Wednesday December 20, 2023 | METCHOSIN, BC [Updated 4:05 pm – December 21, 2023]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
The District of Metchosin will have a new Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) in 2024.
Bob Payette has been selected as the new CAO. The selection was made by District of Metchosin Council following a comprehensive recruitment and interview process. Payette is expected to begin working as Metchosin’s CAO on January 8, 2024.
“I’m delighted to welcome Bob to his new role,” said Metchosin Mayor Marie-Térèse Little.
“Bob brings a tremendous range of experience to this role, having been a CAO for over 10 years in several communities. He has a strong record in navigating the issues facing small municipalities, and of working with council, staff, residents and other stakeholders to address challenges. His commitment to supporting local organizations is inspiring and will be highly valued in volunteer-oriented community like Metchosin,” said Mayor Little.
Hiring a new CAO is part of Metchosin’s year of firsts, the mayor says.
Moving to the island:
Payette has most recently been the CAO for the District of Barriere in the BC Interior (just north of Kamloops).
He has served in a range of roles with local governments in BC and Alberta. The District of Metchosin outlines Payette’s experience as being with parks and recreation, community development and protective services, and that he served 10 years in the military early in his career.
Bob and his wife — both of them 60 years old — will be relocating to the Greater Victoria area here on Vancouver Island. “We’re excited to meet the community.”
Apparently his wife lands a job with school districts as a librarian, wherever they’ve been in their travels. Their daughter has just started her career with the provincial government in Victoria.
As a fisherman he’s looking forward to “getting back to the coast”. Early in his carrier he worked at the naval base in Esquimalt as an HMCS provider as a marine engineer.
Community focus:
Payette tells Island Social Trends that he is keen to work with Metchosin staff, council and community. His 30-year-career to date in public service (10 years with the military, 10 with the federal department, and 10 with municipalities including Prince Rupert, Port Edward and Barriere) has been inspired by his desire “to serve our amazing country”.
He heard about the Metchosin CAO opportunity through local government colleagues.
While Barriere is in the interior, Payette had also worked at Prince Rupert on the coast. So he’s familiar with the sea as well as forested areas. Barriere is a rural district similar to Metchosin, he says with forestry, natural resources and “rural minded folks”. He likes to work with stakeholders of the community including the Chamber of Commerce and the Lions Club.
He’s been involved in some wildfires seasons (including as a volunteer firefighter), and while in Prince Rupert handled the impacts of three tsunami alerts. He’s been involved with emergency operations centres to prepare for fire, floods and drought. He talks about FireSmart and communities being prepared so that residents are prepared in the event of wildfire; he says communication and information are a big part of that.
Payette is coming into working with Metchosin as their agricultural action plan is getting rolling. Rodeo grounds and the agriculture society in Barriere have been part of his experience as well as working on the preservation of small agricultural lots of five to 10 acres.
He’s been involved in community recreation and development and protective services.
Tarnowski was interim:
The role of interim CAO has been held by Sue-Lin Tarnowski since June of 2022. She had joined the District of Metchosin as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in 2022. Tarnowski had also worked at the District of Sooke in previous years.
“I want to thank Sue-Lin for supporting Metchosin in the role of interim CAO. She continues to be a valued member of the District’s leadership team,” said Mayor Little.
Broader footprint:
Mayor Little is also the vice-chair of the Capital Regional District (CRD), bringing the rural and agricultural aspects of the District of Metchosin to the broader reach of the region.
===== RELATED:
- 2023 a year of firsts for Metchosin, says mayor (December 18, 2023)
- CRD, CRHD & CRHC board chairs for 2023-2024 (November 8, 2023)
- Metchosin takes environmental leadership at UBCM 2023 (September 22, 2023)
- School in rural west shore Metchosin finally gets a crosswalk (August 18, 2023)
- Metchosin raising Pride flag at municipal hall (June 28, 2023)
- Metchosin gets provincial funding for school crosswalk (June 19, 2023)
- West shore mayors chat over dinner at Vision WestShore (June 11, 2023)
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends reports with news insights about the impacts of economy and politics on the south Vancouver Island region, with a legacy news thread about the Sooke region.
Island Social Trends launched mid-2020 entirely online at IslandSocialTrends.ca after the previous print edition — called West Shore Voice News (2014-2020) — went fully digital! Before that, the weekly print publication was Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), and before that was quarterly as MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010).
The founder and editor of the full series from 2008 to present is Mary P Brooke.
The print edition of Island Social Trends will launch in January 2024, with bi-weekly distribution through the region. Advertisers and Premium (PDF) subscribers welcome.
Contact: advertising@islandsocialtrends.com | subscriptions@islandsocialtrends.com