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Sooke reps have opposing views on CRD chair term lengths

Two Sooke politicians have opposite opinions on whether increasing Capital Regional District chairperson terms to two years instead of one is a good idea.
10652774_web1_171310-SNM-Mayortait

Two Sooke politicians have opposite opinions on whether increasing Capital Regional District chairperson terms to two years instead of one is a good idea.

The suggestion to increase term length was made by Saanich councillor Colin Plant at Wednesday’s CRD meeting.

Plant proposed a two-year term for the CRD board chair without re-election following the extension of councillor terms from three years to four.

Juan de Fuca Electoral Area Regional Director Mike Hicks said he thought it was a good idea because it would allow the elected chairperson to have more time to “get their feet wet.”

“Being chairperson is a huge commitment and it takes a while to get to know the job,” Hicks said. “And a one year term is quite short, it would be pretty hard to accomplish anything in that amount of time.”

Sooke Mayor Maja Tait disagreed, saying she did not support the idea.

“I think the current system is working just fine. It provides an opportunity for directors to check in as to whether or not they’re satisfied with the leadership of the chair and for the mandate to be refreshed on an annual basis,” she said.

“People could disagree with the direction that the chair is taking, and if they do, having to wait two years in order to have a say is too long. I also did not support the change to councillors having four-year terms.”

Hicks added that he only thought it was a nice suggestion to have two-year terms, but the way things currently are works just fine too.

“The fact of the matter is, the vast majority voted against it, so nothing will be changing,” Hicks said.