By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG
Valemount Council discussed housing in the village, collecting evidence of dust storms and the end of the proposed pump track project at their regular meeting on December 10th.
Industrial Park update
Council received a delegation from Andy Hubbell, the manager of Valemount Industrial Park and Tom Jamin, the president of the Industrial Park. The Industrial Park used to share a board of directors with the Valemount Community Forest, Jamin said, but recently assembled its own board, who first met in September.
Hubbell gave an update on the park and outlined its future plans. It currently has eight full-time employees, one part-time employee and two part-time contractors at the specialty mill, he said.
According to Hubbell, the Industrial Park has been purchasing local logs, which allows it to make higher-quality products while contributing to the local economy. The VIP has grown its inventory and roster of clients over the past few years, he added, and produces for clients as far as Japan.
Additionally, the sawmill has installed washrooms for employees with laundry and showers, where it previously only had port-a-potties. The sawmill is also in the process of purchasing a dust-collection system which Hubbell hopes will improve the air quality surrounding the mill.
The park is in the process of updating its emergency preparation, including revising its maps for emergency support services to navigate the industrial park, Hubbell said.
It is also modifying its fire prevention plan.
Jamin thanked the Village for its continued support and collaboration.
Torgerson thanked Hubbell for his updates.
Interim Housing Needs Report
Village staff produced an Interim Housing Needs Report in accordance with Bill 44, a piece of provincial legislation requiring municipalities to submit a report with the five and 20-year housing needs and a summary of what the municipality has done since submitting its last Housing Needs Report.
The report submitted to Council had an error in it, said Councillor Donnie MacLean. A section of the report focused on housing for seniors stated that the Valemount Senior Citizens Housing Society received approval for funding the residential portion of a supportive living facility. According to MacLean, the Society’s chair, the Society never applied for that funding.
CAO Anne Yanciw said amending the report would require re-contracting the third party firm it hired to produce the report, Spirited Exchanges, because the firm used a software which the Village does not own when producing the report. As such, staff chose to leave the Housing Needs Report in its entirety, and append the Bill 44 requirements to the report.
Torgerson said the report could be corrected next year.
Council moved to adopt the report.
Grant application for Village intern
Valemount has previously employed interns who help with policy writing and research, among other tasks, through funding from the Northern Development Initiative Trust’s Local Government Internship Program. The Village’s current intern was hired through this funding, according to the staff report on the grant.
Staff asked for Council’s approval to apply for the program again. If the grant application is successful, it will allow the Village to hire a full-time intern for one year, which will help with a lack of capacity within the Economic Development department, according to the staff report.
Council approved staff to apply for the grant.
Kinbasket Reservoir videos
Council passed a motion to hire a consultant who will assist in collecting and reviewing video and photo evidence of dust storms in the village. Additionally, the consultant will help monitor PM10 – small particulate matter which can reduce air quality – and collect data on silica dust, which can cause chronic lung problems if inhaled on a regular basis. For more details on Council’s discussion of the motion, please read Valemount to hire consultant to review air quality data.
Village rentals policy
Council approved an amended version of the Rental of Village Facilities and Property Policy, which outlines the steps for renting equipment and facilities such as the Village’s projector or the Community Hall, among others.
Staff updated the policy, which has not been reviewed since it was first adopted in 2013. The amendments include removing the fee schedule, directing renters to consult the Village’s Fees and Charges Bylaw instead. Additionally, insurance and deposit requirements will now be set out in rental contracts, rather than in the policy itself. Two spaces that the Village no longer rents – the Community Services Building classroom and meeting room – were removed from the policy. Finally, the regulations for the Sports Plex and John Osadchuk Ball Diamond now allow for full-day rentals, rather than two-hour time slots.
Council events policy
Currently, councillors and the mayor have to pass a Council resolution if they want to attend conferences, out-of-town meetings or other events. Then, payment for the event is drawn from a single account. According to a staff report on this policy, this can be a problem if events do not have sufficient notice to be approved at a Council meeting.
Staff recommended amending the policy to allocate an event attendance fund for each elected official. The amounts would be determined during the 2025 budget approval process.
Council defeated the amendment.
“I have serious concerns with this,” Pearson said. “There’s no numbers involved to give us an idea of if it will be an equitable budget for us to attend events.”
He added that the amended policy might force councillors to pick and choose which events they attend, which he said would be unfair to their constituents as the events provide an opportunity to represent and advocate for Valemount. Events also provide valuable learning opportunities for newer councillors, according to Pearson. He asked for the amendment to be brought back to Council with more specific numbers involved.
Blanchette echoed Pearson’s concerns. Having to commit to attending an event well in advance may be difficult for councillors who work multiple jobs, she said.
“Some of us don’t have control over our schedules. I need to see dates,” she said. “I can’t agree to something when I don’t know what the date is.”
Torgerson said councillors have already received a schedule with next year’s important events, such as annual general meetings of the North Central Local Government Association (NCLGA) and the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM).
Pearson added that many events – such as the UBCM meeting – are held in Vancouver or Victoria, adding to travel expenses that councillors have no control over.
“I feel that the pressure is going to be on us to balance events: do I choose NCLGA or UBCM? Are those events equally important?” he said. “This will impact councillors that work full-time and put more restrictions on their ability to travel to events.”
Mulyk also asked for more details, especially an estimate of what each councillor’s event attendance budget would be.
“I see this as being a really good idea, but it needs some work,” he said.
Torgerson asked to postpone the decision pending further information from staff. No motion was required, so Council moved on to its reading file.
Rural Voices gatherings
Valemount local Rashmi Narayan organized several Rural Voices gatherings in Valemount, McBride and Dunster, plus one online session, from November 20th through the 27th. The gatherings were part of a province-wide event organized by the Rural Coordination Centre of British Columbia, an group that advocates for rural healthcare that is on par with urban parts of the province.
Narayan sent a summary of her gatherings to Valemount Council. According to her summary, participants agreed that having more transportation for medical services, more healthcare workers, and better coordination of available resources would benefit the Robson Valley, among other suggestions.
“I appreciate the work,” Pearson said. He added that the information would be useful for the Community Collaborative Table, a committee working to identify ways to improve health services in Valemount.
Pump track not viable
After 14 months of planning and fundraising, the Valemount and Area Recreation Development Association (VARDA) board of directors has determined that building a pump track in Valemount is not viable. VARDA Executive Director Curtis Pawliuk wrote a letter to Council to inform them of the decision.
“While we were initially successful with community interest, fundraising dollars and initial grant funding, unfortunately over the past few months we have been unable to move forward with plans for a land lease,” Pawliuk wrote.
Mulyk said the news was disappointing.
“To be honest, I was quite dismayed to read this letter,” he said. “We all agreed it’s a good idea… I really hope we leave no stone unturned to find a solution that’s equitable to everyone – the Village and VARDA.”
Public Comments
Resident Junior Osadchuk, who sits on the VIP board, commented on the Industrial Park updates that Hubbell and Jamin gave at the beginning of the meeting.
“I figured there’d be a little more info on the real meat and potatoes of how it’s going,” he said.
Osadchuk also commented on VARDA’s announcement about the pump track project ending. Earlier this year, VARDA received $120,000 for the pump track project from the Columbia Basin Trust’s Resident-Directed (ReDi) Grant program. The Trust had about $373K in funding available for Valemount-based applicants to the program, roughly a third of which went to VARDA.
“There were a lot of groups… that were pretty disappointed that they didn’t get any funding, because a lot of it went to that one group,” Osadchuk said.
As The Goat reported in April, about $150K in funding was left over from the 2024 ReDi program, which will be rolled over into this year’s funds. Four organizations – the elementary school Parent Advisory Council, the Secondary School Parent Advisory Council, the Curling Club, and the Valemount Community Sports Day Association – were denied funding. At the time, Yanciw told The Goat that the grant adjudication committee felt these organizations’ projects were the responsibility of the local government, making them ineligible to receive funding.
The money VARDA received from the ReDi program will be returned to the Trust and included in this year’s ReDi pool, Torgerson told Osadchuk.
After Osadchuk ended his comments, Jamin spoke about the Clean Air Task Force and the lack of a weather station in Valemount. Jamin told Council he used to sit on the task force.
“We in Valemount sit between Blue River and McBride, and we do not have proper forecasting for Valemount,” he said. “With our own weather station, we’d get proper reporting of what is happening in this valley.”
According to Jamin, Valemount has very different weather from Blue River and slightly different weather from McBride. He believes the weather in Valemount may impact its air quality, and suggested Council should ask the Ministry of Environment for assistance in setting up a weather station in Valemount.
Torgerson thanked Jamin for his comments.
In-Camera
Torgerson adjourned the open session of Council at 7:58 p.m. to enter an in-camera meeting. Council moved in-camera to discuss one item related to the security of the property of the municipality, in accordance with Section 90 (1)(d) of the Community Charter.
