Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Rocky Mountain Goat

Valemount Council reviewed the Village’s quarterly budget report, discussed the Valemount Resort Development Strategy, and appointed a consultant to help with economic recovery from this summer’s highway closures during their November 12th regular meeting.

Mayor Owen Torgerson called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m.

After adopting the minutes of the October 22nd regular council meeting, Council heard a delegation from the Valemount RCMP.

RCMP statistics

Council received a delegation from Sergeant Bob Dean and Corporal Nicholas Theoret, who presented data on how many criminal charges and traffic violations the Valemount detachment investigated from July through September.

According to Theoret, the RCMP only started sharing quarterly reports recently, after CAO Anne Yanciw was hired last December. The first two quarterly reports of the year were shared directly with Yanciw, rather than being presented to Council, Theoret said.

Yanciw was unavailable for comment on the quarterly reports.

The Goat requested a copy of quarterly reports from the past five years to contextualise the data presented at the Council meeting.

“I do not have access to quarterly reports going back to 2019 and obtaining them would require a full review of the files for each year,” Theoret said.

Quarterly Report

Council moved to receive Village staff’s latest quarterly report, covering July through September. The report provides an update on the Village’s 2023-2027 strategic priorities: for example, staff are seeking grants to fund the construction of a groundwater well near Swift Creek. Additionally, the report includes statistics on grant management. The Village had 14 grant applications, totalling about $565K, approved last quarter. Information about the Village’s emergency management mechanisms is also in the report: the Village activated its Emergency Operations Centre twice, held two post-emergency debriefs, opened the cooling centre twice, had one emergency management working group meeting, and tested the emergency notification system, Voyent Alert!, one time during this quarter.

Council received the report without discussion.

Resort Development Strategy

Village staff are in the midst of drafting a Resort Development Strategy, a document outlining the Village’s long-term vision for its tourism industry which must be submitted to the Ministry of Tourism in order to access funding from the Resort Municipality Initiative. Staff submitted a report detailing the timeline for producing and submitting the strategy, starting with the first information report about the strategy at Council’s October 8th meeting and ending with the submission date of December 15th.

The timeline includes a two-week period – October 30th to November 12th – during which the Village consulted the public about what should be included in the strategy. On October 30th, the Village held a meeting with business owners and residents to discuss the strategy. The Village also circulated a survey asking respondents to make suggestions on what could improve the current Resort Development Strategy, and which of the plan’s three core values – accessibility, sustainability and Indigenous collaboration – should be prioritized.

Councillor Pete Pearson said he is worried that the time frame for drafting the strategy is tight.

“I’m hoping there’s good input on the survey, because I would be hesitant to come up with a three-year strategy based on the meeting that we had. There wasn’t enough meat on the bones to call it a roast,” he said. “It’s a tough process to put that together in such a short time frame.”

Torgerson said he is also hopeful the survey yields helpful feedback. Council moved to receive the report for information.

Quarterly Budget Report

Staff provide reports on the Village’s budget versus actual spending each quarter. According to the report, all revenues and expenses for the third quarter were within the budget.

There have been two changes to the budget. The cost of insurance premiums rose by about $7,000 due to a reassessment of cybersecurity costs, a change which the third quarter report says will be reflected in the fourth quarter report. Additionally, a different line of the budget has been corrected: it read “Elections” but should have said “software for City Reporter implementation.”

Recovery Manager appointment

The closures of Highway 16 and Highway 93 had a drastic impact on local businesses: in a survey of business owners distributed by the Village and Tourism Valemount, 70 per cent of respondents said their current financial supports are insufficient to tide them over until the return to normal operations. Village staff recommended Council approve of hiring a recovery manager who would collect more information about the economic impacts of the Jasper fire and identify ways to support local businesses. The $56,500 contract will be paid for with funding from the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness.

Council approved staff to sign the contract.

Community Forest signatory appointment

Staff recommended that Council authorize Yanciw to act as a signatory on behalf of the Village for documents related to the Valemount Community Forest and Valemount Industrial Park. Yanciw sits on the Community Forest board as a non-voting representative of the Village.

According to the staff report, these two corporations often have to submit signed documents to the BC Corporate Registry Services, and legal counsel advised staff to appoint an authorized signatory for this reason.

Council approved the request.

2025 Council schedule

The Community Charter requires municipal councils to have a publicly-available schedule of council meetings, and give notice that the schedule is available at least once a year. As such, staff presented a schedule for Council’s meetings in 2025.

In accordance with the Village’s Council Procedure Bylaw, meetings are scheduled on the second and fourth Tuesday of nearly every month. Meetings have not been scheduled for the fourth Tuesday in July and August, as has been the case in previous years. There will be no meeting on the fourth Tuesday of September, when the Union of BC Municipalities conference takes place. Finally, there will be no meeting on the fourth Tuesday of December as the Village office will be closed for Christmas break.

Mulyk moved to amend the schedule to remove the May 13th meeting, as the North Central Local Government Association will hold its Annual General Meeting from May 12th through May 15th.

Council approved the amended schedule.

Clean Air Task Force appointment

The Clean Air Task Force, a committee made up of Village staff, Councillors, and community representatives to improve Valemount’s air quality, recommended that Council appoint Joseph Nusse for a one-year term on the committee starting January 1st, 2025.

Additionally, the committee recommended amending its Terms of Reference to meet every other month, rather than on a quarterly basis, starting in January 2025.

Council approved both recommendations.

Fees and Charges Bylaw amendments

Council gave third reading to the Fees and Charges Amendment Bylaw, which increases licensing fees for short-term vacation rentals from $100 to $150, and home business licensing fees from $25 to $50. The amendment also adds a clause allowing the Village to provide facilities and equipment for free during emergencies.

Request for Dogwood Street upgrades

Council received a letter from local Junior Osadchuk, who wrote to suggest considering upgrades to Dogwood Street during the budgeting process for 2025. Osadchuck asked that the Village consider sealcoating or paving the street to reduce the amount of dust caused by traffic, and installing street lighting to improve visibility.

Councillor Donnie MacLean said she was unable to access a digital agenda during the meeting, so she could not see Osadchuk’s letter and asked for details on what the letter included.

“I think we’ll bring that up during our budget discussions when we’re considering the 2025 budget,” Torgerson said. “And Mr. Osadchuk, thank you for including your letter in this agenda.”

MacLean moved to discuss the requested upgrades during the budgeting process. Council approved MacLean’s motion.

BC Hydro vegetation

BC Hydro’s Community Relations Manager for the Southern Interior, Dag Sharman, wrote a letter to Council about the company’s Community ReGreening Program. The program provides up to $10,000 in funding to municipal governments and First Nations for the planting of trees and other vegetation.

“Thank you to Mr. Sharman for forwarding that opportunity,” Torgerson said. “Personally, I think we need to be doing more vegetation management on Whiskeyfill Road, on that main distribution line coming into Valemount, versus offering us trees to take care of in our own budget.”

Torgerson suggested directing staff to produce a report on Village-managed properties with coniferous and low-lying shrubs, to see if they could benefit from the ReGreening Program.

Mulyk moved to recommend the report. Council approved his motion.

Regional District director appointments

The Village of Valemount may appoint one director to the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George board, along with one alternate director who can attend in the director’s absence. The next term for directors begins on November 21st, so the Regional District requested for municipalities to confirm their directors and alternate directors by November 14th.

Council moved to appoint Torgerson as the director, and Mulyk as the alternate director.

Community Consultation Committee appointments

The Regional District has two Community Consultation Committees in which the Village of Valemount can participate: the Canoe Valley Recreation Centre committee and the Valemount and District Fire and Rescue committee. These committees provide a way for residents to give feedback on local services administered by the Regional District.

In order to have committees appointed before budget consultations begin on January 25th, the Regional District requested that Council appoint Village representatives to these committees.

Council appointed Pearson to the Canoe Valley Recreation Centre committee, and Blanchette to the Valemount and District Fire and Rescue committee. Pearson and Blanchette were both previously appointed to these roles last year.

VARDA appointment

The Valemount and Area Recreation Development Association (VARDA) board of directors requires one representative from the Village. Torgerson was the representative for the 2023/2024 season.

Council moved to appoint Torgerson as a Village representative to the VARDA board for the 2024/2025 season.

Public Comments

Osadchuk, the author of the letter requesting upgrades to Dogwood Street, asked if every councillor received the letter. Torgerson said the letter was included in their reading file, attached to the meeting agenda.

Osadchuk asked what the Strategies North consultant’s responsibilities are.

“They’ll measure the need required for recovery, develop a recovery plan, implement the recovery plan, they’ll measure afterwards, and then they’ll report out,” Yanciw said.

Osadchuk asked if the consultant will advocate for local businesses to receive financial support from the government. Yanciw said that may be one of their recommendations.

“As I mentioned before, there is not a current program in either B.C. or Alberta that we check a box for,” Torgerson said. “What Strategies North is going to assist us with, and assist Valemount businesses [with]… is to get a real concrete assessment of what that looks like for recovery, and make recommendations to us, the province of Alberta, the province of B.C., and to the federal government.”

Torgerson thanked Osadchuk for his comments.

In-Camera

Torgerson adjourned the open session of Council at 7:56 p.m. Council moved to an in-camera meeting for the consideration of one item that falls under Section 90 (1)(b) and (k) of the Community Charter to discuss matters related to:

(b) personal information about an identifiable individual who is being considered for a municipal award or honour, or who has offered to provide a gift to the municipality on condition of anonymity; and,

(k) negotiations and related discussions respecting the proposed provision of a municipal service that are at their preliminary stages and that, in the view of the council, could reasonably be expected to harm the interests of the municipality if they were held in public.

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