BILL SIMS RETIRES

BILL SIMS LEAVING NANAIMO

 MOVING 'UP ISLAND'

A local article on Bill Sims’ retirement highlights his long municipal career numbering some infrastructure projects completed during his time with the City of Nanaimo. Colliery Dam was not mentioned.

The closing note was an attention grabber: after more than 30 years receiving a City of Nanaimo paycheque and many benefits, and in recent years being among the city’s higher earners, Mr. Sims and his wife have built a home “up-island” and are operating a B&B there.

Their choice, of course. But it raises an interesting point. Many people who help shape the cost, taxation, infrastructure, and overall livability of a city are often in a position to retire somewhere else. The average Nanaimo taxpayer may not have that same option.

Notably, the article does not mention Mr. Sims’ pension or retirement compensation. That may be standard for a human-interest retirement piece, but for taxpayers it is hardly an irrelevant detail. After more than 30 years with the City, including senior management years near the top of the municipal pay scale, the cost of that retirement does not simply disappear from public view. It continues as part of the long-term public-sector compensation model funded by taxpayers.

Perhaps the quietest comment in the article is also the most telling one: after a career helping run Nanaimo, he did not choose Nanaimo as the place to retire.