Mark Pendergraft
Following last week’s resignation by Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) chair Dan Ashton, Area A director Mark Pendergraft has announced his intentions to seek the chair’s position at the upcoming election the first week in July.
Ashton, who is also the longtime mayor of the City of Penticton, was recently elected as an MLA to the provincial legislature after winning the Penticton riding in the May 14 provincial election.
“I do plan on throwing my hat into the ring,” said Pendergraft, who is the RDOS board’s vice-chair and has been acting chair since Ashton took a leave of absence to run in the provincial election.
The RDOS board will select a new chairperson from among its 18-member board at its next regularly scheduled meeting for July 4 in Penticton. The RDOS board consists of elected representatives from each of the eight electoral areas and appointed representatives from each of the member municipalities within the regional district.
Pendergraft said he has learned a great deal over the past eight years as a member of the RDOS board and believes he would have a lot to offer if elected chair.
“You do have a lot to learn when you first get elected, but I think I’ve learned a great deal about how the regional district operates and I think I could step in as chair and hopefully make some improvements,” he said.
Describing himself as a “jack of all trades”, Pendergraft owns a ranch in Osoyoos. He was a former teaching assistant with School District 53, but hasn’t been inside a classroom since taking that leave of absence more than seven years ago.
There are tens of thousands of residents who live in rural areas across the South Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys and the RDOS board handles a huge budget and makes a lot of crucial decisions and being the leader of that team represents a challenge he welcomes at this point in his political career, said Pendergraft.
At the nomination meeting on July 4, nominations will be accepted from the floor and each nomination will require a mover and seconder. Pendergraft said he doesn’t know if anyone else on the current board is considering challenging him for the chair’s position, but he believes there will be at least one opponent and perhaps two.
Nominees will be given an opportunity to provide a brief speech of no more than three minutes in length.
Members will then vote with each vote having equal weight.
A majority of the board – nine votes – will be required to elect a new chair. Should there be more than two nominees for the position, and if on the first ballot a chair is not elected by a majority of the board, the nominee with the lowest number of votes will be dropped and a second ballot will be initiated.
This process will continue until a new member is elected.
Following the vote, the winner will be announced.
The winner will then proceed with the remainder of the agenda.
While the chair’s position isn’t a full-time job, it will require more of his time if he’s successful in his bid, said Pendergraft.
“It won’t be full-time, but it will take a lot of time and commitment as there will be a lot more things to take care of than what’s involved in being a director,” he said. “We’ll wait and see what happens on July 4.”
BY KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
