Liam Edwards made his first Facebook account to try to find housing on Bowen. Even after moving here, Bowen Island Municipality’s new chief administrative officer is still looking for long-term housing for his family.
And it’s with that introduction to one of Bowen’s hot issues that Edwards started his tenure in BIM’s top job May 25.
While previous CAOs have commuted to Bowen, Edwards says it’s important for him to live on-island. “I’ve always been of the mind to live in a community where I work,” says Edwards. “If I’m going to be successful at this job, I figure I need to really be part of the community to understand the needs of mayor and council and of community in general.”
Edwards hasn’t spent much time on Bowen but both he and his wife have lived on Gulf Islands and like the island lifestyle (Edwards is quick to point out that every island is unique and has its own flavour.)
While having spent much of the last three decades out West, Edwards and his family spent the past four years in Halifax and Edwards worked remotely, leading a team in B.C. from afar. (So the virtual all-staff meeting on Edwards’ first day was nothing new for him.)
As he explains it, with the province of B.C. (where he worked for the past 14 years), Edwards wore three hats.
Under the first hat, Edwards was in charge of all local government finance. He and his team would draft and amend legislation relevant to local governments’ finances and worked with every city, town and regional district on their financial matters. All audited financial statements and all long-term borrowing (except in the case of City of Vancouver) would come to Edwards’ office and to him for approval.
“Any significant financial implication for a community would generally go through me,” he explains.
The second hat was working with communities on their infrastructure needs. This could mean drinking water, waste water, energy, recreation, or anything in between. Edwards and his team helped with funding and planning, as well as dispute resolution over servicing agreements.
“Often it was around water,” he explains. “[Drinking water and waste water] always became the hottest issues in terms of trying to help two communities resolve a dispute over shared services.”
The third hat was as deputy inspector of municipalities, essentially a statutory approving role, explains Edwards. While the province is less involved in approving specific bylaws these days, there are still some instances when there are significant financial implications that communities need provincial approval. In those cases, the bylaws would go to Edwards for approval.
Though this job is a shift from Edwards’ previous one, the plan was always go into local government––it just had to be the right time, right community and right place.
“I really loved my job with the province because the sphere of influence and impact was really significant and you could see it anywhere you went in the province,” says Edwards. “But you’re still that that much more removed from actually really being on the ground.”
“Local government is, to use the colloquialism, where the rubber hits the road,” he says.
Edwards acknowledged the work of his predecessor, Dennis Back, in helping the community navigate the firefighters dispute, the departure of former CAO Kathy Lalonde and then COVID.
When asked about priorities over coming months, Edwards says he looks to the staff. “It’s immediately apparent how strong the staff are here and how competent and capable they are,” he says.
“I can tell already that Bowen Islanders have a high expectation of their services providers and rightfully so, they pay taxes and so there’s an expectation that they get a good value for those dollars,” says Edwards. “And the team here take it very seriously.”
“I come from a lot of experience in infrastructure and finance,” says Edwards. “And I can see already that Bowen’s current slate of initiatives is very ambitious. And so taking on more, I think might be pretty challenging.”
Before even starting this job Edwards faced a challenge: moving across the country during a pandemic.
“Our plans for getting here changed so many times,” says Edwards. He, his wife, his nine-year-old daughter and five-month-old puppy were going to fly and then they weren’t. They were going to rent an RV and then realized they could be taken for tourists. At one point they were going to buy a truck and camperize it.
“What a crazy experience that would be to drive across the country in a pandemic,” muses Edwards. “But at the end, we decided no, that’s just too much.”
The family ended up flying across the country a few weeks ago. “It is very strange moving to a new community in COVID. Even so I appreciate the welcoming of Bowen because we were really worried about what it would be like showing up on island,” says Edwards “It is still really challenging because while people are welcoming, I think it’s going to take a lot longer for us to integrate.
But the family has tried to get out as much as possible in their weeks since arriving. “We feel really at home here. It’s really grounding.”
“So far, I’m impressed with the volume and the magnitude of the things going on Bowen and I really look forward to just becoming more a part of the community and understanding the local terminology.”
