Rossland city council is creating an arena task force.
The draft terms of reference for the task force were approved at Monday night’s council meeting, and the City of Rossland will be seeking up to eight volunteer members of the public to join. The task force will also include three council members and one city staff person who will be a non-voting member.
The goal of the task force is to come up with recommendations for increasing usage and revenue for the arena, in the face of $1.2 million deferred maintenance and asset management costs expected over the next 10 years.
Council also agreed to receive the draft museum and arena white papers prepared by local consultant Kamren Farr. The papers looked at the current operations, budget constraints and capital needs for both facilities and offered options for how council might proceed with each facility.
Kenneling agreement with SPCA approved after reports received
After deciding to postpone renewing a kenneling agreement with the BC SPCA at a council meeting on Jan. 9, council received the report it was waiting on from the SPCA facility in Trail.
The report shows that in 2015 two dogs from Rossland were surrendered to the SPCA, and in 2016 three dogs, 19 cats and one “bird-wildlife” were surrendered.
The report also shows the number of animals returned to the SPCA from Rossland and the number of stray collected.
Council also asked staff to make changes to the kenneling agreement.
Whereas the SPCA previously held two kennel spaces for the City of Rossland, it will now only hold one kennel and the access fee will be reduced from $530 a month to $375 a month, beginning Jan. 1 of this year. That fee will include vaccines and redemption services, but additional services will be extra. Council approved the amended agreement.
Council supports BC-Canada 150 grant application for seniors’ hall
The Rossland Senior’s Society is currently working on a project to restore the original brick façade of the Rossland Seniors Centre, and council approved a request that city staff submit an application to the BC-Canada 150: Celebrating B.C. Communities and their Contributions to Canada Fund for the project.
The requested amount is $84,000, which accounts for 80 per cent of the total project cost. The society has committed $2,100 or two per cent of the cost, and the City of Rossland, which owns the building, would be responsible for the remainder — $18,900 or 18 percent.
Feb. 16, 2016: Corrects amount committed by Senior's Society to hall.