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South Okanagan Photos

Ron Hovanes, the Mayor

I am a life long Oliver resident. I grew up on a mixed fruit orchard and graduated from SOSS in 1980. Tara and I have four children and six grandchildren and we feel blessed to have been able to always call Oliver home. Volunteers are the backbone of our community and I am a proud Kiwanis member and a Life Member of the Royal Canadian Legion.

Together with Tara, we own and operate Hovanes Community Services. This is an agency that supports children and adults with Diverse Abilities in the South Okanagan and Similkameen. I also have training in Conflict Resolution and Mediation. I have received level one and level two certificates from the local government Leadership Academy and I am a recipient of the Queen, Diamond Jubilee Medal for Public Service.

I have also served as a Director for eight years on the Southern Interior Development Initiative trust, twelve years as a Director for the RDOS, I sit on the Okanagan Basin Water Board and I have been on Oliver’s Town council for sixteen years. Six as a councillor and ten as Mayor.

I am running for Mayor of the Town of Oliver for a number of reasons.

  • I believe it is important continue to build strong relationships with all levels of government. With a limited tax base, we need the support to maintain and build our community.
  • A continued focus on Downtown revitilzation.
  • We need to continue to advocate for more police resources as were approved by an RCMP business case. We also need to strengthen bylaw enforcement and provide after hours security through an increased budget process.
  • We also need to continue to fund ongoing support for Parks and Recreation programs and offer maintenance and upgrades to our aging facilities.
  • Continue to offer a business-friendly community through policy and front counter experience.

To join a community council requires a huge learning curve. Oliver has a large number of joint services with long standing relationships with the Osoyoos Indian Band and Area C of the regional district. Oliver is also the purveyor of a fully twinned domestic water system and we have seven agricultural water systems that we collectively care for.

I am born and raised in Oliver, I am passionate about our great community and I am ready to continue to work hard to give Oliver the best representation.