Hobson reaffirmed as CORD chairman

By Jason Luciw - Kelowna Capital News - December 12, 2007

Kelowna Coun. Robert Hobson has been named Central Okanagan Regional District chairman for the 15th straight year. At the CORD board’s inaugural meeting Monday night, Peachland Mayor Graham Reid was named vice-chairman. Reid replaced former Westside director Aaron Dinwoodie, an 11-year veteran of the CORD board, who lost the Nov. 17 Westside mayoral election to Rosalind Neis. Neis was welcomed to the board Monday night as one of two new Westside representatives. The other is Coun. Doug Findlater.

Westside had opted to adopt Kelowna’s policy for appointing people to the board, said Findlater.The mayor and the councillors who receive the most votes in the preceding municipal election are appointed to the board, unless they decline the offer, Findlater stated.

Meanwhile, Kelowna has gained more power on the regional board based on its growing population. Kelowna Coun. Michelle Rule has been appointed to the board as Kelowna’s sixth director. Kelowna’s votes now equal all those of the other representatives on the board combined. Based on Kelowna’s population of 108,859, the city gets one representative for every 18,143 people.Meanwhile, Lake Country, Peachland, Central Okanagan West and Central Okanagan East each have one director each. Populations for those areas range between a low of 3,749 in Central Okanagan East and a high of 9,606 in Lake Country. Westside, with a population of 27,161 has two directors––one for every 13,580 people. The Westside will have plenty of growing to do before it gets a third seat on the board, acording to CORD figures.

On money matters, what are called weighted votes come in to play. Each area gets one vote per 4,000 people. Numbers are rounded up. Kelowna has 28 votes compared to 16 for the remaining areas. By comparison, Westside, the next largest area in the region, has seven votes under the seldom-used weighted system.