McBride Council: Housing project, audit update, water area service extension

By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG

McBride Council discussed supporting a project from the McBride and District Housing Society, heard an update on the Village’s annual audit, and discussed extending water service into a property outside of Village limits.

McBride mayor Gene Runtz called the March 25th council meeting to order at 6 p.m.

Three late items were added to the agenda — a verbal report from the Village’s financial consultant Karen Stahl, a letter requiring correspondence from the McBride & District Chamber of Commerce, and a recommendation that council approve travel and accommodation costs for an April council-to-council meeting with Simpcw First Nation in Barriere.

After approving the agenda and adopting the minutes of the March 11th meeting, council heard a delegation from the McBride & District Housing Society.

McBride Housing Project

Chair of the McBride & District Housing Society Jackie Edwards spoke to council about plans for a new housing project in McBride, which will be located at 210 Horseshoe Lake Road. The 32-unit development will cater to seniors and families at a time when it is difficult to access any rentals, let alone affordable rentals, according to Edwards.

As the Society prepares an application for funding from BC Housing, Edwards requested a letter of support from Council. She added that if Council could partner with the Society by offering financial assistance or helping with landscaping the property, it could be included in the application as well.

“Within the village at this point in time, there are no rentals available at all, and there are only five houses for sale,” Edwards said. “Our plan is to develop 32 units in the first phase of the project, which will leave a large area of the property as a green space until further development can be accomplished.”

Runtz said the project is exciting, and that the Village can have more discussions regarding a partnership to support the project.

CAO Jeanette McDougall asked if Edwards could send more information on the Village partnering with BC Housing, and if the Village would need to agree to partner by the end of March.

Edwards agreed to send more information and said the letter of support would be needed by the end of March, but there is more time to make a decision about partnership.

“We’re not looking for anything concrete, we’re not asking, ‘Would you sell your souls?’… We’ve already sold ours,” Edwards joked. “It’s just an indication that you’re willing to help us move forward with this project, and we’ll give some ideas as to what types of partnerships we’re looking for people to consider.”

Runtz asked if the Society would demolish the old house currently on the property, and Edwards said they are prepared to demolish the building. Kolida asked if the Society could partner with someone to tear down the building and haul the resulting garbage away.

Edwards said parts of the demolition involving hazardous material will have to be handled by experts.

“For the rest of it, we’re hoping to do it more locally,” she added.

Runtz thanked Edwards for the presentation.

“That’s a big deal, what you’re doing right there,” he said. “We’ll keep all our fingers crossed.”

Council approved writing a letter of support for the application. In an email to The Goat, McDougall said the Village is still determining how best to support the project in the future.

Council moved on to the three late items that had been added to the agenda.

Audit update

Financial consultant for the Village Karen Stahl provided a verbal update on the Village’s annual audit.

The audit is progressing well, Stahl said. Consultants have been focused on the Village’s capital spending from the past year and will be able to draft a capital plan soon, she said.

This year, the auditing process started early, which will make the budgeting process more efficient, according to Stahl.

“In the past, we used to go to Council with three distinct drafts of the budget. When we started off with the budget, the first draft was prepared before the audit work had begun,” Stahl said. “Because we’ve got the audit already underway, we’re going to be able to eliminate one of the drafts… and the first budget draft is going to be a lot more comprehensive.”

Runtz thanked Stahl for her presentation and said it seems like the process is going well.

“The proof will be in the pudding when Council gets to see the first draft,” Stahl said. “Hopefully, we are able to answer the questions that Council is going to have and work together with council to come up with the budget.”

Reports for information

Council moved to receive five reports for information, with no discussion. The reports included Council’s schedule for the month of April, updates from the CAO and Economic Development Officer, Stahl’s verbal update, a monthly report from Public Works and building permit statistics for the month of February.

According to McDougall’s report on Village projects, the cardlock system at the airport was anticipated to be installed by March 31st. Additionally, the Village is making progress on the alternate community water source study, with investigation into possible surface water sources. Staff expect to have a more comprehensive report on the alternate water source project in April. Finally, the Village will submit a request for proposals to install fencing around the cemetery in April.

Support for Integris

Council approved sending a letter of support for Integris Credit Union for the organization to include with an application for two awards from the BC Economic Development Union. In a letter to Council, Integris Manager of partnerships Daniel Wingham said the awards acknowledge outstanding community partnerships throughout B.C.

“We believe that winning this award will draw significant provincial and local/regional media attention given McBride and Integris’ collaboration aimed at restoring financial and economic stability for the community,” Wingham wrote.

According to the Association’s website, awards will be presented at a meeting in Penticton on May 14th.

Runtz asked if staff would have enough time to provide a letter, as Wingham requested the letter be sent by March 27th – two days after the Council meeting. McDougall said staff had already drafted a letter.

Tourism coordinator support

Council approved sending the Village tourism committee a request from the McBride Chamber of Commerce to provide a letter of support which can be used to secure funding to hire a tourism coordinator. Chair of the Chamber, Justina Trach, wrote a letter to Council saying that the coordinator would allow the region to market its tourism opportunities more efficiently.

“This position requires many things, including, funding, [and] managing body,” Trach wrote. “The Chamber is more than willing to advocate but unfortunately we now need your support in writing to present to other entities what we heard.”

Councillor Glen Frear said the tourism committee has already been working on finding and hiring a tourism coordinator, and moved to forward the request to the tourism committee. Council approved Frear’s motion to forward the request.

Water service extension

Residents Renae and Ronald Westlund, who own property on Shelby Road, requested extension of the Village’s water service to their property to enable residential water use.

According to the staff report, extending Village water services into unincorporated parts of the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George requires approval from the Regional District board of directors. Staff recommended sending a request for approval to the board. If the request is approved, the Village can work with the Westlunds to collect required documents to complete the water service extension, such as detailed engineering drawings.

Runtz asked Village Planner Kevin Brooks if there is any more information Council should be aware of.

“This recommendation will initiate the process. It will allow staff to reach out to the Regional District,” Brooks said. “If the Regional District grants us the right to extend that service, we’ll enter into a much more detailed process with the applicants themselves to go through the detailed engineering components. Council will see [the application] again once we have confirmation from the District.”

Runtz thanked Brooks for his response.

Simpcw First Nation forum

Simpcw First Nation is hosting a Community to Community forum in Barriere on April 11th. Funded by the Union of BC Municipalities, Community to Community forums support communication and relationship building between First Nations and local governments.

According to the staff report, the agenda for the forum is still a work in progress. Staff recommended Council approve covering travel and accommodation costs for councillors, the mayor and CAO to attend the forum. The report includes hotel prices in Clearwater and Kamloops, ranging from $150 before tax to $206 before tax.

Councillor Joe Kolida asked if driving to Kamloops would be further than driving to Clearwater, and suggested staying in the Barriere area instead, as both Kamloops and Clearwater are about 61 kilometres from Barriere.

“These are just examples of hotels and potential costs,” McDougall said. “There are hotels in Barriere that are not as expensive.”

Runtz asked if staff could find a place to stay in Barriere. Kolida said staff and Council could make a decision on where to say when the agenda for the forum is available.

Council approved using Village funds to cover the travel and accommodation costs for the forum, with accommodation being determined closer to the day of the event.

Local Government meeting

Council approved staff to draft resolutions which the Village may put forward at the annual general meeting for the North and Central Local Government Association. The meeting will be held in May, and staff will send resolutions to Council for approval before they are sent to the Association to discuss at the meeting.

McDougall said she would draft resolutions based on resolutions the Village previously put forward to the Union of BC Municipalities. She said resolutions must be submitted by April 18th but will be circulated to Council for approval before that.

In-camera

Council approved a motion to enter an in-camera session for consideration of matters of the Community Charter related to Section 90 (1):

Runtz adjourned the open meeting of Council at 6:33 p.m.