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Saturday, April 13, 2013

Council Notes from April 8th


Presentation
Keltie Murdoch was presented at council because of her award winning geothermal science project. Keltie came 4th in the International Science Fair in Taiwan. To read more about her project check out this article in the Kamloops News http://www.kamloopsnews.ca/article/20120319/CRANBROOK0101/303199998/0/CRA


Delegations

MP David Wilks Update on 2013 Budget
MP Wilks presented an outline of the Action Plan ’13 budget outline that included additional funds for the Community Improvement Funds of $32.2 billion over the next 10 years.

Also highlighted were the funds for affordable housing and the plans for the new shelter in Cranbrook – Wilks assured Council and the Salvation Army (whom he has met with) that Cranbrook is “on the list”.. Wilks has submitted a letter of support for the compelling case for a shelter in Cranbrook and sent the letter to Minister Findlay. Coucillor Cross brought up the concerns about the temporary foreign worker program and MP Wilks agreed that it was not designed to replace Canadian jobs but to address labour market shortages.

Council was grateful for the presentation as they are interested in what the federal government is doing and how that impacts our municipality. Councillor Warner again brought up his frustration that they have not had a visit from MLA Bill Bennett, even though they have invited him to attend a number of times.

Christian Hirn -  Proposal for a GoCart Facility adjacent to Western Financial Place
  He is looking for a chance to lease the parking lot beside Western Financial Place from the City to install a warm weather Go-Kart track. Councillors expressed concern about the noise pollution that Go-Karts might cause but Hirn assured council that modern Go-Karts are no louder than a window air conditioner.

Skye McDougall - Wildsight Climate Solutions for the Kootenays
Wildsight is being introduced to Cranbrook through five different initiatives.
1.     The car sharing program
2.     Home energy assessment
3.     The Clean Bin Project
4.     Green commercial projects – they are looking to do small scale geothermal
5.     The film “Chasing Ice” is being brought to Key City Theatre on April 21 @ 730 pm

Councillor Cross challenged her co-councillors and city staff for the Clean Bin Project! Track back to previous Guardian post for more information http://livablecranbrook.blogspot.ca/2013/04/get-ready-for-clean-bin-project.html

Council Reports

Councillor Whetham
·       Query about a crosswalk between the Cranbrook Public Library and the Ktunaxa building – Referred to staff.
·       Citizen query over the Moir Gravel Pit
o   CAO Staudt met with the administrators at Pinewood and the principals who lease the gravel pit.  The leases are under legislation to monitor the dust levels and there has already been a complaint. The road is a silt road that they water and they may have to look at other options to reduce the dust.

Councillor Warner
·       Minute Muffler inquired again about his electric sign. He came to council in November 2011 and because of the sign by-law exploratory work he still does not have an answer. Wants timeline
o   The city is consolidating the comments from the public including further consultation with the Chamber of Commerce and it should be brought to Council on May 6th
o   There is confusion for the RCMP and some citizens about where the school zones start and end. Follow up with ICBC

Mayor Stetski
·       Inquiry about lack of line painting off Hwy 3 by Marks Work Warehouse
o   There is a schedule for the line painting

Councillor Cross
·       DBA inquired about whether buskers downtown need a licence. Also, does the City Fleet have a no idling policy?
o   CAO Staudt will  find out about the license and city staff are encouraged not to idle but they may need to have radio contact to fit into the WCB guidelines at which point they may need to idle their vehicles.

Administration Updates

Corporation
Beekeeping within City Limits
·       Beekeeping is prohibited within city limits unless you are in an agriculture zone. Council referred staff to investigate other municipalities who allows beekeeping and their bylaws.

Engineering
Emergency pipeline Repair, Spray Irrigation site

(Engineer Hodge) There are BIG ISSUES with two significant leaks in the 30” pipe from the pumphouse near the spray irrigation fields.  It is 40 year old steel pipe of which the site operator has repaired 12 minor leaks  during the fall and spring.  The leak is under the pump house and is requiring extensive engineering to fix.  This is a “huge huge repair” with a couple of options being looked at to resolve the issue.  

Leisure Services
Bike Skills park progress – moving along with raw materials already delivered to the site.
Senior Games bid with Kimberley – Kimberley isn’t interested in participating in a joint bid with Cranbrook.
Public Skating at Western Financial Place – had a number of participants
Mount Baker tennis Courts – will be ready by the end of May
Special Events Western Financial Place Mixed Martial Arts
Options for Canada Day – exploring 2 options but haven’t had a community group come on board to run it.

Library Services
National Poetry Month

Correspondence
12 items beginning:

from the Auditor general for Local Government

signage Mothers Against Drunk Driving

Proclamations
National Volunteer Week
Public Works Week
MS Awareness Week
Refugee Rights Day and World Refugee Week

Committee Recommendation
Environment & Utilities Committee
The Environment & Utilities Committee recommends Council direct each Department to review its infrastructure capital needs as detailed in the 2012 Asset Management Plan Model (AMIP) for inclusiveness, accuracy, cost, service life and priority and to prepare a Strategy Infrastructure Capital Investment Plan covering the 15 year period.

New Business

12.1 Mayor’s Brown Bag Lunch

12.2 To consider a referral from the Liquor Control & Licensing Branch regarding the application of Key City Theatre Society for a Liquor Primary License to serve liquor prior to an event and during intermission.

Councillor Whetham brought forward that the process for applying for a License is insulting and unnecessary. It is over the top
Councillor Davis commented that a bar in the schoolhouse isn’t something he would like to see.
Mayor Stetski said that they license is only for during events at the Key City Theatre between 6 – 10 pm. This is so they no longer have to continue to apply for a special event license. It will mean no change in the operations of the Key City Theatre.
Moved by Councillor Whetham. Seconded Councillor Cross. Carried. Opposed: Councillor Davis.

12.3 To consider a referral from the Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) to change the home based business regulations in the Cranbrook Rural Zoning Bylaw, Moyie Land Use Bylaw, Fort Steele-Bull River Land Use Bylaw and Wycliffe Zoning Bylaw area of Electoral Area C.

Motion to not proceed with the changes to Major Home Base Business Bylaws but will proceed with changes to the Minor Home Based Business Bylaws. All Councillors expressed some level of concern about this change to the Area C bylaw as it could mean doing business outside Cranbrook could be cheaper. Councillor Cross inquired if the Chamber of Commerce has provided comment and was told they had not.  The motion was unanimously carried.

12.4 To consider renewal of the Cranbrook Transit System Annual Operating Agreement. Carried.

12.5 To seek Council's approval of 2013 Council Priorities AND 2013 Administration Initiatives.

Bylaws

13.1 To present the Five Year Financial Plan for 2013 to 2017 to Council for three readings.

1st and 2nd readings carried. 3rd reading moved to next meeting.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for continuing to post these Council updates. Of great interest to readers of this blog would be what each Councilor feels is a priority for the City. See https://cranbrook.civicweb.net/Documents/DocumentList.aspx?ID=2920. Gives you some great insights into his/her interests --and a chance to assess how much thought each put into this exercise and to weigh against the "platform" on which each candidate ran-- in advance of the municipal elections next year.

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