Iannidinardo credits door-knocking for holding onto her seat in Cowichan Bay

Revisiting the fees Cowichan Bay residents pay at the Cowichan Aquatic Centre is an item on the agenda of re-lected area Director Lori Iannidinardo.

Ashley Degraaf

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Re-elected Cowichan Bay Director Lori Iannidinardo credits experience, community involvement, and plain old hard work for her victory at the polls on Saturday.

The second-term director figures she knocked on more than a thousand doors prior to Nov. 19’s election.

“It was a really valuable experience for me,” she said.

Assisted by a team of 40 dedicated campaigners, Iannidinardo successfully got her message out — she trounced her opponent, Greg Hunt, 627 votes to 275.

And now she returns for another three-year stint at the board.

“One of the main pieces of my platform was community engagement and completing our official community plan, so that’s something that’s really important to me,” Iannidinardo said of her goals for the next term.

There’s also the complicated issue of regional recreation.

Iannidinardo said she consistently heard concerns about the Cowichan Aquatic Centre — and how Cowichan Bay residents pay more to use it in the pool’s two-tier system — while door-knocking.

“I’ve had so many families talk to me about this, and seniors, and swim teams,” she said. “I hope I can relay that message and that we can find some kind of solution.”

A more regional approach overall would be preferable, too, Iannidinardo said.

“I want to encourage all of the communities to work together a little more,” she said.

Teamwork is where the rubber hits on the road on other matters, too.

“I consistently heard about roads on the doorsteps, and I know people are talking about parking in the bay — this is something we can come up with a strategy on, but ultimately it’s the (responsibility of) Ministry of Transportation,” Iannidinardo explained. “I’ve been working with them all along during the past three years, but they’ve just had a staffing change so I’ll be working with the new person that’s in charge of Area D (Cowichan Bay) and hoping to have some real solutions to this.”

The inaugural meeting for the new CVRD board is Dec. 7.