Citing a desire to avoid a byelection and also see through some key village projects, Jordan Sturdy announced Tuesday (Sept. 3) that he will continue to simultaneously serve as mayor of Pemberton and MLA for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky.
Sturdy made the announcement during the mayor's report segment of Tuesday's council meeting, the first he had chaired in 10 weeks. The third-term mayor said he felt changing the dynamic of the current council with the next general municipal elections in B.C. just over a year away could come at a cost of continued progress for the Village of Pemberton.
I do not believe that back-to-back elections a year apart are in the community's interest, Sturdy said. I believe it would be highly disruptive.
Sturdy took a one-month leave of absence in July as he sat in the Legislature and took time to decide whether his new roles as MLA and parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure would preclude him from continuing to serve as mayor, a job he's held since 2005.
I think the people that we have at this table right now are cohesive, supportive and positive while not necessarily agreeing on all aspects of things, he said.
Once the calendar flips to 2014, no byelection would be triggered if Sturdy was to resign from the mayor's chair. However, he did not commit to an end date on the mayor's job.
