Two new members will be representing Cranbrook on the board of directors for the Regional District of East Kootenay following the appointment of committees at city's first council meeting on Monday.
Mayor Lee Pratt and councillor Tom Shypitka will head to the RDEK boardroom on Friday to be sworn in for their first official meeting since the local government elections on Nov. 15th.
"I'm looking forward to serving as a representative of the City of Cranbrook on the Regional District of East Kootenay board of directors," said Pratt.
Pratt replaces former Cranbrook mayor Wayne Stetski on the board, while Shypitka takes the place of former councillor Bob Whetham, who chose not to run for re-election.
"I'm not too sure about how deep we're going to get into things right off the bat, but the most important thing is we want to build good relationships with the regional district and the board," said Shypitka, who requested the opportunity to serve as one of Cranbrook's two representatives on the board.
"Just show the board that we're open to all ideas and suggestions and that there's no such thing as a bad idea. I think that's our main goal, is to just more or less go in and open ourselves up to anything and everything and just build good relationships."
The new RDEK board will have some new faces on the board with the election of Stan Doehle for Area B, who was elected following the longtime service of Heath Slee, who held office for 15 years.
Cal McDougall won the mayoral race in Sparwood and will likely replace Lois Halko, while Clara Reinhardt, the new mayor of the Village of Radium Hot Springs, will take the place of her predecessor Dee Conklin, who did not run for re-election and new Kimberley mayor Don McCormick will replace Ron McRae.
Rob Gay (Area C), Wendy Booth (Area F, Mike Sosnowski (Area A), Jane Walter (Area E) and Gerry Wilkie (Area G) will all return to the board.
The RDEK holds committee meetings on Thursday, which will begin with an inauguration and swearing in ceremony before moving on to their first official board meeting on Friday.