The Wasa Lake Land Improvement District Board has five trustees who are elected at the annual AGM for a three year period. Trusteeship is strictly volunteer; there is no remuneration. Terms are staggered to encourage continuity of activities and goals. Each year we track how many volunteer hours are contributed by the trustees; for example, in 2013, trustees volunteered (a conservative estimate) 800 to 1000 hours. Other community volunteers also help with various projects, for which we are very appreciative.
Sharon Prinz, Trustee and Chair Sharon purchased property at Wasa in 1976, and made Wasa her full time home in 2006 when she retired from a career as Nursing Supervisor. Sharon believes that involvement in the Land Improvement District provides opportunities to increase her knowledge about the lake and the community. She strives to represent all property owners in the quest for a healthy lake that benefits everyone who relies on it for business, recreation, and a place to call home. When she’s not logging in hours as trustee, Sharon finds time to volunteer with the Wasa Lions, cheer on the Kootenay Ice, and enjoy spending time with her grandchildren.
Nowell Berg, Trustee The Berg family has owned property at Wasa Lake since 1950 and Nowell has been a full time resident for more than 3 years. He is following in his fathers footsteps by filling a trustee position for the Land Improvement District. He was elected to his 3rd term on the board on December 2, 2020.
Area residents have no doubt seen his story byline and photos in the Tri-Village Buzz over the past years, where he provides news stories and interviews of local celebrities. Nowell has provided many of the photos on our website and in the newsletter. Nowell is responsible for much of the water monitoring of the lake and river and has recently begun working with the Columbia Basin Water Hub.
Phil Godsave, Trustee Phil Godsave has been a property owner at Wasa Lake since 2009.
He joined the WLLID because he has a special interest in lake water quality and quantity. Phil holds a Bachelor of Science Degree with a major in Chemistry and a diploma in waste water treatment and has spent 30 years in the water chemistry field. Phil believes that his experience within the water industry gives him unique qualifications and expertise to aid in the WLLID mandate.
A devoted family man, Phil enjoys spending time at Wasa with his wife and children.
Tom Braumandl, Trustee Tom has been a Kootenay resident and forest ecologist for over forty years and has seen many changes in the environment over that time. He says he’s blessed to have landed in Wasa in 2017 as a resident. The property he shares with his sweetheart has been in her family since the late 1950’s and she grew up in the area. She too has seen Wasa change over that time. They share the property with two dogs, three cats, four chickens and a rooster, the occasional deer and group of elk munching on the luscious rough fescue in their yard, very occasional bear (thankfully) and other animals enjoying the big pines or choke cherries.
Tom’s motivation to serve as trustee is to “leave Wasa to our children and other inhabitants or visitors (human or otherwise) in better shape than we find it now. It is a place of amazing diversity that we ought to strive to maintain or enhance.”
Darren Plested, Trustee Darren is a BC boy born in Trail and raised in Cranbrook and spent his formative years exploring and enjoying the outdoor wonderland the area has to offer, including much of that time on Wasa lake.
Darren relocated to the big cities of Calgary and then Vancouver after high school and made his way to Hong Kong in 2001 chasing his future wife Amy who he now has 2 beautiful girls with - Moorea 14 & Rylee 9 (soon to be 10 this month). Darren ended up spending 18 yrs in Asia, from his original 2 yr plan, and became a senior executive with DHL for 15 of those years and led a global innovation team for Nissan for the last 3. He decided to repatriate back to Canada in Oct 2019 and joined Deloitte as a Consulting partner leading their Automotive and Mobility sector and leading Innovation across Transportation, Auto-mobility and Supply Chain. In this role Darren is working closely with both the private and public sectors where he helps governments establish policy and regulations as well as strategic long term directions and hopes to bring some of that expertise to the WLLID.
Darren’s parents - Linda & Mernie, and brother Chris live in Calgary and Red Deer respectively and in 2004 collectively decided to buy a property on Lodgepole road at Wasa Lake to share family time together in the place we new and loved growing up and allow our kids that same opportunity. Chris and his wife Sandi have since bought a second property just down the beach and we all cherish the time we’re able to spend in the community and look to contribute how and whenever we can to make it sustainably better for us all.