The Thompson Nicola Regional District (TNRD) board of directors held the inaugural board of directors annual meeting on Thursday, Nov. 7 in Kamloops at the TNRD Rural Development Office on Victoria Street.
Members of the board have re-elected Village of Ashcroft director, Barbara Roden as chair and District of Logan Lake director, Robin Smith as Vice-Chair once again, both of whom have held these positions since Nov. 2022. Roden and Smith are the first female chair and vice-chair serving together since that time. Roden has served on the TNRD board since 2018 and Smith since 2013. Both Roden and Smith are also the mayors of their respective areas.
“It is a tremendous honour to have been endorsed as chair for a third year by my fellow directors. I am grateful that they have put their trust in me again, as we all move forward to accomplish the goals set out in our Strategic Plan and to continue to serve the needs of the residents of the TNRD,” said Roden following the election.
There were two nominees for chair for the 2024 election this year; Barbara Roden and TNRD director Tricia Thorpe from Area “I” and two running for vice-chair, Robin Smith and director Usoff Tsao from Area “A” which resulted in the elections for these positions by secret ballot. The results are disclosed following an official count, however, the number of votes for each person is not disclosed.
Roden is the second female chair for the TNRD, the first being Kamloops councillor Pat Wallace, who was chair between 1983 and 1986. There is no term limit when running for chair as long as the person running is a director at the time.
There are 27 elected directors on the governing body of the TNRD, with one director from each of the ten TNRD electoral areas, one director from each of the ten smaller TNRD member municipalities and seven directors from the City of Kamloops.
“We’re at the midway point of this term. The last two years have seen the TNRD move forward from the events of the previous term, without distractions from the many important things that the TNRD is doing," Roden added.
The Thompson-Nicola Regional District is located in south-central British Columbia, and includes more than 65 unincorporated communities within 10 Electoral Areas, as well as 11 Member Municipalities and 25 First Nations. It is one of 27 regional districts in B.C., and is the sixth-largest regional district by population and seventh-largest in size.
