Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) Area F director Wendy Booth has become the Union of British ColumbiaMunicipalities (UBCM) executive’s first vice-president.
Booth was acclaimed to the role during the UBCM meeting in Victoria in late September.
The first vice-president role is another step up in the ranks of the UBCM executive for Booth, who was elected as second vice-president last year, and was a director at large for the two years prior to that.
“It is an honour to be acclaimed by my peers,” said Booth in a press release. “I have thoroughly enjoyed being apart of the UBCM Executive and am eager to continue to learn and grow within my new role.”
RDEK board chair Rob Gay extended congratulations to Booth on behalf of the the RDEK in the same press release, adding “it is exciting to have her representing us at the UBCM level and know she will continue to be a strong advocate for policies and programming that will benefit all British Columbians.”
“I’m really looking forward to this opportunity to act on behalf of all local governments at the provincial level.The knowledge that I gain will be beneficial to the RDEK and the Columbia Valley as I bring those learnings closer to home,” Booth told The Echo.
Booth’s political career spans eight years so far, with her having first been elected as Area F director in 2008.She was acclaimed back as Area F director in 2011 and then re-elected in 2014. Booth became the RDEKPlanning Committee chair in 2011 and the RDEK board vice chair in 2012.
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In addition to those roles, she was nominated by the RDEK and appointed by the provincial government as aboard member of the Columbia Basin Trust and became chair of the Trust’s Investment Committee in 2016. Shehas also been a board member of the Columbia Basin Broadband Corporation (which is a fully owned subsidy oftrust) since 2015, and was the chair of the former Columbia Valley Community Directed Funds committee thatbegan in 2012, and remains chair now that the group has morphed into the Columbia Valley AdvisoryCommittee.
She also hold a number of roles with multiple local Columbia Valley organizations, acting as a resource andguide to help these groups achieve their goals, including the Fairmont Business Association; FairmontCommunity Association; Windermere Community Association; Lake Windermere Ambassadors; ColumbiaWetland Stewardship Society; Columbia Valley Early Childhood Education group; and the Columbia Valley Multi-use Centre Advisory Committee as well as the centre’s fundraising committee.
Booth is also heavily involved with the Columbia Valley Branding and Marketing initiative, and with the Valley-Wide Visitor Services initiative.