Valemount Council: new office hours, tourism funding, fees and charges bylaw
By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG
Valemount Council adjusted the Village office hours, approved a plan to allocate funds from the Resort Municipality Initiative, and amended the Village’s fees and charges bylaw at its January 21st meeting.
Mayor Owen Torgerson called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. Council made two amendments to the agenda: first, it removed a delegation from the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship. According to CAO Anne Yanciw, the delegate cancelled due to an emergency and is looking to reschedule her delegation in March. The second amendment was to delay the delegation from RCMP officers, who were scheduled to present policing statistics for the fourth quarter of 2024 at the beginning of the meeting. The RCMP officers did not arrive before the open session of Council adjourned, so no delegations were held.
After making these amendments, Council adopted the minutes of the previous meeting and moved on to administrative reports.
Quarterly Report
Every three months, staff produce a quarterly report outlining progress on the Village’s strategic priorities for 2023-2027, as well as statistics on permit issuances, bylaw violations, and grant applications, among other topics.
Council moved to receive the report for information.
Village office hours
Staff proposed changing public access hours for the Village office to better accommodate front desk workers. Historically, the Village office opens at 8:30 a.m. and closes at 4:30 p.m., with a lunch break from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Front desk workers are required to arrive at 8:30 a.m. and leave at 4:30 p.m., and when residents arrive at opening time or just before closing time, it does not leave staff enough time to complete daily opening and closing processes such as cashing out, according to the staff report.
Staff recommended adding a 15-minute buffer to the opening and closing times to prevent front desk workers from incurring overtime due to many residents entering the office at these times.
Councillor Hollie Blanchette said she believes the change makes sense. Torgerson asked CAO Anne Yanciw if the shorter hours would make it challenging to deliver services to residents visiting the office.
“I don’t think so,” Yanciw said. “This still provides that access to the public, but if we have a number of people come in at 4:30, then it doesn’t force us into an overtime situation.”
Council approved adjusting public office hours to 8:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., with a one-hour closure for lunch from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Resort Municipality Initiative funding
Council held a closed Committee of the Whole meeting on December 12th to decide how to distribute funds from the Resort Municipality Initiative, a program from the Ministry of Tourism which gives money to resort municipalities for infrastructure projects that aim to boost tourism. At this meeting, Council decided on recommendations for how to distribute the funding among local organizations, which were then scheduled to be approved at a later open meeting. It recommended funding 16 different projects, totalling $664,000.
Torgerson asked if Council should approve the recommendation by passing 16 separate resolutions, or pass one resolution to approve all 16 recommendations. Corporate Officer Carleena Shepherd said they could all be approved in one resolution.
Torgerson asked if he needed to recuse himself from discussion for two items: the $25,000 in funding for the Valemount Learning Society, because his wife was the applicant, and $150,000 for the Valemount Marina Association, because he sits on the board. Yanciw and Shepherd said they would not be conflicts of interest, since all the recommendations are combined into one resolution.
The projects approved include building an outdoor pavilion for the Rocky Mountain Racing Association, funding for Tourism Valemount’s annual Winterfest, and trail maintenance by the Yellowhead Outdoor Recreation Association, among others. For more information on the projects approved, read our article about the Resort Development Strategy in this week’s issue.
Council approved the recommendations with no discussion.
Resort Development Strategy
In order to access Resort Municipality Initiative funding, the Village must submit a Resort Development Strategy to the Ministry of Tourism every three years. The strategy outlines the strategic goals for Valemount’s tourism sector from 2025-2027, and gives an overview of the 16 projects Council approved for funding.
Fees and Charges bylaw
Council approved amendments to the fees and charges bylaw at their November 26th meeting last year. However, the version of the bylaw it approved accidentally omitted some sections. Staff corrected the bylaw and sent it to Council for re-approval. The version presented to Council at the January 28th meeting does not include any changes to fee amounts.
Council gave first, second and third reading to the amended bylaw. It will be reviewed for final approval at the February 11th Council meeting.
9-1-1 services
The Regional District of Fraser-Fort George emailed the Village to let staff and Council know the District will be administering 9-1-1 services starting in 2026. Currently, 9-1-1 services for the regional district are administered by E-Comm, a Vancouver-based call services company.
Blanchette said she is looking forward to 9-1-1 services being administered locally.
“Our neighbouring [regional districts] and current clients on the fire dispatch service are equally as excited,” Torgerson said.
Community Endowment Fund
The Prince George chapter of Community Foundations of Canada, a nonprofit that develops and administers funds for community improvement projects nationwide, sent the Village the current balance of the Valemount Community Endowment Fund. The Village has not developed a board to distribute the fund since its creation in 2010, and has been accruing interest since then.
According to the Prince George Community Foundation, the fund has accrued a balance of $413,227 as of November 2024. Torgerson brought the balance sheet to Council’s attention but did not propose a related motion.
Winter Festival
Executive Director of Tourism Valemount Marcie Down sent a letter to the Village reminding Council of this year’s Winterfest, an annual outdoor celebration for residents and visitors.
The festival will take place on February 14th from 4:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and feature ice sculptures, an outdoor DJ, and activities for children, according to Down’s letter. Torgerson said he hopes councillors and residents attend.
In-camera
Torgerson adjourned the open session of Council at 7:37 p.m. Council moved to a closed meeting for consideration of one item per Section 90 (1) (d) of the Community Charter to discuss matters related to the security of the property of the municipality.
