St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse is now the first-ever elected head of the Capital Region Board.
Capital Region Board members elected their first permanent chairperson Thursday in a secret ballot. The group has had a government-appointed chair since its inception in 2008.
Crouse received more than half of the votes on the first ballot, according to board officials, beating Morinville Mayor Lloyd Bertschi and Fort Saskatchewan Mayor Gale Katchur for the position of chair. He has been elected for a one-year term.
This was a momentous decision, said interim chair Jim Edwards, one he believed marked the board's coming of age.
"It's a mark of maturity of the board that they chose one of their own to be the chair."
Crouse thanked the board for its trust in him.
"I'm humbled by this, but I'll work my can off to do what I can do."
Big responsibility
The Capital Region Board is a group appointed by the province to manage growth around the Edmonton region, and includes the leaders of 24 counties and communities.
Chairing this group will be a big responsibility, said Crouse.
"There's a lot of trust put in the chair to make sure [the group] moves along," he said, and it will be vital for him to maintain that trust. "I have a St. Albert hat and a St. Albert vote, but I think what's important is that I work as neutrally as possible as chair."
Being the chair will bring new visibility to St. Albert, Crouse said, and show that the city can be a leader in the region. It will also require him to spend more time out of town, so he might have to pass some of his city work on to other councillors.
Crouse said he would not try to steer the board in any one direction as chair, but, rather, make sure that what he's working on is what the board wants. He would, however, look into why certain members were choosing to work out their problems in private instead of bringing them before the board.
He would also have a clear message for provincial officials during the upcoming election: the board needs a sustainable commitment to funding. The province has committed to giving the board about $3 million a year, but only until 2014.
The capital region is growing at a rate of about 50,000 people a year and faces a growing need for regional housing and transportation plans, he said. The board also wants to see more GreenTrip funds released so its members could build up transportation networks.
Board members had three good candidates to choose from in the election, Katchur said, any one of whom could have done the job well. "I'm proud of Mayor Crouse, and I know he's going to serve the Capital Region Board well."
Bertschi, who recently lost a bid to become the Progressive Conservative candidate in Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock, also congratulated Crouse on his win, saying he thinks "Nolan will do a fabulous job."
Vote question
One unanswered question is how being the chair will affect St. Albert's voice on the board. While the chair is supposed to be neutral, board rules also require the chair to participate in all votes — not just tiebreakers, as is often the case.
Crouse said he wasn't immediately sure how he could be the chair while representing St. Albert's interests with his vote, but planned to dig through Robert's Rules of Order and bring some suggestions to the next board meeting.
"There are ways to do it," he said. "The principle that needs to apply is that the chair does not exert undue influence on the outcome."
Crouse will officially take over as chair this April.
