By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG
Valemount Council discussed applying for grants to fund local storefront improvements, replacing the fuel tank at the Valemount airport, and gave third reading to a bylaw raising the Mayor and Councillors’ salaries during their October 8th regular board meeting.
Mayor Owen Torgerson called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Council amended the meeting agenda by deleting one item: a Fees and Charges Bylaw. They did not discuss the amendment.
Then, Council heard the evening’s delegation.
Delegation: substance use prevention
Council heard a delegation from Shirley Giroux, the local coordinator for Planet Youth, an organization that advocates for substance use prevention. Planet Youth recently partnered with Northern Health to pilot its prevention program in the Robson Valley.
Giroux told Council about the prevention model, which varies from community to community but emphasizes providing youths with constructive ways to spend their free time and connecting them with supporting, responsible adults.
Torgerson thanked Giroux for her presentation, and Council moved to receive the delegation.
To learn more about Planet Youth and Giroux’s presentation, read on in this week’s issue.
Storefront improvement funding
Northern Development Initiative Trust provides funding for storefront upgrades through its Business Facade Improvement Program. Local governments apply for the program, then distribute the funds they receive to storefronts on a first-come, first-served basis.
Staff asked for approval to apply for $10,000 in funding from the program. The Village last applied for funding in 2022, but zero projects were approved the following year and only two projects totalling under $5,000 were approved in 2024, so staff believes $10,000 will last for at least another year.
“This is a really good program, the Chamber of Commerce did it for a long time, and it benefits the community,” said Councillor Hollie Blanchette. “Thank you to [the Trust] for returning to do it again.”
Councillor Donnie MacLean asked if the funding would only apply to the main corridor of businesses along 5th Avenue, or if it could apply to businesses on Main Street as well.
“I believe it would be the main corridor,” said CAO Anne Yanciw. “In the program, you need to define [eligible] areas… a downtown core is an easy definition to use.”
Council approved staff to apply for $10,000 in funding from the program.
Airport fuel tank replacement
The Village is replacing the current 5,000 litre fuel tank at the Valemount Airport with a 9,000 litre tank. The larger tank will make the airport more reliable for medivac and firefighting operations, according to the staff report.
Council approved staff to enter an agreement with Code Project Enterprise Ltd. to replace the tank at the cost of $174,522 plus tax. The cost will be covered by $135,000 in grant funding from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure’s BC Air Access Program, plus $45,000 from the Village Gas Tax, the use of which was approved in the 2024 budget.
Torgerson said Code Project Enterprise has been responsible for most of the Village’s past airport fuel system projects.
Resort Municipality Initiative funding
Staff submitted an information report about the Resort Municipality Initiative, a funding program for small, tourism-based municipalities administered by the Ministry of Tourism. According to the staff report, the program has previously provided funding for building the Cranberry Marsh Trail system and the Valemount Mountain Bike Park, among other projects.
To access this funding, municipalities must share a Resort Development Strategy with the Province once every three years. The strategy outlines how funding will be used to complete projects that will bolster tourism and contribute to the long-term success of the municipality’s tourism sector.
Valemount’s current Resort Development Strategy will expire at the end of 2024, and a new one will need to be submitted to the Province by early 2025. The Village will consult Tourism Valemount while producing the new strategy, according to the staff report. Torgerson said Village staff are also benchmarking with other resort municipalities.
Community Forest and Industrial Park recruitment
Staff recommended that Council approve an out-of-cycle recruitment for local community members to sit on the boards of the Valemount Community Forest Corporation and the Valemount Industrial Park Corporation. Currently, each corporation’s board includes four voting members: three community members, and one representative from Council. To reach quorum, over half of the voting members must be present – with four voting members, this means that only one member can be absent for quorum to be achieved.
The Community Forest and Industrial Park’s articles of incorporation both allow for up to five local community members. Typically, board members are appointed during the corporations’ Annual General Meetings, which were held in July this year. However, given that quorum may be difficult to reach with only four board members total, staff recommended allowing for recruitment of more community members outside of the Annual General Meetings.
Council approved staff’s recommendation. Torgerson thanked those who applied for the board in July.
Expansion of staff authority
Council adopted amendments to a bylaw which grant more authority to Village staff to complete basic administrative tasks without Council approval. For example, the Corporate Services Clerk can now issue street vendor permits, and the Land Use Planner can authorize temporary road closures.
Tax exemptions
Council gave third reading to the Permissive Tax Exemption Bylaw, which outlines tax exemptions for local non-profits. The bylaw must be reviewed and adopted annually, and provided to BC Assessment before October 31st.
This year, the Valemount Senior Citizens Housing Society’s Ash Street housing project was added to the bylaw, and is being granted a 100 per cent exemption on land and improvement taxes. Additionally, the Robson Valley Community Services property on 5th Avenue was added to the bylaw. This property is automatically exempt as it is leased by the Provincial Rental Housing Corporation, but BC Assessment advised Village staff to include it in the bylaw to reduce the chance of an accidental non-exemption.
Council salary
Council gave third reading to the Council Remuneration Bylaw, which establishes the annual salary of the mayor and councillors and must be approved annually.
If adopted, the bylaw will result in a $674.61 increase in the mayor’s yearly salary, and a $346.57 increase in councillors’ yearly salaries. The increase will be budgeted for in the five-year financial plan, according to the staff report.
The bylaw also includes a section on technology allowance, which says the Mayor and Councillors will be provided an iPad and TELUS internet services for the iPad, if required. Councillor Pete Pearson asked for clarification on what it means to provide TELUS internet services to the iPads.
Yanciw said when the iPads were first introduced, Councillors could request a SIM card which allowed access to cellular data so the internet could be accessed without a WiFi connection. Only one iPad had such a card installed, she added. The ability to request TELUS internet services refers to these cards, she said.
Dog park bylaws
Council adopted an amended Animal Control Bylaw with rules for use of the dog park, which opened in late August.
The original bylaw did not have rules about off-leash areas such as the dog park, so staff recommended adding amendments to establish five rules for off-leash areas: 1) dogs must have up-to-date vaccinations; 2) dogs must be older than four months; 3) dogs cannot have contagious diseases; 4) owners must have a leash readily available; and 5) owners must remove their dogs from the area if they become aggressive.
Additionally, dogs which have been licensed as a dangerous dog are not allowed within off-leash areas.
Letter from Shirley Bond
Former MLA Shirley Bond, whose time in office ended on September 21st, wrote a letter to Valemount Council thanking them for their work.
“Elected office is certainly not for the faint of heart,” she wrote. “Please know how much I have appreciated working with each of you for the betterment of our communities and northern British Columbia.”
Torgerson moved to send a letter in response, and requested that he write the letter himself.
“I’d like to [express] our immense gratitude for her service to not just this Council, but to the residents of Valemount, the Robson Valley, and the riding of Prince George-Valemount,” he said.
Council approved Torgerson’s motion.
Delinquent taxes
Council received a letter from Michael Goetz, the Mayor of Merritt, about the Community Charter’s allowance for taxpayers to be delinquent on their property taxes for roughly three years. The ability to skirt property taxes for years on end has had a significant negative impact on Merritt, as well as towns such as Hope, Mission, and Prince Rupert, among others, according to Goetz. He is advocating for the Minister of Finance to amend the Community Charter so it is more difficult to delay payment of property taxes.
Goetz claimed taxpayers will pay one year’s worth of property taxes just before the three-year period is over to avoid having their property put up for auction. Pearson asked if this is a situation that has happened in Valemount.
Director of Finance Lori McNee said an average of about 25 properties have unpaid taxes each year.
“It’s not a huge deal for the Village of Valemount,” McNee said. “But it is a recurring issue.”
Councillor Hugo Mulyk said delinquent property taxes sound “astounding” in Merritt, which saw over $893,000 in unpaid taxes last year, according to the letter.
“I’m happy to hear we’re not in that realm,” he said.
Adjournment
Torgerson moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:53 p.m.
