Now is the time for teamwork.
The Salt Spring Island Fire Improvement District, known as Salt Spring Fire Rescue or simply the Fire Department, has come a long way in the last five years. After earning a 75% vote of support from ratepayers for borrowing the necessary funds, we have planned and built the new firehall on time and on budget.
Now, more than ever, we need teamwork to meet the challenges facing Salt Spring. You have three votes to help us meet the challenges we face:
• Bringing the new firehall online smoothly, on budget and on time.
• Building emergency firefighting capacity (such as water storage on site, and the planned 750,000-gallon pond behind Fulford Hall).
• Growing wisely to meet the new demands of firefighting on SSI (such as deploying a pre-owned ladder truck to reach several multi story properties).
• Planning prudently for a new north end satellite firehall in 2030 (which will include topping up reserve funds, potential donation of land, and proper seismic considerations).
• Keeping taxes low.
Elect a team that works for you.
Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue needs trustees that can work together to meet the challenges ahead. Elect a team that is experienced, capable and on the same page:
o Incumbent trustees Rollie Cook (Chair) and Mary Lynn Hetherington (two term trustee, who have helped lead the board from planning through to the opening of the new firehall in May, on budget and on time.
o Darryl Martin, a retired professional engineer who is new to the board. Darryl is an accomplished community leader who has chaired CRD’s economic development committee and sat on the SSI Chamber of Commerce.
Roland Cook- incumbent Chair
Rollie was first elected to the Fire Board in 2017 and was instrumental in leading the board process to build a new firehall. Under Rollie’s leadership, the new firehall will be completed on time and on budget, by May 2026.
Rollie and his partner are farmers, raising livestock and growing fruit and veggies. Prior to joining the Fire Improvement District, he served on the Abattoir board and the Farmland Trust board. Prior to moving to Salt Spring, Rollie served as a Member of the Alberta Legislature and was one of two delegates to the Constitutional Conferences that adopted Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Since then, he has worked in China, teaching business at the Chemical Engineering University in Beijing, as well as private sector executive roles in China, until his return to Canada in 2008 to work in advertising.
“Once we finish the new firehall project” Rollie says, “we will need teamwork to plan for the future, spending tax dollars wisely to enhance community resilience.”
Mary Lynn Hetherington-incumbent Trustee
Mary Lynn Hetherington has served on the Salt Spring Fire Rescue Board since 2017, after a career as a nursing professional and labour relations representative, first in Ontario and then here on Salt Spring Island.
Prior to moving with her daughter to Salt Spring in 2000 to join the nursing team at Lady Minto Hospital, Mary Lynn served as a member of the Ontario Nurses Association bargaining team and representative at the Ontario legislature and parliament Hill in Ottawa. On Salt Spring, she has served on the boards of the SSI Legion, Lions Club, and Croftonbrook.
During her most recent term on the SSI Fire Board, Mary Lynn chaired the communications and marketing committee, which guided efforts to secure support to build the new Fire Hall. Mary Lynn is committed to “complete the job of building the new firehall and delivering improved fire and community safety” for Salt Spring.
Darryl Martin-past President SSI Chamber of Commerce
Darryl is a retired professional engineer with decades of experience with manufacturing and recycling companies. He is a tireless community leader here on Salt Spring, having served in a variety of roles:
• Chair of the CRD economic development commission,
• Alternate to the Salt Spring CRD director (representing SSI at the CRD board),
• Salt Spring Chamber of Commerce (as President during the COVID crisis).
• Chair of the steering committee which produced a Climate Action Plan for implementation by Transition Salt Spring.
Darryl currently works with the society delivering Tour des Iles annually, and he recently joined the board of Island Community Services. He is eager to help address the challenges of building resilience here on Salt Spring, pointing out that “My experience with financial control and professional engineering will help to ensure safe and resilient fire service.”
Voting Details
If you are a property owner, registered on title, you have two ways to register your three votes: in advance April 8 at Community Gospel Chapel, or on election day, April 11 at the Gospel Chapel (147 Vesuvius Bay Rd), or the Fulford Hall Annex (2591 Fulford-Ganges Rd).
