Planning is underway to fill a vacancy in New Westminster city hall created by a promotion in 2013.
Bev Grieve was promoted to the city’s development services director position in October 2013, after having served as planning director for six years.
The city is in the midst of filling the planning manager position.
“We are in the process of recruiting right at the moment,” Grieve told The Record. “We should be wound up by the end of January. There is a good selection of internal and external applicants.”
The planning department is currently fully staffed, and that may or may not be the case at the end of the month.
“Depending on what happens with the planning manager, we may or may not have another position,” Grieve said.
Student success
A girl who once enjoyed a cultural exchange to New Westminster is succeeding in her homeland.
Liu Rongning (Jennifer) visited New Westminster in 2008, as part of the first group of four girls from Lijiang, China who enjoyed a two-month visit to the Royal City.
While in Canada, the students attended classes at New Westminster Secondary School (and kept up with their lessons from China so they weren’t behind when they got home), participated in cultural activities and enjoyed home life at billeted homes in the city.
Coun. Lorrie Williams, who stays in touch with the girls who visited New Westminster, recently received an email from Jennifer, who is now interning as a doctor in China.
“She is doing well. She started thinking about being a nurse and decided to set her sights a little higher,” she said. “I think we had something to do with that.”
Like the other girls who visited New Westminster, Jennifer is the only person in her village to have flown in a plane or travelled internationally.
Each year, the Reverend Vasant Saklikar Memorial Scholarship is given out to four outstanding students from the Lijiang No. 1 High School in Lijiang, China. The scholarship allows students in Lijiang to attend New Westminster Secondary School for two months each year.
Williams will be jetting off to China in March to do some work on behalf of the exchange.
“I am paying my own way,” she said. “I am going to interview the next batch. I will also visit whoever is in Lijiang.”
New Westminster and Lijiang have had a sister city relationship since 2002.
Kitchens for all
Family Services of Greater Vancouver is inviting parents and seniors to brush up on their cooking and meal-planning skills.
From January to March, Family Services is offering community kitchens for parents of children under 12 years, and for adults aged 55 and up.
The parents’ group will start meeting on Thursday mornings on Jan. 16, while the seniors’ group will hit the kitchen every second Thursday starting Jan. 30.
All participants will learn how to prepare tasty meals using fresh, whole foods; meet people; learn to budget; plan meals; save time and money – all the while having fun in the kitchen.
To register for the programs, contact Patricia Davison at 604-525-9144 or email [email protected].
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