Melynda Neufeld is hoping to get her seat back as a director for the Cariboo Regional District.
Neufeld briefly held the Area E director position for about three months after she stepped in from being the alternate when her father, Byron Kemp, passed away.
During the byelection in March, she was defeated by Angie Delainey, who is also seeking re-election.
“I want my job back,” Neufeld told the Tribune. “I haven’t seen a lot of input in the area since I was outvoted. I still want to carry through with some things I started as far as waste management in the Esler area, the road going into the Esler ball fields from the highway and fire prevention, as we had the Mayfield wildfire close to our area this summer.”
Area E covers South Lakeside, Dog Creek, Chimney Lake and Esler areas and Neufeld said she also wants to build on communication with neighbouring First Nations communities of Esk’etemc (Alkali Lake) and Stswecem’c Xgat’tem (Canoe Creek/Dog Creek).
She was an alternate CRD director for about eight years.
“Being a director gave me a good insight as to how things are done with the CRD so it was a little bit of an easier step for me becoming a director because I had previous knowledge on how things are run.”
As an alternate director she found the directors around the table were very helpful and always encouraged the alternates.
Aside from being interested in local government, she is a director on the B.C. Barrel Racing Association.
“I love barrel racing,” she added.
Neufeld grew up at Chimney Lake and currently lives in the Esler area.