Another high-profile member of the Port Alice community has decided to move south for greener pastures.
Keir Gervais, director of operations and emergency program coordinator will be gone by the weekend, but the Village of Port Alice has yet to replace him.
However, town council decided instead of directly replacing Gervais, who’s held the post for the past two years, it is advertising for a Chief Administrative Officer. Gail Lind, who is CAO and director of finance, will revert back to only director of finance. The new person will be the new CAO/director of operations, but will have only the CAO title.
The village will also be recruiting a new emergency program coordinator.
“I hope I’m leaving a legacy of hard work and commitment and I certainly enjoyed my job here,” said Gervais.
Gervais is going to Courtenay to become its manager of public works.
“I love the community and the people of the North Island, but the opportunity came up and I had to weigh what was best for me and I feel this is a positive move.”
Gervais said there have been some great moments for him over his term with Port Alice, but he is disappointed he will not be around to see the conclusion of another project.
“The low point would be not being able to complete the landslide remediation; we’re just tied up in red tape right now.”
Gervais follows the lead of former Port Alice Coun. Dawn Martynyk, who left last month to pursue other opportunities for her family and herself.