SRDC looking for nominations

Details

Published on Saturday, January 23, 2016

By Kira Paterson

Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

The Southwest Regional Development Corporation (SRDC) is looking for community-minded individuals to join their board of directors. To be eligible to be a director, one must be at least 18 years of age, live or work in a municipality that is a member of SRDC and be nominated by that municipality. 

SRDC is a regional corporation that focuses on promoting economic development in the communities and municipalities in southwest Manitoba. When they started in 2003, they were funded by the province and were able to give grants to communities to help them develop. But in 2012, the province stopped funding such corporations, so giving grants was no longer feasible. Instead, they decided to use their remaining funds to put towards a sustainable project. 

After a few years of searching for an initiative, they found the gasification project. Gasification is a process that essentially “cooks” down solid wastes through chemical processes until there is nothing left but a small amount of recyclable material. This could potentially eliminate the need for landfills in the municipalities and the heat generated from the process could be used to provide energy to a nearby building that uses electricity. 

SRDC is now focused on pushing this project and finding funds to develop a demonstration to show the municipalities how it works and how beneficial it can be. 

The southwest region is divided into four zones, with Neepawa and the surrounding area being in Zone B. There is currently one vacant seat on the board for Zone B, with that term ending in 2017. There is also a director whose term is expiring this year, so SRDC asks that Zone B nominate at least two individuals to have a full slate. One would be on the board for the remainder of the vacant term, which is one year, while the other would take a full three-year term.

A director serves a three-year term on the board and is expected to attend the monthly meetings SRDC holds. They must be interested in the betterment of their community. Anyone who is would like to be on the board needs to go to his or her municipal or town council to be considered for nomination. 

Nominations can be emailed to the corporation at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . A nomination should include a short biography of the nominee telling about their occupation and how they are involved in the community. 

Nominations will be accepted until Feb. 26 and the new terms will start in April after their annual general meeting.