First chair looks back

Photo: Kate Bouey

First NORD board chair John Baumbrough.

The first ever chairman of the North Okanagan Regional District called the board meeting to order Wednesday.

“This is a much larger meeting than the first one,” John Baumbrough told directors, as they marked 50 years since the board was created.

In 1965, Baumbrough was appointed to the fledgling board by the province “to organize and deliver a charter,” he said.

That first meeting took place Nov. 15, 1965. “We sat at a table in (Vernon) city hall and (city councillors) thought they were going to govern.”

Baumbrough presided over Wednesday's meeting while votes were cast for chairman.

Electoral Area 'D' director Rick Fairbairn was re-elected as chair. Lumby Mayor Kevin Acton won a coin toss, after a tie vote with Vernon councillor Juliette Cunningham, to take deputy chair.