Outgoing Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) directors gave their final farewells at the Nov. 27 board meeting.
Retiring after a total of 12 years on the board, West Howe Sound director Lee Turnbull thanked other directors and staff and said the board had made “a lot of really important and good changes in our whole way of approaching things.”
She said she was looking forward to seeing progress continue in economic development and green initiatives.
“People care about their parks and the land they recreate on. To me that is economic development,” Turnbull said.
Her SCRD journey, she said, had been interesting and “for the most part” enjoyable.
Also retiring, after serving nine years on the board, Roberts Creek director Donna Shugar congratulated Area E director Lorne Lewis for being re-elected and newcomers Ian Winn and Mark Lebbell for winning in areas F and D, respectively, adding she was pleased with the election results.
Saying her years on the board had been a “very rich and powerful experience,” Shugar singled out “the incredibly positive relationship that this board has developed with our First Nations partners and neighbours” as “a very important and special thing.”
Gibsons director Gerry Tretick, who chose not to run for re-election after serving almost nine years on Gibsons council, gave special kudos to the SCRD’s financial department staff for helping him navigate through the budget process as chair of the corporate and administrative services committee.
“I’d really also like to extend my best wishes to the new board members,” Tretick said to Winn and Lebbell, who were sitting in the gallery. “You have a task, and it’s not an easy one, but it’s a good one. Thank you for being here.”
Gibsons alternate director Lee Ann Johnson, who was defeated in her re-election bid for council, said it had been a real pleasure to represent the Town at community services and planning and development committee meetings.
“I am really grateful to see this board working so well and so oriented to the whole Coast, and that has been, to me, a major achievement,” Johnson said.
Her greatest concern, she said, was that efforts continue to create affordable housing after the significant gains of the last two years.
The outgoing directors were honoured twice during the meeting.
Presenting gifts to the foursome, CAO John France thanked them for the thought, tenacity and intensity they displayed at the board table, right up until the last day of the term.
“I don’t think there’s too many people who appreciate the amount of work that a local politician does until you get into the job,” France said.
Board chair and Area B director Garry Nohr, who with Area A director Frank Mauro was acclaimed for another term, thanked the four outgoing directors for their efforts.
“I think in the last four or five years there’s been major movement as we worked together with this last group,” Nohr said. “So I’m hoping that it continues and doesn’t fall apart because you’ve left.”
In a second ceremony later in the meeting, Shugar, Turnbull and Tretick were “blanketed” by shíshálh (Sechelt) First Nation rights and title director Jasmine Paul.
Band councillor and hereditary chief Garry Feschuk thanked the outgoing directors for their “dedication and service to the Sunshine Coast, but also the bond you’ve established with the shíshálh people.”
Their dedication, Feschuk said, “hasn’t gone unnoticed with our community.”
