UPDATE: Princeton Mayor Fred Thomas attended the Jan. 26 RDOS meeting as an alternate at the request of Coun. Frank Armitage, who is currently the director.
CORRECTION: Thomas will become RDOS director on Feb. 6, not Jan. 30 as previously mentioned.
Princeton mayor Fred Thomas represented the town at a Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen meeting Jan. 26, despite council's previous decision to appoint a councillor to the board instead.
In December, town council voted for Coun. Frank Armitage to sit on the RDOS board - a position usually given to a community's mayor.
But a decision was made to appoint the mayor to the board during a meeting on Jan. 11, Thomas said.
Armitage had originally proposed that he himself should be appointed to the RDOS board for a year, but Thomas had the decision postponed to Jan. 11, when council members reviewed how they would make appointments, he said.
Armitage will now be Thomas' alternate for the board and will remain appointed to the Similkameen Valley Planning Society.
Council will officially vote on who should be Princeton's RDOS director during the next council meeting on Monday, but Thomas said he expects members to vote for him because they agreed to it on Jan. 11.
A motion was brought forward at the RDOS meeting to have the Regional District send a letter to all communities recommending mayors be appointed as director representatives to the RDOS board.
Thomas thinks the motion is beneficial.
"The mayor is the spokesman for the town. It's a special role that he carries. It's a role that is needed frequently in RDOS meetings," he said.
But he does recognize that the motion may need some work.
"It's in complete conflict with the [Community] Charter, which says that it is a council responsibility to make the appointments."