qathet Regional District’s board has nominated manager of emergency services Ryan Thoms as a candidate for a new advisory committee.
At a May 22 meeting, directors considered a recommendation to nominate Thoms for the newly formed local government advisory committee on Emergency and Disaster Management Act regulations, to represent the interests of regional districts on the west coast and Vancouver Island.
qRD Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne said Thoms is most knowledgeable, but sometimes, what comes out of these advisory committees from Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) is the desire for political will.
“I’m wondering if we should also appoint an elected official to this or is it fine to just have it as a member of staff?” asked Gisborne. “If something comes out where they are going to have to go back and really press the province for some changes, it might be helpful to have a politician in there to drag it into the political arena.”
Chief administrative officer Al Radke said if it was the board’s will to add another nominee, so be it, but he said the board might be concerned about how many horses it wants to put in the race.
“This is going to go to the UBCM executive and they are going to be making their selections,” said Radke. “I’m going to be selfish here. I would like to have some technical expertise at that table and it would be a shame if the UBCM executive chose all political representation.”
Electoral Area D director Sandy McCormick said she agreed that because this is an advisory committee to comment on the regulations, what is needed are people who are experts in those regulations to provide meaningful advice.
“I believe Mr. Thoms is the perfect person,” said McCormick. “I don’t believe we need a political person at this point.”
Electoral Area E director Andrew Fall said he agreed with the comments, and while it would be nice to have staff and a director represented on the committee, the letter from UBCM states there will be up to 10 local government representatives.
“We’ll be fortunate if Mr. Thoms can be put on there and if we put one name forward, we have a higher chance of an appointment,” said Fall.
The regional board voted to put Thoms’ name forward as a nominee for the committee.
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