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RDEK board leadership acclaimed for another term

Rob Gay and Clara Reinhardt to serve as chair, vice-chair for another yearly term
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Rob Gay and Clara Reinhardt will be back to helm the Regional District of East Kootenay for another annual term as board chair and vice-chair, respectively.

Both were acclaimed during a monthly meeting in Cranbrook on Friday, Dec. 6.

Gay, the longtime Electoral Director for Area C, will be serving his ninth term as the RDEK board chair since he was first elected to regional government in 2005.

“I’m very pleased,” said Gay. “Our board, I think we had a very successful year. How I try to use my role in terms of vision and leadership for the board is to work with the board. We’ve got 15 very smart people around this table and I don’t come to the board with any preconceived ideas. We have a very good discussion on things, often, as you folks [media] can see, that we reach consensus on issues.”

Reinhardt, the mayor of Radium Hot Springs, is entering her second term as vice-chair.

“The first year was definitely a learning curve,” Reinhardt said. “I think that when you go into that role, you think you know, but you can’t possibly know what it’s like unless you’re in it. I’m very grateful to chair Gay and also to manager [Shawn] Tomlin because it’s been very welcoming and they’ve been coaching.

“Being included at that level and being included in the planning and doing some of the pre-emptive work ahead of board meetings so that if we can see there might be problems, we try and get some background beforehand so that we’re able to deal with it — those are all really informative for the board and they really help with keeping this board be so high-functioning.”



trevor.crawley@cranbrooktownsman.com

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Trevor Crawley

About the Author: Trevor Crawley

Trevor Crawley has been a reporter with the Cranbrook Townsman and Black Press in various roles since 2011.
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