Two local mayors are going head to head in a race to become the first-ever elected chair of the Capital Region Board.
Nominations for the chair election closed Thursday in Edmonton at a meeting of the Capital Region Board (CRB) with three area mayors now on the ballot – St. Albert's Nolan Crouse, Morinville's Lloyd Bertschi and Fort Saskatchewan's Gale Katchur. The board, which consists of mayors and councillors from 24 communities in the capital region, including Edmonton, St. Albert and Sturgeon County, is meant to guide development in and around Edmonton for the next 50 years.
The board is supposed to elect a chair from its members, said Jim Edwards, the current interim chair, but has had the province appoint temporary chairs from outside the group since its inception in 2008.
Now, said Katchur, the board feels it's time to make a change. "We want to show the province that we can run ourselves."
The board has, and continues to be, a source of much debate amongst local leaders as it has worked to address regional transportation, housing and land-use issues.
This decision speaks to the board members' commitment to the organization, Edwards said, and the trust they've built with each other.
"It is a mark of maturity for an organization to make that move."
Three-name ballot
Crouse was the first person nominated for the election. In a letter to the board, sent as he was away at a council planning session last Thursday, he cited his experience as mayor, his provincial connections, and his time as chair of the board's transit committee as proof he was the best choice for the job.
"I do not plan to separately lobby each of you to obtain anyone's vote," he wrote, as he did not want to be beholden to anyone. He also pledged to not attend any committee meetings unless asked to in order to stay objective.
"Finally," he wrote, "the best Capital Region Board chair will be the best chair of board issues, not the chair who works on his or her issues. That I am committed to."
Bertschi was the second nominee. A founding member of the board, Bertschi cited his 10 years as town mayor and two years as head of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) as proof of his leadership experience. He had also promoted urban-rural co-operation with recent deals between the town and Sturgeon County and between the AUMA and the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties.
There is one fly in the ointment, however. He's also in the race to become the Progressive Conservative candidate in Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock. That race will be decided on Jan. 28 — about two weeks before the board election.
"If I do win the PC nomination, I'll withdraw my candidacy for the CRB," he said.
Bertschi said his main goal, if elected chair, would be to keep the board members together, "to plan for a 35- to 50-year time horizon."
He said some members have been having "clandestine meetings" over the last year, debating issues in private instead of as a board. That's a dangerous trend, he argued, one that could lead to fractionalization.
"If we start breaking into what's best for me or what's best for our little group, that concerns me. You don't necessarily then have everyone pulling the wagon in the same direction."
Katchur was the third nominee. Everyone on the board has a proven record of leadership and would make an excellent chair, she said.
"The question is: why me? Why not?"
A one-term mayor and councillor with about 17 years experience in city administration, she cited her work with Leduc and Strathcona County on land-use issues as reasons to make her the chair.
Board members will cast their ballots this Feb 16, Edwards said.
