Councillor to chair metro vancouver board
Burnaby councillor elected as chairman, breaking mayors’ 12-year streak at post
Longtime Burnaby city councillor Sav Dhaliwal is the new head of the board of directors for Metro Vancouver.
Members of the board, which is made up of 40 elected officials from 21 municipalities, Electoral Area A and Tsawwassen First Nation, met on Friday for the first time since last month’s civic elections.
The board of directors makes decisions involving drinking water, waste-water treatment, solid waste, air quality, urban growth, regional parks and affordable housing. The 2019 budget is more than $800 million.
The directors, more than half of whom are new to the board, elected their chair and vice chair in a secret ballot. The positions are held for a one-year term.
Dhaliwal, who was nominated by Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley, said he had been contemplating a run for either the chair or vice-chair position, but decided not long before Friday’s meeting to go for chair.
He defeated Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie and Delta Coun. Lois Jackson.
Brodie may have lost some support for his bid after speaking out strongly at a TransLink Mayors’ Council meeting on Thursday against a proposal to suspend a light rail project in Surrey and start the planning process for a SkyTrain line.
Dhaliwal has been a councillor for 16 years, served on the Metro Vancouver board as a director and been a member of the culture and parks committees. He is the first councillor to serve as chair of the board since Surrey ’s Marvin Hunt, who held the position in 2004 and 2005. The mayors of Delta and then Port Coquitlam were chair from 2006 until 2018.
As chair, Dhaliwal will be responsible for leading board meetings, as well as determining the structure and membership for the regional district’s committees. He said he doesn’t have any plans to shake up that structure at this point.
His priorities include fostering relationships with federal and provincial governments to work on big issues like affordable housing, mental health and addictions.
“I think the day-to-day service operations we’re doing have been wonderful — it’s working great there’s nothing we need to do. We just need to continue that good work that’s happening now,” he said.
City of North Vancouver Mayor Linda Buchanan, who served two terms on council before her election as mayor in October, was chosen as vice chair. She beat out Anmore Mayor John McEwen, Surrey Coun. Doug Elford, Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart and Township of Langley Coun. Kim Richter.
The board chair makes $77,474 per year, and the board vice chair makes $38,737. This is on top of their pay as a member of local government and any other committees or boards of which they are members.
Board and committee members make $387 for meetings up to four hours long, and $775 for meetings longer than four hours.