By Lexi McFarlane, Times Chronicle
Changes were made to Council committee appointments at the most recent Town of Oliver Regular Council Meeting.
Three different committees will see edits to which Council members serve on them, an increase from two committee edits in 2024. One of the edits requires a motion to amend the terms of reference for the committee to include a third Council member, while the other two were straightforward changes of personnel.
None of the two committees edited last year saw changes of personnel this time around. The two committee changes in 2024 saw the Local Immigration Partnership Council, and the Hospital Liaison, both change one Council member apiece, as Veintimilla and Grice swapped their spots on those panels.
The Sister City Advisory Committee is the committee which will see a third Council member, after Councillor Petra Veintimilla voiced interest in wanting to join, but preferring not to unseat Councillor Terry Schafer or Mayor Martin Johansen from the panel.
“I’d like to add myself somehow, with Mayor Johansen and Councillor Schafer, to that committee,” she said.
“I think they’re both valuable assets on that team already, and so I wouldn’t want to bump one of them.”
As for personnel changes, Veintimilla also moved to take on the lead role on the Okanagan Regional Library committee. This role has previously been held by Councillor David Mattes, however it was noted he has “aged out”, and held the role for the maximum length of time.
Veintimilla, also aware of Mattes’s impact on that group, offered to keep him on as an alternate.
“I would be happy to take the lead on that one, perhaps with him as my alternate (member) if that’s okay, because he’s got some history (being) there,” Veintimilla said.
Mattes accepted the offer to remain on the committee. “I’d love to stay on as the alternate (member),” he declared.
The other change occurred with the Oliver Tourism Association panel. Councillor Aimee Grice stated that there have been a lot of scheduling conflicts that has prevented regular gatherings of that committee from taking place.
“I just find them often, unfortunately, unavailable for the meetings,” Grice noted.
Mattes offered to take the vacated position, which does not have a designated rank given Grice and Veintimilla, who remains on the OTA panel, had been working “in tandem”. The committee technically requires only one Council member, but both Grice and Veintimilla have been invited to meetings.
“We’ve kind of just been going as we can, back and forth,” Veintimilla said.
“It might be good to revisit those terms of reference as well, when we’re looking at sister city ones, because I think that’s what we deduced at some point, there’s only meant to be one of us.”
The personnel changes passed with a unanimous vote from Council. The motion to amend the terms of reference for the Sister City Advisory Committee will be brought forth at the next regular Council meeting, as will any amendments required to terms of reference for the OTA.
