Skip to content

Williams Lake council votes to 'put their money where their mouth is'

City council voted in favour of prioritizing livability for seniors both as strategic and budgetary priorities
signimg_9476
A sign at the entrance to the Williams Lake River Valley in 2022 is marked up by someone with the comment "old people would like to go down to [sic]" after flooding closed the area to recreation for nearly three years.

Coun. Scott Nelson brought forward a recommendation to city council to "highlight the positive impacts of Williams Lake having been chosen as the 17th most livable Canadian city for retirement in 2024."

Nelson suggested the city council make it a top priority in their strategic planning to develop Williams Lake for the attraction of seniors.

The rest of council present agreed with his suggestion and Coun. Joan Flaspohler brought forward a "friendly amendment" to add onto his recommendation.

She suggested the addition of including it as a budget priority as well to encourage staff to incorporate it into budgetary planning, not just in strategic planning.

"You've got to put your money where your mouth is," she said, noting it takes allocating budget to accomplish substantive improvements.

"I 100 per cent agree with this topic that Coun. Nelson has put on the table," she said.

"I think we should almost be doing more because I think this is incredible."

She noted how, in the report the Globe and Mail article was based on, there were some areas where she believes council should be looking to improve things.

She pointed out Williams Lake was ranked at 52 per cent below the national average score for walkability.

After the city's active transportation working group received 700 responses on their active transportation survey in 2024, she said this shows citizens want to see more of this in the city.

Sidewalks, trails, parks, working on the creek valley and sidewalk snow clearing are all areas she wants the city to continue improving for citizens.

"If we want to be bring them in, I think we should actually be doing a little more," she said.

Acting mayor Jazmyn Lyons also agreed she was happy to read the article and appreciated the city ranked high in safety - 67 per cent lower than the Canadian average for likelihood of crime - and did not make the top 10 list for crime hot spots in the country.

All council present voted in favour of the recommendation with the amendment, with mayor Surinderpal Rathor absent while he attends a Natural Resources forum in Prince George this week.

 



Ruth Lloyd

About the Author: Ruth Lloyd

I moved back to my hometown of Williams Lake after living away and joined the amazing team at the Williams Lake Tribune in 2021.
Read more