A local trail builder was awarded a Senate 150th Commemorative Medal last Thursday.
Kim Deane, chair of Friends of the Rossland Range Society, was presented with his medal by Rossland Mayor Kathy Moore at a special meeting of council.
“It [the medal] is being given on behalf of Senator Nancy Greene Raine, who was so sorry that she could not be here tonight, but she only had 13 of them to give out, so this is really, really very special,” explained Moore.
The medal is made from Muntz metal, an alloy of bronze, copper and zinc, and was cast by the Canadian Mint. It features the Canadian Senate’s emblem on the front and the Senate chamber on the reverse. There’s also space where Deane’s name was inscribed.
Deane received the medal in recognition of his “work and leadership in the building and promotion of hiking and multi-purpose trails in the Rossland area.”
Upon accepting the medal, Deane acknowledged all the other volunteers who have contributed to Rossland’s trail network.
“It’s a regional effort, not just this effort, and a good example here are the Chimo crew,” he said, recognizing two members of Trail’s 44th Field Engineer Squadron who attended the presentation. The 44th Field Engineer Squadron built the Chimo cabin in the Rossland Range.
Deane also recognized landowners who have given land access agreements, partners such as ATCO, Selkirk Forest, Red Mountain, Big Red Cats and Teck, Rossland business owners, regional funding for the Kootenay Columbia Trails Society, the trails crew and the Province of B.C. for dedicating land and providing funding for the development of the Rossland Recreation Site.
Council to consider Lower Columbia Healthy Communities Plan
Kerri Wall from the Interior Health Authority, Christy Anderson from the Family Action Network and Andrea Winckers from BC Cancer and School District 20 presented the Lower Columbia Healthy Communities Plan to Rossland City Council.
The plan was developed with input from key stakeholders in the region.
“We tried to get a perspective of what’s happening now, how healthy are we now? And then what we started to do is frame action that we wanted to talk about collectively…,” explained Anderson.
They then asked what could be done collectively over the next two years to work toward measurable differences in improving health in the region’s communities and built the plan.
The delegation asked Rossland council to endorse the Lowe Columbia Healthy Communities Plan as a municipal decision-making tool.
Council will consider the request at its next regular meeting.
The Lower Columbia Healthy Communities Plan is available online at trail.ca/en/inside-city-hall/resources/LCHCP_2017.pdf.
Council awards Midtown Transition Project Study
Council awarded the 2018 Midtown Transition Project Study to City Spaces Consultants Ltd. in the amount of $32,940 plus applicable taxes and expenses.
City Hall Christmas holiday closure
City Hall will be closed Tuesday, Dec. 26 and Wednesday, Dec. 27. It will re-open on Thursday, Dec. 28.
City looking for ways to offset capital investment
Having now completed an Asset Management Investment Plan (AMIP), the City of Rossland is revising its five-year capital plan, which will be included in the 2018-2022 Budget and Financial Plan.
But the increased capital costs called for by the AMIP are significant, even with council taking the approach that they want to maximize the service life of the city’s assets.
The difference between the capital expenditure called for in the AMIP for 2018 and what has been budgeted for capital in 2018 is nearly $1 million.
Even to meet the $1.8 million target set for 2018 will require drawing on $522,074 from reserves. Reserves would also need to be drawn on significantly in 2019, and in the five-year capital plan she presented to council last Thursday, Elma Hamming, manager of finance, projects that the reserves would be down to just over $2 million by 2022.
Hamming asked council to give direction on how to proceed, giving four options: rely on reserve funding, increase taxes, decrease investment or “realign strategic facility services.”
“So for example, City Hall, moving it off of the main street, which is prime commercial property, relocating it on land that’s already owned by the city and use this to increase the land reserves, more taxation income and realize cost efficiencies,” explained Hamming.
As for decreasing investment, the city has large amounts budgeted for City Hall, the arena and the Rossland Public Library over the next five years. Hamming told council they may wish to differ those projects.
Council instructed the manager of finance to look at all four options, giving her permission to raise taxes up to three per cent for 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, which currently have tax increases set at 1.25, 2.00, 2.00 and 1.00 per cent.
The tax increase for 2018 is set at 4.80 per cent.
The development of the 2018-2022 Budget and Financial Plan will include public consultation activities in late February/early March, and a public hearing or hearings in late April/early May. The final budget won’t be adopted until May 7.
