Council endorsed the Central Cariboo Arts and Culture 2012 Business and Financial plans, and agreed to the addition of a business goal to include the Central Cariboo Arts and Culture Society’s input into planning Canada Day celebrations and Performances in the Park. The plans as presented recommend that the 2011 tax requisition for arts and culture remain the same as the 2010 requisition. This item has yet to be considered by the Cariboo Regional District board of directors.
Council reports back on Union of BC Municipalities convention
Council received a report from the chief administrative officer on the Union of British Columbia Municipalities convention attended by council in late September. Highlights include:
• Meetings with Premier Christy Clark:
Mayor Kerry Cook and council members had a private meeting with the premier where Cook advised the premier of issues facing the city and discussed the need for the sharing of resource development revenues with local governments that serve those developments. Additionally, Cook met with the premier on three other occasions with the Cariboo Regional District and the three beetle action committees to discuss Barkerville and to update the premier on progress with BAC funding and continued collaboration between the BACs.
• Meeting with Solicitor General and acting Attorney General Shirley Bond:
Council discussed the recent successes in crime reduction and made a specific request for more flexible deployment of First Nations policing resources within the city and the need for a crime analyst for the Williams Lake RCMP detachment. Council also requested the Bond to consider a more equitable funding formula for police-based Victim Services, reflecting crime and judicial case loads.
• Meeting with Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development Ida Chong:
Council expressed their desire to see the Towns for Tomorrow funding program and more specifically the need for funding to address the Station House Gallery. Council also expressed the need for the sharing of resource development revenues with local governments that serve those developments.
• RCMP ‘E’ Division:
Council met with Rob Morrison and Wayne Rideout of the RCMP to discuss the need for a crime analyst for the Williams Lake RCMP detachment and more flexible deployment of First Nations policing resources within the city.
• Interior Health Authority:
Councillors Geoff Bourdon, Sue Zacharias and Laurie Walters and CAO Brian Carruthers joined a delegation from the CRD in a meeting with Interior Health to discuss the need for funding to complete costing estimates for the Cariboo Memorial Hospital master plan and to ensure implementation was prioritized in the IHA capital program.
• UBCM Resolutions:
Council attended resolutions sessions which included consideration of two resolutions put forward by the City. The resolution to harmonize the federal and provincial environmental assessment processes was not endorsed due to a recent legal decision that doesn’t allow the federal government to divest its obligations under the EA Act. The Victim Services funding resolution was passed. The resolution to eliminate Medical Services Plan premiums for seniors was also passed.