Area D director wins appointment

December 5, 2007 The Other Beaver

NORD Area D director Rick Fairbairn was successful in a bid to become the fourth rep on the new governance committee that could decide the future of rural electoral areas in the Okanagan. The contest was decided this afternoon during an unweighted majority vote in which rural areas banded together to elect Fairbairn by a one-vote margin. At the same meeting it was announced that Area C director Stan Field had stepped down from his original appointment to the Valley Wide Governance Committee. Director Halvorson of Electoral Area "F" and Director Fairbairn were both appointed to what has been labeled the Super Regional Board by a 7-6 vote.Voting against the two new appointees included Mayor Corner of Coldstream, Mayor Lippert of Vernon, Vernon councilors Gilroy and Cummingham and Mayor Oglow from Armstrong.

Those voting against may have been attempting to appoint a city of Vernon representative so that the three major Okanagan cities would each have two representatives including their respective Mayors.There has been some concern about the lack of representation for the City of Vernon because Mayor Lippert is actually a resident of Area C. Fairbairn and Halvorson join Mayor Lippert from Vernon and Mayor Jerry Oglow from the City of Armstrong as the representatives from the North Okanagan on the valley-wide governance committee.

Fairbairn had told TOB yesterday, “It’s an issue very important to me because the main function of a regional district like NORD is to provide a venue for the governance of rural areas,” said Fairbairn, who added, “That mission must be maintained.”The major concern with the valley-wide governance effort is that rural electoral areas may lose their autonomy and be pushed into amalgamation with existing urban municipalities.
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Fairbairn making bid for governance seat

December 5, 2007

In an interview with NORD Area D representative, Rick Fairbairn told TOB that he would let his name stand as the fourth representative to the valley-wide governance committee that could form a single regional district for the entire Okanagan.“It’s an issue very important to me because the main function of a regional district like NORD is to provide a venue for the governance of rural areas,” said Fairbairn, who added, “That mission must be maintained.”The major concern is that rural electoral areas may lose their autonomy and be pushed into amalgamation with existing urban municipalities.Today (Wednesday), at 2 pm the NORD Board will meet. Resolution Number 38 “That the Regional Board appoint one more representative to the Valley Wide Governance Committee” will be addressed near the end of the meeting.

The vote will be subject to a simple majority vote for the decision, and there is public pressure that the City of Vernon have that final seat at the table due to Mayor Lippert living in Area C. Some residents believe that there is no taxpayer representation from Vernon.However, the entire rural representation appears to be sparse on the committee with the existing representation coming from small cities such as Armstrong and urban fringe areas such as Area C which includes Silver Star.Fairbairn’s bid for the seat would allow for representation from an area dependent on agriculture and natural resources that is at risk of losing political representation depending on the decisions made by the governance committee and the province.When examining representation on the NORD board Fairbairn has a chance of being elected if he can garner support from NORD reps from the electoral areas and outlying communities within NORD.