A Campbell River city councillor will be representing B.C. local governments in dealings with the provincial and federal governments.
Coun. Claire Moglove was elected second vice-president of the Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) at the organization’s convention in Whistler last week.
For Moglove it’s a promotion of sorts as she has been serving as third vice-president since 2013.
If she’s re-elected in the upcoming Nov. 15 municipal election, even greater roles could be on the way.
“It’s quite exciting to be second vice-president,” Moglove said.
“Obviously I still have to be re-elected but if I am, there’s a good chance I could be promoted to vice-president, then president.”
Those senior board positions are elected once a year during the UBCM’s September convention.
At last week’s UBCM, Moglove said she was fortunate to be acclaimed to the position and retain a spot on the UBCM board, which she has served on for the last three years.
After the last civic election, in 2011, several councillors who held positions on the UBCM board were not re-elected to their local city councils which meant there were vacant seats up for grabs.
Moglove put in an application for a board position and she was accepted by the board, which is made up of 22 members from around the province.
The board meets four times a year to discuss various community issues such as economic development, First Nations, and healthy communities.
“The meetings are two or three days long and often we meet with the provincial minister responsible for that particular area, as well as staff, to work on that particular issue,” Moglove said.
UBCM represents all local governments in B.C. and exists to provide municipal governments with a single, stronger voice in dealings with the provincial and federal governments.
In the past, the UBCM board has worked for communities with concerns over the province’s new recycling program, Multi-Materials B.C.
Currently, the UBCM board is focused on the new uniform building code being considered by the province that may strip municipalities’ own rules and regulations from their respective building codes.
“With the uniform building code, UBCM will represent the interests of local government,” Moglove said.
“That way individual communities have a stronger voice because they all will be one with UBCM.”