Sechelt Mayor John Henderson has been elected to the new board of directors for the Island Coastal Economic Trust (ICET).
Henderson is one of three new directors to fill the vacancies created following November's municipal election.
ICET also announced this week the election of Phil Kent, mayor of Duncan, as its new chair, Camela Tang as the board's vice-chair, Bev Parnham, mayor of Port Hardy, as secretary and Dallas Smith as director at-large of its executive committee.
On Jan. 13, the Trust's statutory stakeholders of mayors, chairs of regional districts and MLAs within the Trust's mandate area of the North Island - Sunshine Coast Advisory Committee (NISCRAC) came together in Courtenay and elected Henderson along with Mayor Bev Parnham of Port Hardy and Mayor Edward Lewis of Zeballos to the board. These stakeholders also elected Mayor Teunis Westbroek of Qualicum Beach to serve as the NISCRAC chair and Mayor Paul Ives of Comox to serve as vice-chair.
"The Trust is pleased to welcome these new representatives to the board and the executive," said Kent in a news release. "The newly elected members to the board of directors represent some of the smaller communities in our constituency and will no doubt bring new ideas and a new outlook to our board.
"This new energy will help guide our board forward in the coming years, as we continue our work to foster new economic growth in our region."
Kent also acknowledged the hard work and contributions of former members of the ICET board including Barry Janyk of Gibsons (former board chair), Charlie Cornfield of Campbell River, Ken McRae of Port Alberni and former NISCRAC chair, Greg Phelps of Courtenay.
ICET was established in February 2006 under an act of the province of British Columbia. It provided a $50-million endowment that is managed by an independent board comprised of 13 members - eight mayors and five provincial appointees from the prescribed area.
The board's mandate is to make strategic investments in economic development priorities including forestry, transportation, tourism, mining, energy, economic development, agriculture and aquaculture, and small business.
The ICET region encompasses all regional districts and municipalities on Vancouver Island north of the Malahat as well as the Powell River and Sunshine Coast regional districts.
ICET has approved more than $46 million for 80 projects on the Island and Sunshine Coast since implementing its grant program in 2007. The total impact of these investments is estimated at more than $245 million.
A full overview of ICET can be found at www.islandcoastaltrust.ca.
- Submitted
