Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen board chair Karla Kozakevich not seeking re-election

Photo: Castanet Staff

After five years of helming the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen in her position as board chair, Karla Kozakevich announced on Thursday that she won’t be seeking another term.

Kozakevich, the representative for Naramata, explained to fellow directors that she is not letting her name stand in the upcoming yearly election for chair and vice chair in November.

“While this role has been very challenging at times and certainly can be a large time commitment, it has also been an absolute honour and privilege, pleasure, all of those great words to serve you guys, to serve staff and to work for the citizens of our region,” she said during this week's meeting.

“I have made a choice and a commitment to spend a bit more time with my family, and that’s going to be both in a work setting and also just at play. It’s time to do a little bit more with my family members.”

While Kozakevich is stepping down as board chair, she will be staying on as the Naramata area director, a position she’s held since 2011.

“During the whole five years, since I was first elected with spring into summer, we've had emergencies. We've had the activation of the emergency operation centres, so we've had floods, and fires and then some years, we've had both,” Kozakevich told Castanet.

"So it's a pretty busy spring, summer into fall, when you're a board chair and really, in a position of not traveling, not going and doing other things, because you're always just on deck dealing with issuing evacuation orders and declarations of local emergencies, I just felt it was time to have a break from that.”

While Kozakevich earned the chair position by acclamation four years in a row, in last year's race she ran against Summerland councillor Doug Holmes, who had previously served as vice chair.

“I do look forward to this change, I also look forward to the meeting on Nov. 4, it's going to be fun to see the election take place, and not be running in it for a change.”

Elections will be held for the chair and vice-chair of the RDOS, along with the Okanagan-Similkameen Hospital Board chair and vice chair during the Nov. 4 meeting, in a secret ballot.