District welcomes new administrator Alan Harris

Eagle Valley News

There’s a familiar face behind a new desk at the municipal office. On July 2, Alan Harris officially came on board as the District of Sicamous’ new chief administrative officer. For seven years, Harris has served with the North Okanagan Regional District, first as a budget manager and, for the past five years as chief financial officer. Before that, he served the District of Sicamous as treasurer. “I haven’t had a bad day yet so that’s sweet,” says Harris, who finds himself settling well into the position. “It’s what I expected it would be, and this is something I’ve always wanted to do, so I’m quite enjoying it.” Harris grew up in Edmonton and currently lives with his family in Salmon Arm. He says he hopes to relocate to Sicamous once his kids are finished high school and have figured out where they’re going from there.

Harris hopes to bring a different perspective to council than his predecessors, former CAO Karen Williams and interim CAO Doug Ruttan. And while he says his relationship with council has so far been a positive one, he expects that at some point there will be bumps in the road. But this is one of the areas where he sees the benefit of working with a municipal council. “The advantage is, from coming from regional district to a local government, you have seven members of council,” says Harris. “They all have the municipality in their hearts. They may be on a different page. It’s just a matter of trying to get them at least to see each other’s point of view and come up with a decision. As staff, we have to support that decision.” Mayor Lorraine March says she’s very happy with the addition of Harris to district administration. At the same time, she’s happy to report that Ruttan will still be around for larger projects. “We hate to give Doug up. I wish we could keep two,” said March. “We are using him to do some of the big projects we’ve got going. Naturally it’s up to Alan. “Alan, I’m sure he’s up to the challenge, but there’s just so much work to do.”
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Don Quixote Note: Nord has hired Mr Harris' replacement who will come on board in early September but his name has not been announced to the Public. (Except to those who lurk on the Darkside !)