Queen Charlotte's new chief administrative officer arrived on the islands by ferry on January 26 after a day-long weather delay.Bill Beamish, who has worked as an administrator for the town of Houston, BC, says the hold-up ended up being a good opportunity for him to touch base with the regional district in Prince Rupert and say hello to old friends.Mr. Beamish came to Houston in 1993 as a government agent, then started at the town office in 1995. He left in 2002 to work for the Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast. In 2007, he left there to work as a consultant and after 36 years of working for the public service, is now pleased to be working in Queen Charlotte.Before last week he had only been on the islands once, for the interview for his position. He hopes his experience and contacts in other communities and with the provincial government will be an asset. "It's an opportunity for the village, for me to share my experience and it's an opportunity for me to experience the Queen Charlotte's," he said.Mr. Beamish, whose wife is arriving in March, is using the time "to work long days and catch up as much as I can."Bylaw work and project work are specific areas of interest for him. Mr. Beamish also has experience working with water and sewer systems and says he's even worked with the same engineering company, Dayton and Knight. Whether his former position as executive director of Habitat for Humanity on the Sunshine Coast, an organization that works to lift low income families out of the poverty cycle through home ownership, will come in handy here, Mr. Beamish says, "You never know."