Sierra Acton will serve as the interim director for Shawnigan Lake on the Cowichan Valley Regional District until a by-election, expected in late September, is held.
Acton, who has been the alternate director for Shawnigan Lake on the CVRD for more than a year, will replace Sonia Furstenau who served as the director until her election as the Green MLA for the Cowichan Valley in last month’s provincial election.
Acton said she intends to run for the director position in the by-election and she doesn’t know if she’ll have any competition as the call for nominations has yet to be announced.
She said any decision by her to run for the director’s seat in the next municipal elections in 2018 will have to wait until she sees how well she does in the by-election.
“I’ve replaced Sonia as the director when she was on holidays and away at board meetings, and I’ve spent the last three months during the provincial election doing a lot of work as director so I’ve had a good introduction to the job, although it’s been more on the district side rather than the community side of the work,” Acton said.
Acton said now that the successful fight to shut down the contaminated soil facility above Shawnigan Lake is over, she wants to see the area move forward in a “united and positive way”.
She said she’s currently working towards the completion of the new wooden pavilion in Elsie Miles Park, which will have a ground breaking on July 1, and the expansion of the Shawnigan Lake Museum.
“We want to start rebuilding here, with a focus on parks and trails,” Anton said.
“After all, that’s the reason people live here.”
To check out Acton and her activities on the CVRD, go to www.iloveshawnigan.com.