Three Freemen of the municipality attended -- former Mayor Anne Murray, former longtime NC Chief Administrative Officer, Jim Dias and former NC Councillor (and officiating officer) Glen Ridgeway.
Piped into chambers by Chief Building inspector Bruce Oliphant, accompanied by an RCMP honor guard of two officers in "reds", Jon Lefebure and his newly elected council -- as well as newly appointed fire chiefs from around the valley -- took their oaths of office in front of about 70 bystanders, including long time (and newly retired) Councillor George Seymour (the only person present to get a standing ovation)
There were only a few items of business on the agenda after the Mayor's inaugural address.
Most notable were the following appointments:
Jon Lefebure, Ruth Hartmann and Barb Lines to the Cowichan Valley Regional District Board, with Kate Marsh, Jennifer Woike, and Al Siebring as their alternates, respectively;
Kate Marsh to the Vancouver Island Regional Library Board (John Koury alternate) for the term January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012
Al Siebring, Barb Lines and Jennifer Woike to the Island Savings Centre Commission and John Koury, Kate Marsh, and Ruth Hartmann as their alternates, respectively.
Mayor Lefebure then appointed the district's current longest serving councillor -- Ruth Hartmann -- as acting (formerly known as deputy) mayor in the event of his absence.
The last item of business was to accept some good news!
The Crofton Sea Walk foreshore licence renewal offer from the province, which will assist in the building of Phase 3 of the Crofton Seawalk.
The meeting was followed by a lovely reception in the foyer and the honor of our own famous Andrew Leong snapping the official council photograph. (which is NOT the one attached to this blog)
All in all a pretty easy and fun first meeting.