Sechelt director Darnelda Siegers has been elected as the new board chair of the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD), and Elphinstone director Donna McMahon will be the vice-chair.
At the Nov. 4 SCRD board meeting, the directors voted in the two positions for the 2022 term.
Outgoing chair Lori Pratt nominated Sechelt director Alton Toth, who served as her vice-chair for the past year. Area A director Leonard Lee nominated Siegers.
“I want to thank our outgoing board chair Lori Pratt for her dedication to the role these past three years and for building a solid foundation for us to work from,” Siegers said in a press release after the meeting. “I look forward to leading the SCRD through this coming year as we continue to confront infrastructure challenges and the ongoing pandemic.”
Siegers has previously served as the SCRD’s vice-chair. She is also the mayor of the District of Sechelt, and the board chair of the Sunshine Coast Regional Hospital District.
Before the ballots were cast, the directors chose not to see how many votes each nominee received. The elected candidate needed at least five votes for majority.
Lee nominated McMahon as the vice-chair. When no other name was put forward, she was acclaimed in the position, and replaces Toth for the 2022 year. She previously ran for vice-chair in 2020.
Pratt said it was not an easy decision to not run for board chair again. In the meeting, she shared some advice for Siegers to bring the vice-chair in on things “because with having the chair being also the mayor and also the regional hospital district chair, in this case, we need to really make sure that we have an inclusive and diverse voice at the tables as much as possible.”
