North Bay City Councillor Mark King has been re-elected to lead the Board of Directors of the District of Nipissing Social Services Administration Board for the standard one-year term following an internal vote on Wednesday.
The DNSSAB Board election saw all of the positions acclaimed and many incumbents will reprise their roles.
North Bay City Councillor Lana Mitchell will also return to serve as vice-chair in the second of the Board's four-year term.
North Bay Mayor Peter Chirico will again head the finance and administration committee with Deputy Mayor Maggie Horsfield as vice-chair. Mayor Ethel LaValley will head the community services committee with Papineau-Cameron Councillor Melanie Chenier in the vice-chair role. North Bay City Councillor Chris Mayne will again act as chair of the Nipissing District Housing Corporation board with Mitchell as vice-chair.
King had the same message upon being acclaimed as he did upon his election in 2023, saying housing is the number one priority and DNSSAB is facing shortfalls in funding.
Another priority for this term is to hire a CAO to replace the departed Catherine Matheson. King expects a shortlist to be formed by mid-February.
"The main issue moving forward is — obviously — housing," King said in his remarks upon his re-election.
See related: Homelessness DNSSAB's top priority at ROMA conference in Toronto
King pointed to a meeting with Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Paul Calandra at the recent ROMA conference. "We opened up the lines of communication with [Calandra] and offered to support a pilot project that would see an opportunity to have an immediate impact on social housing in the region by looking at purchasing houses that are on the market in the region and provide ongoing support for people that find housing unaffordable.
"Staff has since sent a follow-up letter back to the minister and we have invited him to North Bay to tour Northern Pines so he gets an idea of what that actually looks like."
See also: New Northern Pines model to address 'root cause' of homelessness
And: First residents moving into new phase of Northern Pines
There are also plans to hold DNSSAB Board meetings in more of the partner communities throughout the district, such as South Algonquin, West Nipissing and Temagami. "It's important to make our presence felt in the communities we serve," said King.
