A Port Coquitlam school trustee who moved to Summerland at the end of October says she won’t resign her $42,000-a-year post and maintains the move won’t affect her ability to do her job.
“I’m not going to cause a byelection,” said Judy Shirra, who doesn’t plan to run again in the October 2018 civic election, adding, “I still do more than other trustees.”
It is not a requirement for a trustee to live in the municipality where they hold office.
And a byelection is not required for a vacancy after Jan. 1 of the year of an election as long as three trustees continue to hold office, according to the School Act (School District 43 has nine trustees — four from Coquitlam, two each for PoCo and Port Moody, and representing the villages of Anmore and Belcarra). That means Shirra could resign in the New Year and not trigger a costly byelection.
Nevertheless, Shirra told The Tri-City News this week she is concerned about the cost of a byelection and says that’s a major reason for not resigning the post. As well, she said she wants to continue to keep up her school liaison responsibilities with nine schools, including Aspenwood elementary in Port Moody, where parents are concerned about proposed changes to catchment boundaries.
This is not the first time the issue of a non-resident trustee has come up in the district. In 2014, Gail Alty ran for reelection as a Coquitlam trustee even though she was living in Sooke, on Vancouver Island, and was not re-elected.
Shirra, who is holidaying in Palm Springs, said she will be attending meetings in the New Year through to the election and plans to visit the schools she was assigned and attend other functions by traveling from her home in Summerland to Port Coquitlam, where she said she stays in a basement suite.
The veteran trustee, who was first elected in 1993, says she has left a positive legacy for the district, advocating for more resources, helping parents and families and ensuring the district has strong leadership.
