By Regional Director Mark Vonesch
I hope this finds you well and excited for 2026. There is so much happening in Cortes local government and I want to give you an update on some of the issues I’ve been working on.
Continue reading Area B Directors Report: grant in aid, incorporation, taxes, ferries, Vice Chair, & zoning bylaw
Cortes residents may have noticed a petition available in paper form at our post offices and grocery stores, or received an email update from our Regional Director inviting them to consider signing the online version. The petition mentions governance and incorporation: what’s it all about? I interviewed Regional Director Mark Vonesch to get a better understanding of the issues and why he’s chosen this moment to launch a petition regarding our governance model.
[This article is a condensed version of our interview. The full version is available in podcast form in the links below. Inset quotes in this article are comments made by Cortes residents who have signed the online petition.]
Continue reading Regional Director Launches Petition to Investigate Incorporation Option for CortesBy Regional Director Mark Vonesch
Currently all of Cortes Island’s local government services and decision making comes from the Strathcona Regional District (SRD). As your Regional Director, I share the decision making for most of our services with thirteen other Directors on the SRD Board.
Local government decisions impacting Cortes Island are currently decided by people who do not live on our island and a lot of you have approached me with the idea of having more local governance control.
In September I asked the SRD Board to support a motion to have staff create a report on the process for communities wanting to consider incorporation. That report can be found here:
https://agenda.strathconard.ca/SRDAttachments/SRDBoard/Open/BRD/22-Oct-25/20251009-Community-Incorporation-Overview.pdf
By Regional Director Mark Vonesch
As we settle into the darker months of winter on Cortes, I hope this finds you warm and cozy. It’s been a busy fall so far and there’s lots to update you on!
Continue reading Area B Director’s Report: Cortes Fall Update
There have been speculations about Cortes Island becoming a municipality and at the September 17 SRD Board meeting staff was instructed to prepare a report about the process.
In the unedited audio that follows Cortes Director Mark Vonesch makes the motion. Mayor Julie Colborne of Zeballos seconds it twice, to some laughter, and Campbell River Director Doug Chapman points out that Municipal Affairs will not consider applications from communities with a population under 500. (The population of Cortes Island is 1,100.)
Continue reading SRD staff to prepare a report on how communities like Cortes incorporate
