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New CAO brings wealth of experience

At the council meeting on September 17, mayor Jack Adelaar announced Kathy Lalonde's appointment as the Bowen Island Municipality's chief administrative officer (CAO). Lalonde said that she is excited and hopes to "offer some stability.

At the council meeting on September 17, mayor Jack Adelaar announced Kathy Lalonde's appointment as the Bowen Island Municipality's chief administrative officer (CAO). Lalonde said that she is excited and hopes to "offer some stability."

Lalonde has been employed by the municipality since March 2000. "I was hired a couple months after the municipality's incorporation as a confidential secretary," Lalonde said. "Then I became deputy clerk and, after that, corporate officer." Since the resignation of former CAO Brent Mahood on March 1, 2012, Lalonde has been performing the wide range of duties of a CAO in an interim capacity.

"The interim role gave me an opportunity to find out whether it was something that I would love to do," Lalonde says, explaining that she always thought of herself as a good lieutenant but never as a captain. And she found out that she enjoys the work, especially with the support of BIM's staff.

Lalonde brings a a lot of experience and extensive knowledge of what it means to be an active part of our unique community to the table. In a press release, Adelaar states, "In Kathy Lalonde as our new CAO, Bowen Island is gaining a valuable resource behind the helm. [Lalonde]'s vast knowledge of the history of the municipality since inception will serve to keep us progressing as an organization. Her excellent rapport with community members will provide continued open dialogue and approachability at municipal hall. We also gain a strong, efficient, intelligent and fair-minded leader to encourage and inspire staff and council in reaching the community's goals and objectives."

Lalonde has been living on Bowen for over 20 years. "I first moved here during the big storm in December of 1990 to a week of power outage," she said. She spent 10 years commuting to downtown Vancouver and says she understands the commuter's perspective well.

She considers the island to be her home first and her career second.

"I hope to be here for a long time," she says.