 Policy 5116 - Child Protection

3) The Board of Education ratified the decision of District Management to postpone the Curriculum Implementation Day scheduled for September 6th, 2011
4) The Board of Education agreed to receive the 2010-2011 Audited Financial Statements after receiving an oral presentation on them from Bonnie Roller - SD #27 Secretary-Treasurer
5) The Board of Education agreed to approve, in principle, the field trip for students in grades 10-12 from Williams Lake Secondary School to Hawaii from March 14-22 2012 to attend the 13th Annual Canada/Hawaii Friendship Soccer Cup, pending all required documentation and procedures are in place and approved by the Superintendent of Schools (D. Wright)

6) The Board of Education agreed to invite the students from Williams Lake Secondary School participating in the school trip to Hawaii from March 14-22 2012 to make, upon their return, a presentation to the Board of Education regarding their educational experiences

7) The Board of Education agreed to submit to the BCSTA its report that provides SD #27 Board's input/recommendations on the Ministry's funding allocation process
8) The Board of Education agreed to receive the report from the June 28th "In-Camera" meeting
9) Diane Wright (SD #27 Superintendent) reviewed current student enrollment numbers and gave a staffing update to the Board
10) Bonnie Roller (SD #27 Secretary-Treasurer) along with the Facilities Manager reviewed school projects completed over the summer and staff positions with the Board
11) The Board of Education adopted the following Policy Committee recommendations:

a) Adopt revised Policy 1110 Communications
b) Adopt revised Policy 4111.1 Employment Equity and delete Policy 4111.11 Gender Bias
c) Adopt new Policy 5124 School Completion Certificate
d) That consideration for use of schools/facilities by Community School Associations be addressed under Policy 3513 Community Use of Facilities, negating the need for a separate policy for Community Schools Associations
e) Adopt revised Policy 1120.5 Committees of the Board with a member from First Nations Education Council to be a member of the Environment Stewardship and Education Committees

12) The Board of Education agreed to receive the correspondence as listed in the Open Correspondence Report, as at September 22nd
13) The Board of Education agreed to provide a letter of support to place the 150 Mile Heritage School on the Community Heritage Registry
14) The Board of Education agreed to suspend all meetings of Board Committees' with teacher representation during teacher job action, unless emergent issues arise
15) During "Public Question Period", upon questioning from Joan Erb (President - Cariboo-Chilcotin Teachers' Assoc), the Chair and Trustee Pete Penner confirmed their intention to not seek re-election while Trustees Van Osch, Baker, McKenzie and Elliot all confirmed their intention to seek re-election

Meeting adjourned at 8:16pm

BREAKING NEWS: SD #27 Trustees Wayne Rodier/Pete Penner will not seek re-election

At tonight's School District #27 Board of Education meeting - both SD#27 Board Chair Wayne Rodier (Zone 5 Trustee) and Zone 2 Trustee Pete Penner announced that they will not seek re-election on November 19th

However - Trustees Will Van Osch (Zone 1), Patricia Baker (Zone 3), Heather McKenzie (Zone 4), and Richard Elliot (Zone 7) will all seek re-election on November 19th

SD #27 Board Vice-Chair Bruce Mack (Zone 6) was absent from the meeting and there is no word yet if he plans to seek re-election on November 19th

The announcement from Wayne Rodier was made during "Trustee Reports" at tonight's SD #27 School Board meeting however the remaining Trustee announcements were made after Joan Erb (President - CC Teachers' Association) had asked Trustees' Van Osch, Penner, Baker, McKenzie, and Elliot about their re-election plans during "Public Question Period"

1st SD #27 Candidate announces

In the Cariboo Advisor today:

Sheila Boehm announces that she will be seeking a seat on the Board of Education - School District #27.  Although she doesn't say which Zone she'll be running in, this will be put her against the following:

Zone 4 (150 Mile and CRD Area 'F') - Heather McKenzie (no word yet if McKenzie plans to seek re-election)

Zone 5 (CRD Area 'D' to boundary with SD #28 and CRD Area 'E' not in City of WL Boundary) - current SD #27 Chair Wayne Rodier

Zone 6 (City of Williams Lake) - current SD#27 Vice-Chair Bruce Mack (no word if he plans to seek re-election) and former Zone 6 Trustee Rob Zacharias (he has confirmed, via Laurie Walters re-election Facebook page (see that page here), that he intends to seek election once again in Zone 6)

Nevertheless - it'll be interesting, for myself, to follow the School District elections in all Zones, but especially in Zones 4, 5, and 6

SBF