Powell River Regional District’s new manager of community services fits perfectly into the job that needs to be done.
Sean McGinn’s experience with other regional districts in British Columbia as well as solid waste management in the Cayman Islands matches neatly with the new plans and capital projects underway in Powell River’s rural areas. McGinn is responsible for parks, campgrounds, Myrtle Pond water system, Lund sewer system, emergency planning and supporting the volunteer fire departments. He’s managing three major capital projects, as well as tending to all the other services that come under his jurisdiction.
McGinn is a civil engineer who graduated from the University of Alberta. He has worked as a project manager for a construction company in Vancouver and for the Columbia-Shuswap and Alberni-Clayoquot regional districts, where he had similar positions in public works. He has also worked for the federal government of the Cayman Islands where he was the director of environmental health. He mainly dealt with solid waste there, but also other public works issues.
While he was in the Cayman Islands, he went through two hurricanes, McGinn said. “We had to do the whole plan twice, because things changed after the hurricanes,” he said. Each of the three islands had its own solid waste management plan, so that meant redoing each one twice.
There was no recycling when he arrived, McGinn said, and that was something he developed, as well as landfilling in a proper manner.
After the Cayman Islands, McGinn travelled in Europe for a year and a half, consulting for a waste-to-energy company.
When he came back to Canada, he looked at various options, including the position in Powell River. He used to come here to fish, McGinn said, so he was familiar with the area.
McGinn said he’s busy with all the capital projects the regional district has on the go. The projects include major ones like a reservoir for the Myrtle Pond water system, a new fire hall for the Northside Volunteer Fire Department and rebuilding the Lund sewage treatment plant. As well, the regional district has put in protective services for the playground at Craig Road Park and rebuilt a maintenance building that burned down last year.
The regional district is also moving forward with its development plan for Cranberry cemetery, the parks and greenspace plan and an advisory committee that will examine the feasibility of a regional composting facility, which is one of the provisions in the solid waste management plan. “We’re going to investigate whether composting in a regional manner is viable,” McGinn said. “If we do find it viable, then we’ll go ahead and put a plan in place.”
While he’s busy, he’s enjoying his position, McGinn said, as well as the opportunity to fish.
