The longtime regional district director for the Arrow Lakes says after 20 years, he won’t seek re-election this fall.
“I’ve been doing it a long time and I’m a bit tired,” Paul Peterson says.
He says he will instead campaign for his alternate director of five years, Teresa Weatherhead, a rural Nakusp resident.
“I know she’ll be a great director,” Peterson says. “All she has to do now is get elected.”
If Weatherhead is successful, Peterson says he would serve as her alternate for at least a year.
Peterson got his first taste of the Regional District of Central Kootenay while serving as a municipal director for New Denver in the 1980s.
After relocating to Burton, he ran for Arrow Lakes director in 1999 and lost by a close margin. He was successful when he tried again in 2002, however, and has since been acclaimed five more times.
He said his years as regional director included working with local community clubs on capital projects:Â “They didn’t have much of anything. We’ve started three fire departments and built three fire halls.”
In addition to serving on New Denver village council for five years and on the RDCK board for 20 years, Peterson also spent a dozen years as a school trustee, including one term where he was simultaneously trustee and regional director. He further spent seven years as a director of the Columbia Basin Trust.
As for his retirement plans?
“That’s a good question and one I’m still asking myself.”
Peterson said he at least expects to devote more energy to his garden.