[0:00] they've told us they've ticketed

[0:01] numerous individuals uh but the

[0:03] situation has not changed for the past

[0:04] eight or nine months it's particularly

[0:06] the same the corporal's uh concluding

[0:09] comments were he believes that for the

[0:11] safety of our customers the shelter

[0:13] should be removed there is definitely uh

[0:16] safety concerns at times and so we need

[0:18] to be um you know really taking that in

[0:21] stride as to it's not just a cleanly

[0:23] issue it's it's about the safety and we

[0:25] recognize this is a tough decision

[0:27] because our customers that do use the

[0:29] shelter

[0:30] um when they can they're the ones that

[0:32] are going to be inconvenienced it's sort

[0:33] of the Bad Apple ruins it for everybody

[0:35] right so we do have to consider that but

[0:38] that's ultimately where staff have come

[0:40] from ended up with and you know Mr chair

[0:42] I recognize this is a sensitive issue

[0:44] and a topic but we would appreciate your

[0:46] committee's direction on what you'd re

[0:48] recommend we should do with that Shel

[0:50] with our shelters okay I'll look around

[0:52] for speakers I have director Douglas

[0:54] anyone else while I'm here director

[0:57] Abbott is

[0:58] next Mr chairman happy to get the uh

[1:02] staff recommendation on the floor as a

[1:04] as a motion we have a mover in a

[1:05] seconder and I will go to director

[1:08] Abbott Mr Wan thank you chair Mr wman I

[1:13] I've heard maybe on CBC about Montreal

[1:17] and how people in the cold weather don't

[1:20] need to wait at bus stops as much

[1:21] because they can count on the uh the

[1:23] travel app does UMO provide our

[1:26] customers with um I I was just trying to

[1:28] find it uh

[1:30] a a minute by minute time schedule that

[1:33] they their next bus so they needn't

[1:35] stand out in weather like this today

[1:37] yeah with the new with the new

[1:39] technology smart uh smart technology we

[1:41] have with BC Transit um our Riders can

[1:44] and and and quite frankly even the

[1:45] report mentioned this excuse me at

[1:48] Village Green mall I know our commuter

[1:49] Riders they sit in their cars they don't

[1:51] go where those shelters are if you look

[1:53] at the pictures of sort to see why they

[1:54] don't go and they know when they're when

[1:55] they're coming right so yes the Riders

[1:57] not all of them though have that not

[1:59] every body has a phone so some of them

[2:01] still rely on um hard print outs or

[2:03] writer guides and those type of things

[2:05] right or they'll look at the the

[2:07] schedule that's at most of our key stops

[2:08] as well um so yes most of our our

[2:11] regular riders that use this system they

[2:13] they know when the buses are should be

[2:15] there that's

[2:17] right that conclud order Mr chair um do

[2:20] we know what the motion on the floor is

[2:24] it's the staff recommendation which is

[2:26] for

[2:27] direction which one was uh REM I can

[2:30] clarify so the report doesn't have a

[2:34] recommendation up front although in the

[2:36] body of the report it does include a

[2:38] staff recommendation so would be that we

[2:39] direct staff remove the shelters and

[2:41] benches at the Village Green mall and

[2:44] couch and secondary school thank you

[2:46] director Morrison for pointing that out

[2:48] I have director Acton

[2:52] next not sure this is going to work is

[2:56] it working this m okay um I guess guess

[2:59] I have a couple questions one would be

[3:03] or first a comment this just is pretty

[3:05] infuriating and we're forced

[3:09] to kind of make a a decision that's not

[3:14] in anyone's best interest and so I'm

[3:16] wondering like have have the how much of

[3:19] this information has been shared with

[3:20] the province because this is obviously a

[3:23] greater issue and

[3:26] um you know where do we stop we're just

[3:29] going to keep doing things like this now

[3:31] we're removing bus

[3:33] shelters

[3:34] um and then my other question or

[3:37] question comment is um what are other

[3:42] areas doing like to me it's almost a a

[3:44] matter of design so how can we design

[3:47] the bus shelters to be less appealing to

[3:50] set up as as a shelter you know a

[3:54] long-term shelter so is there uh you

[3:56] know do we is there a way to remove just

[3:59] remove the Ben is remove some of the

[4:01] walls make it somewhat uh keep people

[4:04] out of the

[4:05] elements and uh cuz you know it is nice

[4:08] to have a bus shelter and and especially

[4:11] really busy stops I know I've seen moms

[4:14] sitting there with their kids and like

[4:16] so for us to just com just react like

[4:19] this when when is it going to stop and

[4:21] you know we have a beer issue

[4:24] here thank you for the question um

[4:27] challenging one to answer so when you

[4:29] say

[4:30] has BC sorry has the province been made

[4:32] aware they have through BC Transit and

[4:34] by the way Seth Wright the uh BC Transit

[4:36] senior manager of government relations

[4:38] is here as well to help answer um

[4:40] questions on this one more more

[4:41] appropriately probably the second report

[4:44] so BC transit's been aware of it they

[4:45] hear about it from the operator daily

[4:47] and the operator has an agreement with

[4:49] BC Transit and so they hear about that

[4:51] um we've had discussions with our our

[4:53] team is BC Transit as well as the

[4:55] operator we meet regularly every month

[4:57] and we talk about it with our staff and

[4:59] we we try to look at is it getting

[5:00] better is it getting worse where is it

[5:02] you know are we just pushing the problem

[5:04] somewhere else so to answer your

[5:05] question when's it going to stop I don't

[5:06] have an answer to that this was a

[5:08] conclusion that when we talk to the

[5:10] group and we talk to which is also

[5:12] mentioned in the in the report of what's

[5:14] happening at Village and Green mall in

[5:16] particular they've removed all their

[5:17] Planters and benches off that property

[5:18] for the same reason their property

[5:20] manager also told us to do the same

[5:22] thing if you leave a bench they're just

[5:24] going to use the bench so unfortunately

[5:26] just leave the bus stop sign and and the

[5:27] poll if you will um in terms of design

[5:30] of the shelters I'm not so sure it's the

[5:32] design it's it's probably more about the

[5:34] locations there is definitely some

[5:36] higher risk locations than others and

[5:38] and we're dealing with it in the core um

[5:40] I did touch about uh sorry the report

[5:42] does touch on a few other ones that are

[5:43] getting a little bit challenging

[5:45] sometimes even at the the current one at

[5:47] the hospital is having some issues there

[5:49] um so I can't comment about what type of

[5:52] new designs might be out there uh Seth I

[5:55] I don't know if you have any other

[5:56] comments you might be able to help on

[5:58] with regard to designs of shelters but

[5:59] but I also know other areas Victoria's

[6:01] dealt with it unfortunately in their

[6:03] rougher area in the Pandora Street area

[6:05] I know there's been shelter removed in

[6:07] the Nimo are on some of their rough one

[6:09] so we're not the only ones dealing with

[6:12] this do you have another comment zth

[6:14] yeah just provide one quick comment is

[6:16] that um that Cuda the I always forget

[6:19] what the acronym is for but it's the

[6:20] Canadian Association of Transit associ

[6:23] associations which BC Transit is a is a

[6:25] member of um did a really great report

[6:27] on Safety and Security and identifi that

[6:30] Transit related safety concerns are not

[6:32] fundamentally a Transit issue and I

[6:33] think you alluded to that in the

[6:34] question um but I identifies some some

[6:38] broad uh Solutions and and sort of

[6:40] strategies that require ultimately

[6:42] senior levels of government to step up

[6:44] and and so I won't go into that further

[6:47] but I would say in terms of our

[6:48] experience across the province we do

[6:50] face these challenges at at shelters and

[6:52] exchanges across the province one one

[6:54] piece that is a recurring theme is the

[6:57] collocation of liquor stores

[7:00] um and and Cannabis stores with with

[7:03] exchanges and that tends to hide in some

[7:04] of these issues uh and exacerbate the

[7:07] the issues uh in these locations um and

[7:11] so thinking about the location where we

[7:13] put the the central exchange is is a key

[7:15] piece of this um the train station

[7:18] doesn't seem to have the same level of

[7:19] issues that we see at the Village Green

[7:22] Mall exchange follow up director Aken

[7:25] yeah so thank you you've mentioned a few

[7:27] issues so then again we have the the

[7:29] provincial government that promised when

[7:31] they would be taxing cannabis locations

[7:33] they'd be spending money on addiction

[7:35] centers Etc so I think you know at this

[7:37] table we talk about we have an item

[7:39] later today that is about being

[7:42] political I think we take this and be

[7:43] political and and we make a big stink

[7:45] we've had cck TV here uh I'm not even

[7:49] quite sure that was uh that that became

[7:52] news I think this is really big news and

[7:54] and for us to just uh kind of just keep

[7:58] reacting sure Victoria did that's fine

[8:01] but I think we need to start to use this

[8:03] opportunity everybody who lives in those

[8:06] areas deserve a nice uh you know

[8:08] Planters you've said and and like we all

[8:11] deserve to live in a nice area and and

[8:13] clean and safe and I think this is an

[8:16] opportunity where we shouldn't just be

[8:18] uh reacting so quickly and we should

[8:20] start demanding The Province do

[8:22] something and and at this table I think

[8:25] we should make this a political issue

[8:28] thank you for that

[8:30] looking to director Stone next yeah I

[8:32] agree with director Acton and it is a

[8:34] political issue and it's driven by I

[8:37] would say every municipality that has

[8:39] any kind of urbanization in every

[8:40] Regional District um the reality is is

[8:43] these problems aren't going to be solved

[8:45] in 3 months 6 months and right now our

[8:47] bus stops are not accessible to the

[8:49] people that need to use the buses

[8:51] because they're intimidated afraid

[8:53] unsafe whatever the reason is so it does

[8:57] require um mitigative action um whether

[9:00] it's reaction or not um so yeah

[9:02] absolutely the the provincial and and

[9:05] federal governments have responsibility

[9:07] to take care of unhoused populations and

[9:10] there's no measure that you can say

[9:12] they're doing a sufficient job right now

[9:14] it continues to get worse um and the

[9:17] Investments aren't coming fast enough

[9:18] and Swift enough to take care of the

[9:20] issue but it doesn't mean we can't and

[9:22] we shouldn't um take mitigative measures

[9:26] in the meantime to allow those bus stops

[9:28] to remain for their use and support the

[9:30] people that need them so that's why I

[9:33] seconded the the motion and support it

[9:37] um share the frustration though 100% I

[9:39] think it's gone long past time where um

[9:43] excuses are acceptable when the

[9:45] Investments are only uh not even coming

[9:48] close to keeping up with the rapidly

[9:51] growing issues um that they present and

[9:54] when it goes from you know we talk about

[9:57] things like placemaking and place for

[9:59] community and connection and people

[10:00] coming together and we're having to

[10:02] remove those Investments that have been

[10:04] made in communities um because senior

[10:07] levels of government aren't carrying the

[10:09] weight so to speak when it comes to

[10:11] dealing with these issues um it's

[10:14] absolutely political and it's it's often

[10:16] set at this table and tables around the

[10:18] province um but um that doesn't mean we

[10:21] can't take mitigative actions uh as

[10:23] appropriate in the meantime thanks thank

[10:26] you looking online I have director

[10:28] Staples

[10:31] yeah thank you I mean it's this is

[10:35] something that no one wants to do I

[10:36] certainly I understand why this is being

[10:40] recommended and why we're most likely

[10:42] moving forward with this and it's you

[10:45] know it's heartbreaking it it's like

[10:48] how it's it's a you know this is

[10:50] impacting people who aren't then able to

[10:53] just access those that sort of basic

[10:55] shelter while they're waiting you know

[10:58] for

[11:00] um for

[11:01] Transit it's generally in impacting you

[11:05] know a lot of people that with less

[11:07] means as well um who are using Transit

[11:10] and relying on Transit and sometimes

[11:11] have to wait long periods of times for

[11:14] buses because we don't have you know for

[11:16] a lot of areas a robust um system and

[11:21] and at the same time I I hear and

[11:23] recognize and understand the challenges

[11:24] that are being faced I mean I get calls

[11:26] about those stations um quite often

[11:29] and images um and concerns that people

[11:34] have quite often and the fact remains

[11:38] that that a province as a province and a

[11:41] and a and a country this is a national

[11:43] issue that is not being dealt with

[11:45] adequately and so I support us writing

[11:48] something you know to um but I feel like

[11:52] how many times do we all have to write

[11:54] you know I've been to every conference

[11:56] I've been to since

[11:58] 2015 this

[12:59] is invested in properly in all of our

[13:02] communities um across BC and Canada

[13:06] because we we have to just take this

[13:09] head on and and finally do something to

[13:13] to to change what's happening out there

[13:15] it is just there are so many people

[13:17] suffering and there is just not enough

[13:20] being done and letters we write and

[13:22] meetings we go to and you know

[13:25] incremental changes are made but this

[13:27] needs to be addressed like the crisis

[13:30] that it

[13:31] is thank you I have a growing list I

[13:34] have director Morrison director toosi

[13:37] director Douglas and director

[13:39] martman I did miss you sorry uh director

[13:45] Morrison thank you chair um I I just I I

[13:49] think it's important that uh I

[13:51] appreciate what director Staples had to

[13:53] say and and um I'm increasingly uh

[13:57] wanting to rely more on on actions as as

[14:00] opposed to words and and note that we

[14:04] have a multi-million dollar transit

[14:07] system that is operated by or

[14:10] administered by a a very very small

[14:14] staff and I was here when we didn't have

[14:17] Transit shelters and and it was a big

[14:19] deal to get them but that's not their

[14:21] core um responsibility I'm far more

[14:25] interested in the work that they have to

[14:27] do to increase

[14:29] uh availability and get hours and and

[14:32] provide greater Service as opposed to

[14:35] the time and effort put into this is an

[14:37] important issue but it it's not our

[14:40] issue and I think that the action that

[14:42] we have to take is to remove the stops

[14:46] uh make them usable for our patrons and

[14:49] uh uh sure if we need to write a letter

[14:52] we write a letter but this this is this

[14:54] is our Transit staff engaging in a uh a

[14:59] a social problem that we have and I I'd

[15:01] rather have them focusing on the uh the

[15:03] business of operating our transit

[15:04] services thank you thank you director

[15:07] toosi next

[15:11] please thank you Mr chair um I will

[15:14] support this um motion to remove the

[15:18] buest shelters unfortunate that we do

[15:19] have to do this um but for safety

[15:23] reasons of our students that may be

[15:25] catching the bus or our constituents

[15:27] that are catching the bus to um having

[15:32] to be there and it's kind of you know

[15:36] it's it's sad to see happening um a

[15:39] quick search on the line it's happening

[15:42] all the way down to Arizona where all of

[15:44] you know the same kind of

[15:47] um scenes are rolling out in every

[15:51] community and I do

[15:54] um what I what I would like to see is uh

[15:58] May maybe a joint letter sent by

[16:03] cvd couch and tribes city of Duncan

[16:07] North couch and and Lady Smith signed

[16:10] this letter to say we would like to have

[16:14] um some help with this issue about

[16:17] trying to

[16:18] find um some Solutions on where we can

[16:22] actually send UNH housee people all year

[16:26] round with the services that that they

[16:30] need um I know it's it's a big a big ask

[16:34] but I think if all of us joined together

[16:37] in this effort it could could be

[16:41] done um I know that you know there's

[16:45] other things going on in the background

[16:49] on you know Social Services the the cuts

[16:53] to Social Services and and trying to you

[16:57] know work towards

[17:00] filling those gaps that are actually you

[17:04] know having people become unhoused so

[17:09] anyways um I'm hoping I'm not speaking

[17:12] out a term or anything but I just I just

[17:15] think that we just need to continue

[17:16] working on a solution with what we have

[17:20] and also just using our voices or

[17:23] political voices to to move that forward

[17:26] thank you thank you at the beginning of

[17:29] the meeting I forgot to acknowledge

[17:31] alternate director Harriet so welcome to

[17:34] the meeting and large shoes to Phill

[17:37] where you are sitting there now I've

[17:39] altered my list I didn't miss director

[17:42] ishd Das so I'll give him a chance to go

[17:44] and then Douglas and Hartman

[17:50] martman director ish Das thank you Mr

[17:53] chair uh just really quick I won't go

[17:56] over all the points that have been

[17:57] spoken I I I honestly I don't support

[18:00] the recommendation on the floor myself I

[18:02] would rather see a phased approach if

[18:04] possible I don't know what to design uh

[18:06] director aen did touch on it but I

[18:07] didn't hear the answer it was possibly

[18:09] where I was going was can we remove the

[18:11] walls and if that doesn't work then next

[18:14] we remove the benches but the entire

[18:17] shelter I think that's too radical and

[18:19] too fast even though I know there is

[18:21] safety concerns but I would rather try a

[18:24] few things differently than just an

[18:26] entire kneejerk all at one knee-jerk is

[18:29] probably a bad word because this is long

[18:31] been ongoing I just don't support the

[18:33] complete removal I just think of the

[18:35] many elders and as director AK can said

[18:38] as mothers and children there's a lot of

[18:39] people that don't have access I

[18:42] understand they don't can't use them I

[18:44] just using it as a protective shelter if

[18:47] we remove benches and walls first might

[18:50] make some change in there have we done

[18:52] that elsewhere so and I won't go over

[18:54] any other points because everybody spoke

[18:56] to that a great

[18:57] deal um Mr Mr chair through the director

[19:00] um you're not able to take portions of

[19:02] the shelter down it it it's it's it's

[19:04] structured so there's three sides to it

[19:06] and the roof the only thing that we

[19:08] could consider is leaving the bench and

[19:09] staff talked about that and we took in

[19:11] regards the comments that the uh in

[19:13] particular The Village Green mall um

[19:15] Property Management told us that where

[19:17] they had benches that's where these

[19:19] individuals are going to go they're

[19:20] going to try and get so it it it could

[19:21] be a phased approach we can try it if

[19:23] you'd like it's not a a major Time

[19:26] Savings to take the bench at the same

[19:28] time but we ultimately are recommending

[19:30] both if you choose to want to just take

[19:32] the shelter down and leave the bench

[19:33] there we could consider what the

[19:35] implications of that would be and

[19:36] potentially removing shelter or the

[19:38] bench or not at a future

[19:41] date thank you I have director

[19:46] martman uh thank you chair and you know

[19:50] yes many people have have a lot of

[19:52] experience in this I think and i' just

[19:55] maybe add another piece to it because

[19:58] you know they're people and everybody

[20:01] that uses the bus we care about

[20:04] everybody that has to use a shelter we

[20:06] care about and I don't think we're we're

[20:08] trying to make it to them and us I think

[20:10] it's trying to it's more of a we from

[20:12] what I'm hearing and I I struggle with

[20:15] this because I think of the person that

[20:17] has accessibility issues trying to get

[20:19] on a bus and having

[20:22] to they can't stand and wait um you know

[20:25] they have to sit um so you know removing

[20:29] everything for that um really

[20:32] discourages me for that person and I

[20:36] wonder you know I look at every bank has

[20:38] an ATM and every ATM is accessible and

[20:42] do can we go the other way where we can

[20:45] make it so to it's totally enclosed and

[20:47] you have access through your compass

[20:50] card or whatever you know means um has

[20:54] that been looked

[20:55] at uh Mr chair through to director Mar

[20:58] know that has not been looked at I don't

[20:59] know of a shelter and maybe Seth you may

[21:01] know of one I don't know of one where

[21:02] it's completely enclosed and you have I

[21:05] don't even know how you hand out passes

[21:06] to all it's a public transit system how

[21:08] would you hand out passes to you know

[21:10] whatever the number of riders we have I

[21:12] I don't know how that would work but

[21:13] Seth you know of a a shelter that would

[21:16] be something designed that way yeah the

[21:19] only par me in through the chair uh the

[21:21] only thing that I can think of is

[21:23] something like uh a brt station in a

[21:25] major Urban Metropolis in a place like

[21:27] South America where where there's an

[21:29] enclosed uh Fair paid Zone but I think

[21:32] that's not appropriate and hasn't been

[21:34] carried out in a small uh small town or

[21:37] or rural

[21:39] context and a followup if I may CH and I

[21:43] I guess the next thing I I guess I'm

[21:45] looking for thinking out of the box if

[21:48] we can and whether or not there's

[21:51] Partnerships out there where we could be

[21:53] located closer to somebody or somewhere

[21:56] that would uh make it a you know

[21:59] somewhere where you know those people

[22:00] with accessibility challenges or you

[22:03] know that can't have a place to sit

[22:05] nearby that wouldn't be you know a big

[22:08] challenge you know you may have to go a

[22:09] little bit further to when the bus

[22:11] arrives but and that may slow down the

[22:13] whole bus system specifically but I you

[22:17] know maybe there's something where there

[22:18] is a uh a you know way to work with some

[22:22] other close local I don't know if that's

[22:25] been looked at either and that's my last

[22:26] one thanks chair I Mr chair through to

[22:29] director marman so your your comments

[22:31] are are fair um I just don't think

[22:33] they're practical at this time like I

[22:35] think of the people with mobility issues

[22:37] right now they're not using the shelter

[22:38] they can't get in the shelters Andor

[22:40] they're feeling unsafe this is what

[22:41] we're hearing from customers when our

[22:43] staff go there and do inspections that's

[22:45] what they see so you know I if one if

[22:49] one course of action might be to leave

[22:51] the benches to potentially uh assist

[22:54] what you're looking to doing so we take

[22:55] the shelters down we leave the benches

[22:57] um staff's recommendation is it's only a

[22:59] matter of time and and the benches will

[23:01] probably need to be removed anyway but

[23:02] if the committee feels that might be a

[23:04] more um uh I don't W say softer approach

[23:07] but a more uh leveled approach we we

[23:10] could try that if you'd

[23:12] like I'm director Stone and director

[23:14] Acton thanks I I just want to thank

[23:17] director

[23:18] Staples and um martman for sort of

[23:20] humanizing the context like these folks

[23:22] are using the shelters for shelter for

[23:26] for their own protection because there's

[23:28] nothing adequate for them and that's

[23:30] really unfortunate but these are Transit

[23:32] shelters um when they're used in the way

[23:35] they're being used they're not

[23:36] accessible for their intended use so

[23:38] whether someone has accessibility issues

[23:40] or not when they can't use the shelter

[23:43] because it's being occupied um they're

[23:46] not there for shelter of people that are

[23:49] unhoused unfortunately they're there for

[23:52] people who need to use Transit and when

[23:54] they cannot use them and they're

[23:55] inaccessible for their intended use most

[23:58] of Transit stops do not have shelters

[24:00] nor do they have benches so the reality

[24:02] is is that Transit users are somewhat or

[24:06] with knowledge could be somewhat

[24:08] equipped um to the best of their own

[24:11] abilities to be able to actually use the

[24:12] transit sh system without a shelter um

[24:17] you know we can come up with uh a lot of

[24:19] ideas and and I just would Echo Mr

[24:23] wake's comments that it doesn't sound

[24:25] practical to me we need to take some

[24:27] action

[24:29] um I'll just leave it at that thank you

[24:32] very much director Acton

[24:35] please thank you um I've heard

[24:37] everyone's comments and I I appreciate

[24:40] them all and agree with them all um I do

[24:43] think though that with every maybe

[24:46] because this is the first time we're

[24:47] actually looking at this item but you

[24:50] know it's been going on for a long time

[24:52] and and we're trying to come up with a

[24:53] decision today I think we delay our

[24:55] decision for two months and we use this

[24:57] as an opportunity

[24:59] so we use this as an opportunity with

[25:01] our Communications Department and we

[25:03] really come out into the news into

[25:06] everywhere and and um make a stance like

[25:10] this this is connected to everything to

[25:12] our housing crisis to our Mental Health

[25:14] crisis drug crisis and enough is enough

[25:17] so we take this opportunity and we come

[25:20] out full full guns blazing to the

[25:22] provincial government and federal

[25:24] government and

[25:27] we demand some solutions that start to

[25:30] be implemented and then when when we're

[25:33] not at least we we wait for to be heard

[25:36] and we keep we keep the pressure on by

[25:39] now we're forced to remove the the the

[25:41] shelters because we're going to miss an

[25:43] opportunity what's going to happen is

[25:44] we're just going to remove the shelters

[25:46] and it's going to be uh somehow

[25:50] cbd's problem or BC Transit and and or

[25:53] not even problem that we just didn't

[25:55] consider uh you know the the person that

[25:58] director martman talked about and and

[26:00] like the mother that I talked about so I

[26:03] think um there's there's an order to do

[26:06] things and we work with Communications

[26:08] and turn this around into an

[26:12] opportunity thank you director Abbot

[26:14] please thank you chair and um Miss uh

[26:18] director Acton's remarks raised my

[26:21] concern every day we wait uh is another

[26:25] $500 pressure washing dipping into the

[26:27] reserves that BC Transit has at its

[26:30] disposal I think um the desire to bring

[26:34] to politicize this could be the very

[26:37] showcasing of us removing the shelters

[26:39] removing the benches using that as a

[26:41] message to Upper levels of government

[26:44] that suggests this is not the right

[26:46] course but it's the only course that we

[26:48] have to take as I drove in this morning

[26:50] across from Matrix marel uh no shelter

[26:53] and there was a couple standing with

[26:55] what I thought was insufficient clothes

[26:57] waiting for the bus there are as

[26:59] director um Stone has mentioned there

[27:02] are numerous shelters the bulk of the

[27:05] shelters do not have stops do not have

[27:07] shelters so removing a couple uh saving

[27:10] the transit authority the the resources

[27:12] that they desperately need at this point

[27:15] is is the message that we need to

[27:17] deliver the upper levels government

[27:18] thank you thank you director

[27:21] Seagal thanks I agree with everything

[27:24] that's been said I don't need to repeat

[27:25] any of that but I just was at the chair

[27:27] Cao BCM forum and connected with a

[27:30] number of chairs and other Regional

[27:32] districts so um in terms of this letter

[27:35] writing campaign I think we should reach

[27:38] out to other Regional districts that we

[27:39] know are having the same issues and have

[27:41] made you know potentially the same

[27:43] decisions and try to Lobby senior levels

[27:46] of government that

[27:48] way thank you looking around I put

[27:51] myself at the bottom of the list as a

[27:53] good chair

[27:54] would

[27:56] and that wasn't directed at than any

[27:58] other chairperson

[28:04] please this is true I could have done

[28:07] that but uh and called the question

[28:08] earlier

[28:10] but um just a point on on on my view of

[28:14] this I think it's imperative that the

[28:16] users of the system are provided a safe

[28:19] place to travel uh and unfortunately

[28:23] this is a reactive um stance that we're

[28:26] taking but it's one that we have been

[28:27] forced into to provide that safety to

[28:30] the users of the system uh it's as Mr

[28:35] um wake has said a very difficult topic

[28:39] to bring forward for the uh start of of

[28:41] our meeting but it's imperative that we

[28:43] do something aside from waiting I think

[28:47] the political uh portion of it will be

[28:50] the removal of those if that is the will

[28:53] of this board and that will uh bode well

[28:57] with uh followup of whether it be uh

[29:00] meetings with ministers or letters or

[29:03] whatever Avenue that we choose to do

[29:06] that we provide the safe operation of

[29:09] not only those who are traveling in

[29:11] there but the operators of the the

[29:14] system as well

[29:16] so any further

[29:18] input there is a motion on the floor

[29:22] could you reread

[29:23] that thank you Mr chair uh the

[29:26] recommendation before you is that it be

[29:29] recommended to the board that the

[29:32] transit shelters and benches located on

[29:35] James Street and Beverly Street be

[29:37] removed no not Beverly it's Village

[29:39] Green mall sorry Village Green

[29:42] mall uh clarification Bill Village Green

[29:47] and James

[29:49] Street ready for the question all those

[29:52] in

[29:53] favor

[29:54] opposed director ish Das and director o

[29:58] and are opposed that motion

[30:01] carries thank you Mr wakeen for that

[30:03] difficult

[30:05] discussion Miss

[30:08] Harrison thank you Mr

[30:12] CH director Nicholson I'm sorry thank

[30:15] you um so I'd like to move that um the

[30:20] regional district draft a letter to the

[30:22] minister or the premier and that they we

[30:26] request other jurisdictions in the cou

[30:27] and Val region District to sign on to

[30:30] that letter and that we also issue a

[30:33] develop a press release with including

[30:35] pictures that we've had in the thing to

[30:38] provide to the media so that this

[30:40] actually hits the newspaper and any

[30:44] other great ideas people I'd appreciate

[30:47] adding that to the motion thank you very

[30:49] much we were seconding that director

[30:51] Douglas comment who seconded director

[30:54] Acton I'll go to director Douglas and

[30:56] then

[30:57] n

[30:59] uh the the board chair is writing a

[31:01] letter to the uh Province regarding a

[31:05] permanent location more suitable

[31:07] permanent location for the Emergency

[31:10] warming Center and I'm just wondering if

[31:11] we want to send two separate letters to

[31:14] the province or or combine these I mean

[31:17] they are separate related issues but as

[31:19] is noted in the staff report many of the

[31:21] issues with the transit shelter at on

[31:24] James Street by couch and secondary

[31:26] school are related to the uh opening of

[31:29] the emergency warming Center uh at the

[31:32] couch Community Center in December so we

[31:35] we could we could obviously send two

[31:36] separate letters but we we could also

[31:38] send this in one letter to the province

[31:40] um highlighting uh the current

[31:43] challenges with these uh Transit stop

[31:46] stops as being connected to uh our

[31:48] decision to put the emergency warming

[31:50] Center at the community center would

[31:53] that be um amicable to you director

[31:56] Nicholson to add that

[31:58] topic to the already letter that is

[32:01] being sent regarding a permanent home um

[32:05] I would look to staff Communications for

[32:08] advice on this because actually maybe

[32:11] having them respond to two three five

[32:14] different letters might be more

[32:16] effective than one where you bundle

[32:18] everything up and part of the trick when

[32:20] you write letters to the provinces to

[32:22] ask them to respond to your concerns and

[32:25] what they're going to do about it so uh

[32:27] like we need to get smarter about this I

[32:30] agree completely with director Acton

[32:33] so I don't know oh thank you uh director

[32:37] iskash thank you chair uh it's not so

[32:41] much about the it's comment on the the

[32:43] letter going to the ministry and higher

[32:45] levels of government but uh I would just

[32:49] urge a proactive press release and

[32:51] getting ahead of this prior because I

[32:54] think this uh we see all the news media

[32:57] on on the uh emergency warming shelter

[33:00] and the inability to find a long-term

[33:03] secure space some people view these that

[33:06] maybe it's not being used as Transit but

[33:07] at least it's providing shelter and

[33:09] these people will now move to the

[33:11] overhangs on businesses and affect local

[33:13] businesses and other areas where public

[33:15] are already Gathering so I think this is

[33:17] something that possibly staff and the

[33:19] board might want to get ahead of and let

[33:21] the public know that this action is

[33:23] being taken and the difficult decision

[33:25] that it was thank you dor Staples

[33:31] online I think writing one letter that

[33:34] connects them makes the most sense um

[33:37] and just having it in different sections

[33:39] and and

[33:40] also that that request you know there's

[33:44] a request for a followup to meet with um

[33:47] the leaders in our

[33:48] communities and um the excuse me the

[33:52] Coalition of the minister um and the

[33:56] premier to move move forward on some of

[33:59] the actions that we need in our

[34:01] community there's a lot of work being

[34:02] done to um you know

[34:06] to come up with what we what we actually

[34:09] need as a region and so I would just

[34:12] hate to have kind of these things

[34:14] disconnected from each other because

[34:16] they all are connected and I think one

[34:18] letter is actually better because of

[34:19] that um but also just to acknowledge

[34:22] somehow in that letter and and I'm happy

[34:24] to speak to the chair uh about you know

[34:27] what is going on that we can actually

[34:30] advocate for and having a meeting with

[34:32] all of us again whether it's at you know

[34:34] ubcm still far away but we're close to

[34:37] Victoria so we can head down there and

[34:39] have a discussion with them at any time

[34:42] I think is really important we're in an

[34:44] election year and to you know be able to

[34:47] establish some form of a commitment um

[34:50] would be ideal for more investment in

[34:54] our region and not even just in our

[34:56] region I don't even want to say that any

[34:57] more just more investment to actually

[34:59] addressing this as a as a province I

[35:03] mean we have to this has to be one of

[35:06] the number one um investment areas that

[35:09] that needs to be moved on quickly

[35:12] because of the we're losing people every

[35:14] day people are dying families are

[35:17] suffering people are losing their

[35:19] housing and and on and on it goes and I

[35:21] don't won't repeat what I said earlier

[35:24] uh other than to say when we write this

[35:27] what whatever it is that we write we

[35:28] need to make sure that it is connecting

[35:30] in with um you know the the next best

[35:33] best steps for us to get an audience to

[35:37] bring forward what our region needs

[35:39] thank you thank you so the motion is to

[35:43] write a separate

[35:44] letter uh pertaining to this topic uh

[35:48] there was discussion about including

[35:50] that in a letter that you already are

[35:52] Penning uh about a permanent warming

[35:54] Center uh director Stone please yes and

[35:57] I don't want to lose sight of like I've

[35:59] heard comments around the table like it

[36:00] doesn't take there's been tons of news

[36:03] coverage on this in every community in

[36:05] this province there's been a ton of

[36:08] coverage of just search Transit shelter

[36:09] remove on Google News um it's across the

[36:12] country um leadership in senior

[36:15] government are well aware of the issues

[36:18] um and I don't mean to sound jaded but

[36:21] we can write letters until our hands are

[36:24] broken and bleeding that doesn't mean we

[36:26] don't continue to do it and continue to

[36:28] Advocate but some of the commentary I

[36:31] heard felt insulting to me that

[36:33] there's uh more work needs to be done at

[36:36] the local level um there are people on

[36:38] this board that spend days of every

[36:41] single week like when you sum the hours

[36:44] up of their work week working on this

[36:47] issue in particular um and it's been

[36:50] ongoing for years so the failure is not

[36:53] at the advocacy level on this issue the

[36:55] failure is not at the

[36:58] uh media level on this issue because if

[37:01] you search cowch and Duncan uh lady

[37:05] Smith Victoria N IMO uh

[37:08] unhoused uh drug crisis um there's

[37:12] multiple articles every week in the

[37:14] media about these issues um it takes the

[37:19] the broader Community to hold um

[37:24] government accountable for this and to

[37:26] say that it's important

[37:28] um and it is an election year so um

[37:31] absolutely support separate letters

[37:34] summary letters um and I'll I'll happily

[37:37] assist in Penning and signing all of

[37:39] those letters um and the meetings and

[37:42] the advocacy because we're in them all

[37:44] the time um but until senior government

[37:50] is is pressed on this as the biggest

[37:53] issue they need to deal with um we're

[37:56] not going to see see change you know I

[37:58] feel like this is a little bit of

[37:59] Groundhog Day because these kinds of

[38:01] conversations have been happening for

[38:02] years um and yet like I said at the very

[38:05] beginning the problem only continues to

[38:07] get worse so I support a separate letter

[38:09] and I'll also include this information

[38:11] in other letters um that are being sent

[38:14] but um you know I just think it's

[38:17] important to recognize the really hard

[38:19] work that has been done by people that

[38:20] sit at this table and our staff on these

[38:23] issues uh and not forget that thanks

[38:27] thank you thank you I'm going to test

[38:28] the floor are you ready for the question

[38:30] separate letter be

[38:32] sent all in

[38:34] favor opposed if any that motion carries

[38:38] thank you very much moving on Miss

[38:42] Harrison thank you Mr chair uh the next

[38:46] item on the agenda is the report from

[38:48] the facilities and Transit division

[38:51] regarding uh three-year Transit

[38:53] expansion request for 2024 to 202 7 and

[38:58] that's an update on that process is this

[39:00] a good news story Mr wake part partially

[39:03] partially good news about news director

[39:05] Stone indicates yes so this is for

[39:07] information as well the good news is um

[39:09] we were successful in receiving

[39:10] provincial funding for two of our

[39:12] service requests so this is custom

[39:13] service or handy Dart um The Province

[39:16] supported 1400 hours um for that service

[39:19] that is scheduled to commence in

[39:20] September and an additional 500 hours

[39:23] for our inter regional service to n and

[39:25] the ncx for uh I believe it's two return

[39:28] trips on Fridays and Saturday evenings

[39:29] so that's good news um the unfortunate

[39:32] part is we didn't receive uh funding for

[39:35] what's badly needed in my opinion is our

[39:37] conventional service we asked for 2,700

[39:39] hours this is the third year in a row

[39:41] that we've asked for conventional

[39:42] service funding that we did not receive

[39:45] um I gone back to double check we

[39:47] actually our our last conventional

[39:49] service expansion didn't happen until

[39:51] 2018 um when we got 1500 so

[39:53] unfortunately the pandemic hit and so

[39:55] there was really no uh need quite

[39:59] frankly to get additional Service uh

[40:00] during a couple years of that but

[40:02] unfortunately 3 years in a row the

[40:03] province has said no to our request um

[40:06] and for me this is really disappointing

[40:07] for for staff and particular and of

[40:10] course the residents particularly for

[40:11] all the planning work and public

[40:13] engagements for the last year to year

[40:14] and a half that staff have been doing

[40:15] with BC Transit and and um and the

[40:19] residents on this and so what's also

[40:21] included in the report is attachment C

[40:23] and it explains BC transits expansion

[40:25] service evaluation process that they use

[40:28] to recommend which regions and services

[40:31] uh do receive funding um and and as the

[40:34] report indicated we understand the

[40:35] province has had a tremendous amount of

[40:37] expansion hour requests I'm led to

[40:38] believe about two and a half times the

[40:40] normal um which also to me is not really

[40:42] surprising in light of um many regions

[40:45] that were coming out of the pandemic uh

[40:47] the ridership has starting to rebound

[40:49] their population growth is going

[40:51] continued Improvement to assist with the

[40:53] reduction of greenhouse gas and and all

[40:55] the appropriate environmental uh

[40:58] factors that we plugged into it which

[41:00] support Transit um so to me it wasn't

[41:02] surprising the province got a huge

[41:03] request from many regions um but there's

[41:06] two key factors that I'll try and

[41:08] address here and then if I need a little

[41:10] bit more assistance I'll call upon Seth

[41:12] there's two factors that BC Transit has

[41:13] to look at which is different than

[41:15] they've done in the past because they're

[41:17] they're dealing with a bit of a

[41:18] transition of their Fleet but firstly is

[41:20] ridership and I've said this many times

[41:22] due to the couch and region being so

[41:24] spread out with not a large Metropolis

[41:26] of population

[41:28] um we don't score too highly on a

[41:30] ridership or a ridership cost recovery

[41:33] um and to me it's about that's why it

[41:35] speaks we need more service we need more

[41:37] frequency of our bus I look at some of

[41:39] our areas and particularly in the South

[41:41] it's going to be a struggle to see

[41:43] improvements without more additional

[41:44] hours and we've tried to Advocate that

[41:46] to BC Transit I think they understand

[41:48] but they have to go through their

[41:50] scoring mechanism however they do to

[41:52] decide what regions receive funding the

[41:55] second part that is a challenge for them

[41:57] is um they have to strategize which

[42:00] regions get funding and it's it's

[42:02] partially because of if you get

[42:04] expansion small amount of hours don't

[42:07] necessarily require another bus but at

[42:09] certain levels approximately 2500 hours

[42:12] it uh BC Transit Fleet um U procedure

[42:15] means you need to add another bus well

[42:17] they're in this situation right now

[42:19] they're trying to transition their Fleet

[42:20] into electric and CNG and for some

[42:24] places that uh don't have that quite

[42:26] ready they're likely going to have to

[42:28] incur along with local governments large

[42:31] increases to extend the life of the

[42:33] buses so if we're not ready for electric

[42:35] yet or CNG and our buses are due to be

[42:37] replaced our next ones are on the

[42:39] commuter buses they're due to be

[42:40] replaced in 2028 and if there's not CG

[42:44] or there's not electric well what are we

[42:45] going to do um my understanding is the

[42:47] BC Transit is not ordering any more

[42:49] fossil fuel buses for uh or diesel or

[42:52] gas for um heavy duty or medium duty

[42:55] Fleet so then they're like going to have

[42:57] to do some fairly large uh renovations

[42:59] to the buses to extend their life um and

[43:02] so that's my understanding of the

[43:04] Dilemma BC transit in and we're just

[43:06] really in an unfortunate situation as I

[43:07] said I'm I'm I've U expressed my dis my

[43:11] displeasure to to bect that I'm you know

[43:15] really disappointed with all the

[43:16] planning work we've done our Transit

[43:17] future action plan local area Health

[43:19] couching plan we did an optimization

[43:22] plan to look at could we reallocate ours

[43:25] within the region and that came back

[43:27] there's winners and losers if you take

[43:29] from one region that's not doing well

[43:30] and gave it to a region that needs it um

[43:33] it's not going to sit well and quite

[43:35] frankly the summation said you need

[43:37] significant hours so you can't make a

[43:39] whole lot of improvement without

[43:41] significant hours so they know our

[43:42] situation um um that's kind of where

[43:46] we're sitting with this and it's going

[43:48] to be a little interesting because in

[43:50] another couple months we're going to

[43:52] come back with the next three-year ask

[43:54] in front of you again which typically we

[43:56] would roll over the same ask we've asked

[43:59] we may even ask to increase that number

[44:01] because we're we're getting backlogged

[44:03] we were trying to do an improvement in

[44:04] 2024 one in 2025 one 2026 because we

[44:07] don't get anything in 2024 maybe we'll

[44:09] put 24 and 25 together but we'll have to

[44:12] see what BC Transit is able to do with

[44:15] uh I know there was various regions and

[44:16] many on the island that receive no

[44:18] conventional surface expansion either so

[44:20] it is just for your information um

[44:23] that's the the good news and the bad

[44:24] news on expansion thank you I have

[44:27] director Stone and then Morrison anyone

[44:29] else while I'm looking

[44:30] around uh well thankful for the ncx

[44:33] stuff but I I I recognize based on our

[44:36] experience I think it's been proven out

[44:37] in elsewhere that unfunctional Roots

[44:39] don't get ridership right so it's like

[44:41] the chicken in the egg scenario

[44:42] especially those South End routes like

[44:44] that milk run is not functional right if

[44:47] you're um well it's just like a one-way

[44:49] Loop right um yeah it's just if you're

[44:53] if you want to get into town and you're

[44:54] on the southbound you know initiating on

[44:57] the southbound part of that routee you

[44:59] got a long run to get into town you

[45:01] better off walk in the other direction

[45:05] um so you know I think we all recognize

[45:08] that and it's been proven out in changes

[45:09] we've made over the years um I just want

[45:11] to ask did the reduction for the ncx

[45:14] fair get missed reduction sorry I'm

[45:18] going to keep pushing on that because

[45:19] the number one feedback I get about ncx

[45:21] is it's just too expensive I just lost

[45:23] an employee yesterday who gave notice

[45:25] because the um ncx monthly pass was too

[45:29] expensive um and they they live in Nimo

[45:33] so um it's hurting people because it's

[45:36] just way too expensive um both the

[45:38] monthly passes and the daily

[45:40] fair I think I see the ridership there I

[45:43] see the people on the bus that's great

[45:45] but I think we could really fill those

[45:47] buses and get better cost recovery if we

[45:49] could just lower that darn fair I would

[45:52] use a different exploitive than darn but

[45:53] I'm in a public meeting thanks for not

[45:55] using that exploitive

[45:57] Mr chair just a response through to

[45:59] director Stone I totally Echo your

[46:01] comments and totally support it I can

[46:02] tell you that we've had our first uh

[46:04] meeting with PC transit to go over so

[46:07] both regions the the rdn and the cvrd

[46:09] we're going through a fair review

[46:10] process and we just started our first

[46:11] meeting so this is all our Affairs and

[46:13] we of course have that partnership with

[46:14] the ncx um my understanding from both

[46:17] staff sides both would like to see a

[46:19] reduction of the ncx um we don't know

[46:21] what that means if you drop it from what

[46:23] it is now to what it comes down there

[46:26] may be an increase and and probably

[46:28] would optimistically of more Riders but

[46:30] it's going to put a large it's going to

[46:31] put a burden on the tax base right

[46:32] you're not going to receive at all um

[46:34] but that process two things we were

[46:35] reminded by BCT is that our Fair review

[46:40] would uh which is going to happen over

[46:41] the next couple months with the intent

[46:43] to um seek board's approval but not to

[46:47] commence until April 1 of 2025 and the

[46:49] reason for that is because the funding

[46:51] we got when the pandemic hit the

[46:53] province gave us pretty significant

[46:55] funding to help us through the ways when

[46:57] a ridership went down and the condition

[46:59] was you could not increase fairs more

[47:00] than 2.3% anom so the most would be a

[47:04] nickel on Two and a quarter we could

[47:05] raise it at nickel which may or may not

[47:08] be worthwhile at this time it's not a

[47:09] significant amount so we all felt with

[47:12] it doesn't make sense to bring forth in

[47:14] a couple months let's raise fairs

[47:16] potentially by

[47:17] 2.3% um it makes more sense to have a

[47:20] more uh robust uh Fair adjustments

[47:23] whatever those are for April of next

[47:25] year the ncx uh interestingly enough uh

[47:28] Mr Stone as you know is we're

[47:29] recommending a reduction staff are

[47:31] saying a reduction to BCT so they're

[47:33] going through that exercise right now is

[47:34] to what would be some various options we

[47:37] also recognize something you've brought

[47:39] up in the past is mainly around the

[47:40] students the fair for the students is um

[47:43] it is a reduction of course from the

[47:45] regular but we're also looking at what

[47:46] could we do what could they do um to

[47:49] propose that both the cvrd and the ardn

[47:52] have to agree on right so right now the

[47:54] three entities are are targeting April 1

[47:56] of next year the ask did go out to BCT

[48:00] could we potentially look at the ncx

[48:02] separately and if it was a reduction

[48:04] could we do that and they're still um

[48:06] mulling that over so I don't have a

[48:07] particular answer on that for you great

[48:09] thank you director Morrison

[48:12] next thank you chair um I'm kind of more

[48:15] interested in how we can help staff to

[48:19] help Seth to uh have some uh

[48:23] modification of this uh scoring system

[48:25] that you're using because

[48:27] it's it's become apparent that um you

[48:31] know we've gone through the covid

[48:33] recovery phase and and I can tell you

[48:36] that from my area's perspective and it's

[48:39] already been noted about the south end

[48:41] that there's you know desperate

[48:44] Improvement needed and I I'm saddened

[48:47] because the the approach and the views

[48:50] about transit in uh in my area is that

[48:54] it's the absolute Last Resort short that

[48:57] people will look to uh Transit as as an

[48:59] option and you know we've always tried

[49:03] to make uh Transit a viable option for

[49:06] people to you know live work and play

[49:09] and and shop and the likes and uh it's

[49:11] just not viewed that way and and with

[49:15] and this is another one of those words

[49:16] versus actions because you know clearly

[49:19] it looks like the province is really

[49:22] interested in transit as uh a key

[49:24] component of their Environmental

[49:27] strategy and ghg reduction strategy but

[49:29] they're leaving entire communities

[49:32] behind and and as I said my community

[49:35] looks at Transit as well if you really

[49:37] have to so you know we've got to somehow

[49:41] get BC transit to understand that

[49:44] investments in these areas will make a

[49:47] big difference and we used to joke about

[49:49] fuel being at a a buck 50 a lader would

[49:52] drive people in droves to uh to Transit

[49:56] it's 94 a lader going up on April 1st

[49:59] even higher and uh you know people just

[50:02] don't look at it as a viable option so

[50:04] anything that we can do to help BC

[50:07] Transit look at modifying the scoring

[50:10] system I think is huge because we can't

[50:12] continue going along this path of trying

[50:15] to make improvements but not have the

[50:18] hours thank you more of a comment and a

[50:21] question there

[50:23] so I can

[50:25] um I give response here I I think the

[50:28] position is uh we're we're we're

[50:30] supportive of that because I think of

[50:31] our residents that are relying on

[50:33] Transit and and staff and the board are

[50:35] trying to get we we've taxed our

[50:37] residents we've put it in our budget but

[50:39] unfortunately we have to wait for the

[50:40] province to tell us what they're going

[50:41] to do um and so this I said is three

[50:43] years in a row of of unsuccessful

[50:45] attempts and so um we're trying to get a

[50:48] better service for our residents we

[50:50] can't I have expressed uh when I met

[50:52] with Seth last week um saying that there

[50:55] there's got to be a different way the BC

[50:56] has to look at the regions that did not

[50:58] receive conventional service and why

[51:01] can't they be looked at as sort of the

[51:03] first entity but I can't speak for their

[51:05] process um it might have Merit uh

[51:08] director uh Morrison to potentially the

[51:10] cvrd write a letter to BCT Andor The

[51:12] Province indicating our I don't want to

[51:14] put words in your mouth but indicating

[51:16] sort of our dissatisfaction with what's

[51:17] happened for three years in a row and

[51:19] how badly we need the transit service

[51:21] all the planning that we have worked and

[51:23] the hours spent with BC Transit and some

[51:25] public consultation and First Nations

[51:27] group um seems to be just stagnant and

[51:29] it's it's really disheartening to go

[51:31] through it and not wave that you know

[51:33] the the the the you know the candy in

[51:35] front of the in front of the people but

[51:37] to sort of give them a feeling that yes

[51:38] we're going to improve Transit and our

[51:40] hands are tied because we can't so it

[51:42] might have some Merit in potentially

[51:44] writing a letter um that would be the

[51:47] committee's uh that be your

[51:50] direction your

[51:52] pleasure good for good for now we'll

[51:55] keep that uh in the back of our minds

[51:58] for future

[52:00] consideration seeing no other

[52:03] input thank you very much Mr wakeen

[52:05] thank you and with that I I think a

[52:08] 10-minute break is in order stretch our

[52:11] legs etc etc so we'll see you back at

[52:21] 10:50 yeah stabus is running it now so

[52:25] yeah it's you know it'll go weave it way

[52:27] through the courts and

[52:29] stuff

[52:55] yeah

[53:06] mention the BC can

[53:10] May online forums for colle

[53:25] officials

[53:27] just got it in minutes

[53:32] ago sounds

[53:55] good

[54:25] start

[54:50] okay I know Jeff Jeff's daughter and my

[54:54] daughter are good friends and

[55:25] world

[55:55] would

[56:25] the

[56:50] I think it's

[56:52] okay somebody's got a hot

[56:55] mic

[57:25] I

[57:55] e

[58:25] for

[59:25] e

[59:55] for

[1:00:55] e

[1:01:24] for

[1:01:54] e

[1:02:54] for

[1:03:24] e

[1:03:54] for

[1:04:18] are you there director

[1:04:21] marman does the the display look any

[1:04:23] better to you now do you see more people

[1:04:27] no I don't even see you

[1:04:34] now come again I could didn't hear

[1:04:37] you sorry I I don't even I know I don't

[1:04:40] see you I just see oh I see you now I

[1:04:43] see you and I see nope you're gone again

[1:04:46] I saw Deborah for a second oh there's

[1:04:48] Deborah you guys are playing with me or

[1:04:50] at well I put on my I took it off I put

[1:04:55] it off and I think that's what mle just

[1:04:58] did too but I I was having trouble on my

[1:05:01] computer as well I just went up to the

[1:05:03] layout button and started fiddling

[1:05:05] around with it and went to full

[1:05:07] screen I don't know if that'll

[1:05:10] help I

[1:05:13] quiet very quiet hard to hear you when

[1:05:16] you're speaking me or Deborah both of

[1:05:21] you oh okay how am

[1:05:24] I

[1:05:26] can you hear me Tim

[1:05:29] yes I think it's something with the

[1:05:31] speakers because it it comes out of this

[1:05:33] speaker but sometimes it comes out of

[1:05:35] those speakers and then right when

[1:05:36] they're talking it stops coming out of

[1:05:37] those speakers so it's the mysteries of

[1:05:40] the boardroom ghost Mysteries I think

[1:05:43] we're going to start the hamsters

[1:05:49] again now reconvene into the committee

[1:05:52] of the whole and moving on Miss Harrison

[1:05:55] our next item please uh thank you Mr

[1:05:57] chair our next item is a report from the

[1:06:00] Environmental Services Division

[1:06:02] regarding drinking water and Watershed

[1:06:04] Protection Program

[1:06:06] update good

[1:06:09] morning good morning uh Mr chair what I

[1:06:13] just want to just briefly the next two

[1:06:15] items are coming from the Environmental

[1:06:17] Services Division and I'll let Mr Moore

[1:06:20] and Mr Lawrence present the uh the uh

[1:06:23] reports there and updates but I also

[1:06:25] wanted to share with the board just that

[1:06:27] we are uh in April we'll be we'll be

[1:06:30] commencing our uh corly strategic uh

[1:06:34] reporting so a lot of the information uh

[1:06:36] Rel that is part of the Strategic uh uh

[1:06:39] plan will be begin to be reported out to

[1:06:42] the board in that process as well but we

[1:06:44] wanted to bring this information as a a

[1:06:47] regular update as I know that it is a a

[1:06:49] priority of the board right now and we

[1:06:51] we can certainly answer any questions

[1:06:53] today um but we'll also have some

[1:06:55] regular updates moving forward and I'll

[1:06:57] talk about that in uh during the April

[1:06:59] uh uh meeting there so I'll hand it over

[1:07:03] to Mr Moore for the first uh item there

[1:07:06] thank you very much for the

[1:07:11] introduction okay thank you uh is there

[1:07:14] a way to bring up the presentation

[1:07:24] here

[1:07:26] this doesn't seem to control anything

[1:07:37] here it's frozen is

[1:07:54] it

[1:07:58] little technical difficulty just bear

[1:08:00] with us and we'll get that up as soon as

[1:08:18] possible I I can begin with just a bit

[1:08:21] of an introduction uh and try to

[1:08:23] remember what's in the uh the slides

[1:08:24] here while we're waiting at and

[1:08:25] hopefully they can catch up uh the the

[1:08:28] purpose of this report today is uh is

[1:08:30] just to provide an update to the

[1:08:32] committee on uh some of the activities

[1:08:34] we've been doing with the uh drinking

[1:08:35] water and Watershed Protection Program

[1:08:38] and what some of our priorities are for

[1:08:40] for

[1:08:40] 2024 um so uh as a bit of background um

[1:08:45] the the program came into effect uh

[1:08:47] after a successful referendum in 2018

[1:08:50] and then the uh the first step was

[1:08:51] really to uh develop a drinking water

[1:08:54] and Watershed protection uh 10-year plan

[1:08:57] and that was done with a a process that

[1:08:59] involved a community uh input and

[1:09:01] Technical working group and that uh that

[1:09:04] plan uh came up with uh three program

[1:09:08] areas um basically uh Watershed science

[1:09:13] is one of them that has a lot of the

[1:09:15] focus in terms of actions of learning

[1:09:17] the background and then there's

[1:09:18] communicating out that information and

[1:09:21] uh to the public and then taking action

[1:09:23] to make sure that the the science we get

[1:09:26] actually gets used keep

[1:09:28] talking your

[1:09:33] places and within each of those three

[1:09:35] program areas there was a series of uh

[1:09:37] of priority uh actions that are

[1:09:39] identified so we'll be able to uh to

[1:09:41] bring that up uh hopefully here and then

[1:09:44] um recognizing that the these 10e these

[1:09:47] uh priority actions were intended to

[1:09:49] take place over the first 10 years of

[1:09:51] the program um the other thing that came

[1:09:53] out uh was a series of priority uh

[1:09:57] actions that for um IM immediate

[1:10:00] implementation or things that we could

[1:10:01] try to kick off within ideally the first

[1:10:03] two years of the program uh it's been

[1:10:05] going a little longer than that and and

[1:10:06] we're still working on that uh looking

[1:10:09] back I see that the the last update that

[1:10:11] was provided to the board was actually

[1:10:14] um in September of 2022 so that would

[1:10:17] have been to the previous board so so

[1:10:18] some of this will be be new to the

[1:10:20] others um basically what we were trying

[1:10:23] to do with the drinking water and

[1:10:25] Watershed Protection Program in the

[1:10:27] initial stages um was uh was staff up

[1:10:30] the program and develop the plans to

[1:10:32] move forward uh the the first item

[1:10:35] within within the priority actions was

[1:10:37] uh was to hire a program coordinator um

[1:10:40] we're still trying to to accomplish that

[1:10:43] it's very challenging to find uh someone

[1:10:45] that has all the skills that we need for

[1:10:47] that uh what we have moved forward with

[1:10:49] is hiring a technician for the program

[1:10:52] um who has been really instrumental in

[1:10:54] uh in moving the pr program forward and

[1:10:56] and seeing that we are starting to get

[1:10:58] out into the field doing the water

[1:11:00] sampling preparing some Outreach

[1:11:02] materials and things like that a couple

[1:11:04] of the other priorities that we've

[1:11:06] completed is some of these plans and

[1:11:08] strategies so a uh uh surface water

[1:11:12] quality uh strategy has been completed

[1:11:15] and we're actually implementing that

[1:11:16] we're out in the field uh doing water

[1:11:19] quality sampling we're actually out uh

[1:11:21] Monday and Tuesday all day doing the the

[1:11:23] spring sampling so that'll complete our

[1:11:25] first first year of sampling and we're

[1:11:26] really excited to see the results on

[1:11:28] that um the other one was the

[1:11:30] hydrometric uh monitoring strategy

[1:11:32] across the region has been completed and

[1:11:34] we're looking at ways to implement that

[1:11:36] um the the third piece that uh we've

[1:11:38] heard a lot of calls for this is uh is

[1:11:42] for the um the groundwater quality

[1:11:45] strategy so that is a high priority item

[1:11:48] for this year and uh the RFQ RFQ for

[1:11:52] that one sorry uh should be going out uh

[1:11:55] any day for that so we hope to move

[1:11:57] forward with that very soon um chase

[1:12:01] this is the other presentation I don't

[1:12:04] know if we can get to the uh the

[1:12:06] drinking water

[1:12:24] one

[1:12:36] just got to make sure we share

[1:12:49] it good to

[1:12:51] go okay thank you very much I'll skip

[1:12:54] through uh through most of this because

[1:12:56] I have gone through it and I can come

[1:12:58] back if there's any questions on

[1:13:02] it um so uh Ju Just quickly a background

[1:13:06] on the the program itself uh this is the

[1:13:08] goal a fairly simple goal that we're

[1:13:10] looking for healthy watersheds and aqua

[1:13:12] but there's a lot behind that there's a

[1:13:14] series of objectives that are intended

[1:13:16] to be the steps that we take towards

[1:13:18] meeting that that overall goal of

[1:13:20] healthy watersheds and

[1:13:22] aquifers several guiding principles of

[1:13:24] of how the program operates in terms

[1:13:26] that it it's partnership based and and

[1:13:29] we're a really small division the

[1:13:30] program is still really small so we can

[1:13:32] get a lot more done if we work with

[1:13:34] Community groups that are out there in

[1:13:35] the field and have a lot of the

[1:13:37] expertise the enthusiasm to uh to work

[1:13:39] together with this so uh setting up

[1:13:41] Partnerships to work with with groups in

[1:13:43] the community uh we're action oriented

[1:13:45] and I mentioned this that the uh the

[1:13:47] science that we do the information we

[1:13:49] collect we want it to be used to inform

[1:13:51] policy and and planning decisions within

[1:13:53] the region uh adaptive and continuous

[1:13:56] Improvement uh we don't have all the

[1:13:58] information yet our understanding is

[1:14:00] going to change as as we gather more

[1:14:02] information and we try and we learn what

[1:14:04] what's going to work uh in terms of

[1:14:06] watershed management and uh just

[1:14:08] performance standards that it's

[1:14:09] important for this to be be high quality

[1:14:12] I touch briefly on the program areas

[1:14:15] these are the uh the priority actions

[1:14:17] for the first 10 years so so a lot of

[1:14:19] the the really key pieces and then the

[1:14:22] uh the priorities for early

[1:14:24] implementation so uh catching up where I

[1:14:26] was here that we've filled the tech

[1:14:27] position got the uh surface water

[1:14:30] quality and hydrometric monitoring

[1:14:32] qualities complete and the groundwater

[1:14:34] is a priority for 2024 um in terms of

[1:14:37] setting up a data management strategy

[1:14:39] data warehousing and access that's a a

[1:14:42] big piece it's ongoing with a lot of

[1:14:44] connections to uh you know our it

[1:14:46] capacity uh within the cvrd there were

[1:14:49] recommendations within the hydrometric

[1:14:50] monitoring strategy there a and some of

[1:14:53] the data at at the moment the water

[1:14:55] quality sampling we've partnered with

[1:14:56] the province so that data is all in the

[1:14:58] provincial EMS system and can be shared

[1:15:01] out anyone can go take a look at the

[1:15:03] results that we're

[1:15:05] collecting uh the other priorities for

[1:15:07] early implementation um is identifying

[1:15:10] gaps and existing monitoring networks so

[1:15:13] that this is sort of opportunistic when

[1:15:15] we uh see an opportunity and as we have

[1:15:17] more capacity we'll keep building out

[1:15:19] these hydrometric monitoring stations

[1:15:21] whether those are gauges in rivers or or

[1:15:24] monitoring Wells

[1:15:26] establishing Partnerships um so we've

[1:15:28] brought a number of these agreements

[1:15:29] forth to the board already Partnerships

[1:15:31] with the CCH and Watershed board

[1:15:33] shanigan Basin society and the

[1:15:35] partnership for water sustainability and

[1:15:38] BC um and there's still uh possibilities

[1:15:41] for uh for other Partnerships there uh

[1:15:43] we did a preliminary screening on

[1:15:45] high-risk watersheds and now we need to

[1:15:47] look at flushing that out but that that

[1:15:49] was the priority uh supporting uh

[1:15:52] planning with the the mocp and where we

[1:15:55] can bring in some of this Watershed

[1:15:56] knowledge uh into the planning process

[1:15:59] is ongoing and then another priority for

[1:16:01] 2024 is establishing the technical

[1:16:04] advisory team to guide the work of the

[1:16:06] program um there was a a committee to

[1:16:09] develop the the strategy so that needs

[1:16:12] to now evolve into the uh the group to

[1:16:14] monitor the plan and um provide the

[1:16:17] ongoing guidance so we'll be we

[1:16:19] continuing with the terms of reference

[1:16:20] for that and seeking membership to get

[1:16:22] that up and running and then a couple of

[1:16:25] other priorities that weren't on that

[1:16:26] initial list um but have risen to the to

[1:16:29] the top as priorities is things like the

[1:16:32] uh Cella uh Watershed planning process

[1:16:35] participating in that seeing what the uh

[1:16:37] the cvr's role is in that really

[1:16:39] exciting process um and continuing on

[1:16:42] with the the work towards replacing the

[1:16:44] cin Lake Weir and the other Associated

[1:16:47] uh projects to the dmap in terms of

[1:16:49] works in the mid and Lower River um the

[1:16:52] water quality sampling I mentioned uh is

[1:16:54] ongoing three times a year on streams

[1:16:57] and rivers and then uh hopefully

[1:16:59] expanding that uh into Lake sampling and

[1:17:02] groundwater as well as we have the

[1:17:04] capacity and then exploring other

[1:17:06] opportunities um there there's been a

[1:17:08] lot of talk uh that we can look and see

[1:17:11] what opportunities there may be for uh

[1:17:14] some sort of incentives for water

[1:17:15] conservation rainwater harvesting

[1:17:18] there's a a lot of interest in that so

[1:17:21] if there is some direction we can

[1:17:23] explore that and then also uh there's

[1:17:26] some opportunities we've just heard

[1:17:27] about meeting with the province uh

[1:17:29] grants for agricultural water storage

[1:17:32] and just looking uh at various uh ways

[1:17:34] we can address some of the challenges

[1:17:36] that we know we're experiencing in the

[1:17:37] watersheds particularly around the the

[1:17:39] dro

[1:17:46] situation where we going there okay so

[1:17:49] and that's supposed to say thank you but

[1:17:50] I don't see it there

[1:17:53] so questions it's best that you say it

[1:17:55] in person anyway hka hka uh look to the

[1:18:00] board I have director ish Das director

[1:18:05] deck director

[1:18:08] Stone so we'll start with this

[1:18:13] stash thank you Mr chair um my question

[1:18:17] in regards to um within this strategy uh

[1:18:20] just because I wasn't at previous board

[1:18:22] meetings was the moderating of uh

[1:18:26] aquafers um what I worked in before

[1:18:28] moving to the a was 20 years actually in

[1:18:30] electric submersible uh Wells and our

[1:18:33] job was to uh my key role was man

[1:18:37] managing and monitoring Reservoir

[1:18:39] pressures on on downhole reservoirs so

[1:18:42] essentially the aers are reservoirs and

[1:18:43] it seems to be the biggest question that

[1:18:45] we keep getting asked is I I've heard

[1:18:48] the term that our aquifers are okay and

[1:18:50] they're recharging but are we

[1:18:53] monitoring statistics Ally long-term

[1:18:55] downhole and I'm going to use use my

[1:18:58] industry term Reservoir pressures so

[1:19:00] even though it's recharging are we

[1:19:02] seeing a consistent Reservoir pressure

[1:19:05] that's maintaining um just because

[1:19:08] that's the biggest concern with less

[1:19:10] snow pack um possibly that's where a lot

[1:19:13] of our recharging of the aquafers is

[1:19:15] because it's an unsen thing we can see

[1:19:17] lakes and rivers rising and dropping but

[1:19:19] we can't see the aquaverse so I'm just

[1:19:21] curious in this is if it's a cvrd rooll

[1:19:24] or is it the min indry that's do we have

[1:19:26] bottom hole pressure monitors

[1:19:29] essentially yeah uh thank you for the

[1:19:32] question and through the chair to to

[1:19:33] director estash um I'm not uh familiar

[1:19:38] with the the technology that's used

[1:19:40] there what I've seen is more water level

[1:19:42] readings in most of the provincial

[1:19:44] observation Wells rather than the

[1:19:46] pressures

[1:19:48] itself um so so I'm I can't really speak

[1:19:52] to that um we we are uh taking advantage

[1:19:55] of the existing ones and we have the

[1:19:58] hydrometric monitoring strategy which

[1:20:00] has identified um preferred aquifers for

[1:20:03] where we should try to partner with

[1:20:05] existing observation Wells um so we've

[1:20:08] been taking steps uh when for example

[1:20:10] when we see a development application

[1:20:11] come forward within uh some of these uh

[1:20:15] uh aquifers where we really need more

[1:20:16] information then sometimes that presents

[1:20:18] an opportunity uh to get a right of way

[1:20:21] for a an observation while on the

[1:20:23] property and partner

[1:21:24] something we should be measuring to

[1:21:26] inform our our understanding of it and

[1:21:28] our decision

[1:21:30] making thank you uh director

[1:21:39] deck um so I I'm just wondering if you

[1:21:42] already know uh the aquifers that you

[1:21:46] perceive to be at most risk or are there

[1:21:51] are there some measurements going on

[1:21:52] right now that that you can rely on to

[1:21:57] prioritize your well or your aquifer

[1:22:02] monitoring um thank you so through the

[1:22:04] chair to uh to director deck again thank

[1:22:06] you for the the question um the

[1:22:10] hydrometric monitoring strategy that uh

[1:22:13] was prepared a couple of years ago sort

[1:22:15] of looks at the big picture across the

[1:22:17] region and identifies where we have the

[1:22:20] monitoring Wells and where there's

[1:22:22] information and and then um

[1:22:25] so they identify places where there's

[1:22:27] gaps in the information that we do have

[1:22:30] um and then the preliminary risk

[1:22:33] assessment that we had for the water

[1:22:34] watersheds that that was done did uh

[1:22:38] that was one of the factors that was

[1:22:40] included in that was looking at uh

[1:22:43] possible impacts to the to the aquifers

[1:22:45] there within the watersheds but again

[1:22:48] it's quite preliminary um there's been

[1:22:50] some provincial mapping a couple of

[1:22:52] different ones that look at aqua for

[1:22:55] vulnerability uh so one thing that we

[1:22:57] have it's called the DraStic mapping

[1:22:58] that's been done for this region that

[1:23:00] looks at a number of different factors

[1:23:02] that affect the aquifer so I mean that's

[1:23:04] something that we could follow up with

[1:23:06] uh offline I can give you those

[1:23:08] resources if you're interested in and

[1:23:11] really diving into those details be

[1:23:13] Beyond

[1:23:14] this um may I ask another question um

[1:23:19] now I I've understood that the severe

[1:23:22] rainstorms don't allow um as much um

[1:23:27] what's what did word did you use now in

[1:23:30] infiltration infiltration thank you um

[1:23:33] so that's not the case

[1:23:36] then uh through the chair uh to the

[1:23:39] director I think there's a lot of

[1:23:40] uncertainty in this U and again it comes

[1:23:44] back uh not not only to the intensity of

[1:23:46] the rainfall but on the land cover too

[1:23:48] and how long that water is trapped and

[1:23:50] has is slowed down and has the

[1:23:52] opportunity to infiltrate oh yeah so so

[1:23:55] there's a lot of factors and you know

[1:23:56] the topography and whether it's gravel

[1:23:59] and there's layers of soil and stuff

[1:24:01] there's a lot of factors there uh and we

[1:24:03] don't have evidence for the whole region

[1:24:05] that what we do have is a report that um

[1:24:08] The Province did in the South couch and

[1:24:10] looking at some specific aquifers there

[1:24:12] they found that their their projections

[1:24:14] were increase in water availab

[1:24:17] availability that some of it would make

[1:24:19] it into the aquifer and that would

[1:24:20] outweigh the increased EV Appo

[1:24:22] transpiration from from warmer dryer

[1:24:25] Summers thank you I just one more one

[1:24:28] more

[1:24:29] um okay you went through me this time so

[1:24:32] I'll let you do

[1:24:35] it sorry you worship

[1:24:38] um I'm just

[1:24:42] uh I'm just wondering too uh if um

[1:24:47] pollutants are part of the the um issue

[1:24:51] that you going to be looking at not just

[1:24:54] how much water is in in the um aquer

[1:24:57] itself yeah and and through the chair

[1:25:00] again to the director uh thank you

[1:25:01] that's that's a key part of the the

[1:25:03] groundwater quality strategy piece that

[1:25:06] we're putting out for an RFQ now is what

[1:25:08] do we need to uh to look at what uh

[1:25:11] types of tests should we be doing on the

[1:25:13] water and where do we need to do it um

[1:25:17] all those things the hydrometric was

[1:25:19] looking more at the quantity side so now

[1:25:21] we're trying to bring both pieces

[1:25:23] together looking for opportunities where

[1:25:26] you can get both types of information

[1:25:27] out of the same infrastructure you know

[1:25:29] like we have a monitoring well that we

[1:25:31] can also take water samples from and

[1:25:33] things like that thank you thank you

[1:25:36] director Stone next please uh thank you

[1:25:39] and and just compliments to our

[1:25:41] colleagues on asking good questions um I

[1:25:43] just wanted to to compliment staff on

[1:25:45] the you know the maturation of the the

[1:25:48] function um and the the growing sort of

[1:25:51] breadth of information in detail that's

[1:25:53] being

[1:25:55] um collected and and also recognizing

[1:25:58] though that it's never enough and it's

[1:26:00] never fast enough um just like we're

[1:26:03] really concerned about both the

[1:26:04] quantitative and qualitative

[1:26:06] measurements of water in the region

[1:26:09] um you know the data that we have to

[1:26:11] support decisions going forward and you

[1:26:14] know reflecting on you know supporting

[1:26:15] ocp processes and providing supportive

[1:26:18] information to municipalities during

[1:26:19] their land use planning processes is a

[1:26:22] big part of the drinking water and

[1:26:23] Watershed protection function um and I

[1:26:26] and I hope that we continue to gain

[1:26:30] momentum you know as we sort of put some

[1:26:32] of these um you know sort of data points

[1:26:35] and get these Baseline measurements and

[1:26:37] stuff that we're able to continue to not

[1:26:39] only Monitor and measure the the trends

[1:26:42] in those areas but continue to broaden

[1:26:44] throughout the region the understanding

[1:26:46] that we have around water but I was just

[1:26:48] struck by kind of reading it through and

[1:26:50] going like this actually feels like

[1:26:52] something with a bit of substance to it

[1:26:54] and I'm looking forward to how it folds

[1:26:55] into the bigger strategic plan but I'm

[1:26:58] just thankful that we're we're getting

[1:26:59] to that point where it's maturing to a

[1:27:02] point of some some usefulness if you

[1:27:04] will um because I know that um you know

[1:27:08] I'm glad actually that it's not like a

[1:27:11] conversation that you have on community

[1:27:13] that feels like cuz I remember when this

[1:27:14] function came forward for the referendum

[1:27:17] um there was a lot of sort of push back

[1:27:19] on taxing at a local level to get this

[1:27:22] information and now he's just seeing how

[1:27:24] fundamental it is and then when you talk

[1:27:26] to people about growth pressures and

[1:27:28] development the first question and the

[1:27:30] last question is always about water so

[1:27:34] um it it just shows the wisdom of the

[1:27:37] the boards of the day and staff that

[1:27:39] brought forward this function and the

[1:27:40] importance of it so I just thankful for

[1:27:42] that

[1:27:43] thanks alternate director Harriet thank

[1:27:46] you um just to make some comments to um

[1:27:50] preference my questions but just to make

[1:27:53] sure I did spend some time with director

[1:27:55] Wilson over the weekend just to make

[1:27:57] sure my comments reflect his concerns

[1:27:59] and we won't hold that against you okay

[1:28:02] um so I I was act as a I'm a trustee of

[1:28:07] the Cobble Hill improvement district

[1:28:08] which provides water to Cobble Hill and

[1:28:11] in that capacity our chair and myself

[1:28:14] actually participated in the community

[1:28:16] and

[1:28:17] advisory um group um that developed the

[1:28:21] strategy and and I'm glad Mr M touched

[1:28:23] on it because one of the common themes

[1:28:25] in that discussion in that group was

[1:28:28] because as director Stone mentioned

[1:28:30] there was a lot of push back on on the

[1:28:34] function we needed to show some

[1:28:38] tangible actionable items right away and

[1:28:41] hence the key key priorities so it it is

[1:28:44] a bit unfortunate that things have been

[1:28:47] slower um and two of the ones that were

[1:28:50] one's important to me particularly but

[1:28:53] one was important to the the group was a

[1:28:55] uh to make sure the coordinator position

[1:28:57] was filled because anything like this

[1:28:59] requires a champion and if you don't

[1:29:01] have a champion it can kind of fall um

[1:29:04] so I have a couple questions any idea

[1:29:07] when the coordinator Position will be

[1:29:10] filled um through the chair to the oh

[1:29:12] sorry I did it myself no no you were

[1:29:15] fine you were fine through the the chair

[1:29:17] chair the director and Mr postings can

[1:29:19] can chime in with this as well but um we

[1:29:22] we're finding it very challenging to

[1:29:23] find someone that had all the

[1:29:25] qualifications you we had a couple of

[1:29:27] Staff members who who didn't uh last in

[1:29:30] the position and other times we weren't

[1:29:31] able to fill it so rather than not

[1:29:34] getting anywhere we made the decision to

[1:29:36] move forward with a technician and you

[1:29:38] we had some of the plans in place so uh

[1:29:41] she's been very capable with being able

[1:29:43] to uh to implement it um moving forward

[1:29:46] we're uh we're seeing if there's going

[1:29:47] to be uh anything that informs this from

[1:29:50] uh the organizational review uh piece

[1:29:53] that's going on whe whether uh the the

[1:29:56] role of the the program is going to

[1:29:58] change but we would like to to move

[1:29:59] forward with filling some sort of

[1:30:01] leadership position within the the

[1:30:03] drinking water and Watership uh drinking

[1:30:06] water and Watershed Protection Program

[1:30:08] as soon as we can thank you a followup

[1:30:11] um yeah another comment um particularly

[1:30:14] due to our concerns in Cobble Hill

[1:30:16] because as you probably know we have

[1:30:18] some nitrate concerns in the groundwater

[1:30:22] so um getting the strategy up and going

[1:30:26] through the chair to Mr Moore um when do

[1:30:30] you anticipate the groundwater strategy

[1:30:32] being um getting up to up and running

[1:30:34] and

[1:30:37] implemented um again through the chair

[1:30:39] to the director uh the RFQ is

[1:30:42] anticipated to go out uh within days um

[1:30:47] and uh the the timeline that we're

[1:30:49] looking at is for it to be completed by

[1:30:51] the end of this year in terms of the

[1:30:53] having the strategy in place um the

[1:30:56] actions and the implementation will

[1:30:58] that'll depend on what the plan tells us

[1:31:00] we need what resources are required and

[1:31:02] we'll be bringing that uh to the back to

[1:31:04] the committee and to the board looking

[1:31:06] for for direction on how to implement

[1:31:08] the recommendations whatever they may be

[1:31:11] you had one more I gave director deck

[1:31:13] three so I must give you three okay I've

[1:31:15] got a few more but I'll come back to it

[1:31:17] um and it goes along with what director

[1:31:20] isach was mentioning is incorporating

[1:31:23] the other

[1:31:24] um the other uh monitoring sites that

[1:31:27] are are in the area already and there

[1:31:31] are several and some that the cvrd have

[1:31:34] put in but there's also a couple

[1:31:36] provincial ones and two specifically I

[1:31:38] know director Wilson's had some

[1:31:40] discussion with with staff about these

[1:31:43] um it's unfortunate there's two that are

[1:31:45] currently monitoring one's monitoring

[1:31:48] aquifer 197 and one's monitoring aquifer

[1:31:53] 202

[1:32:54] that that's one of the big pieces that

[1:32:56] we're trying to look at the best data

[1:32:57] warehouse for that if we have capacity

[1:33:00] to bring that in or if we can take

[1:33:02] advantage of the provincial uh systems

[1:33:05] that are bringing it in and you've

[1:33:07] identified some of the limitations uh

[1:33:09] with those systems so um recognizing

[1:33:12] those challenges and if that represents

[1:33:14] a limitation in a particular device then

[1:33:17] maybe a simpler approaches to uh look at

[1:33:19] improving that measurement device rather

[1:33:22] than going to a whole new one and

[1:33:24] another location so I th those kind of

[1:33:26] priorities are things that we would hope

[1:33:28] to see in the strategy thank you I do

[1:33:31] have a growing speakers list I have

[1:33:33] director Nicholson director Sagal

[1:33:35] director martman director deck director

[1:33:38] Morrison I'll go director Morrison first

[1:33:41] because he hasn't spoken yet but first

[1:33:42] of all director

[1:33:44] Nicholson thank you very much thank you

[1:33:47] so much for the update um I really

[1:33:49] appreciate it water um water is you know

[1:33:54] it's just it's very much like the

[1:33:55] homeless situation it's one of those

[1:33:57] really big issues but it also is kind of

[1:34:00] hidden until you have a real problem and

[1:34:03] so maybe it's a little bit more

[1:34:04] challenging than the homelessness

[1:34:06] problem but I think it's something that

[1:34:07] we need to take keep on top of um and

[1:34:11] it's it's going to be the environment is

[1:34:13] going to keep changing

[1:34:15] so I think that the most important part

[1:34:18] of this program um good information is

[1:34:20] important but I also think Partnerships

[1:34:22] are going to be really key to being

[1:34:24] successful because we have to work with

[1:34:25] all the people in the community that are

[1:34:27] working on water and it crosses

[1:34:30] jurisdictions and it crosses UH

[1:34:32] responsibilities a lot so we really need

[1:34:34] to take advantage of our uh very active

[1:34:37] stewardship community and I'm thinking

[1:34:40] as long as we don't have the coordinator

[1:34:42] position um in place I think this

[1:34:45] technical guiding team should be a

[1:34:47] really high priority to get established

[1:34:49] because we've been five years into this

[1:34:51] program now and it would really make me

[1:34:53] feel good if we had a community-based um

[1:34:56] partnership with other people on Guiding

[1:34:58] the program and what the priorities

[1:35:00] ought to be because I know things are

[1:35:02] changing rapidly um I'm also curious as

[1:35:06] to the um results on the your

[1:35:09] preliminary preliminary screening um of

[1:35:13] watersheds and where the risks are and

[1:35:15] I'm wondering if I could we could I

[1:35:17] could get that information I don't think

[1:35:19] I've seen it I I think that that's

[1:35:21] something that that we as a region

[1:35:22] really need to pay attention to is where

[1:35:24] are the biggest risks on water um as we

[1:35:27] move forward on this issue of

[1:35:30] potentially a regional growth strategy

[1:35:33] but even without that each of our

[1:35:36] jurisdictions need to understand where

[1:35:38] the biggest risks are so we develop

[1:35:40] wisely

[1:35:41] [Music]

[1:35:42] um yeah I guess I'll stop there thank

[1:35:45] you thank you very much director Seagal

[1:35:47] next

[1:35:48] please thank you through the chair to Mr

[1:35:51] Moore I'm wonder if you could just

[1:35:52] comment on um relationships with

[1:35:55] different provincial Ministries and

[1:35:56] information sharing um I know just in my

[1:36:00] area there's a number of new commercial

[1:36:01] well licenses that have been

[1:36:04] approved but they um require extensive

[1:36:07] monitoring plans that regulate the

[1:36:10] rolling out of development um as well as

[1:36:13] with treaty negotiations and groundwater

[1:36:15] rights there's extensive hydrogeology

[1:36:18] reports you know done in specific areas

[1:36:21] so just wondering if we can access that

[1:36:23] and so that we avoid duplicating that

[1:36:25] kind of

[1:36:28] information yeah through the chair to

[1:36:30] director seal uh thank you yes uh we

[1:36:32] work very closely with uh a number of

[1:36:35] the provincial agencies and uh they they

[1:36:37] keep change the responsibility shifts so

[1:36:39] it's different agencies now but uh yeah

[1:36:42] a couple of examples was the the report

[1:36:45] on the the water budget for the South

[1:36:46] cin was an example where we actually

[1:36:48] contributed some money to that report so

[1:36:50] that they could add a component looking

[1:36:53] at

[1:36:54] what things are going to look like in

[1:36:55] the future with climate change so

[1:36:56] bringing our climate projections in um

[1:36:59] in terms of the water quality sampling

[1:37:01] that we're doing right now um Island

[1:37:03] Health is uh looking at those results

[1:37:06] and doing some preliminary analysis and

[1:37:08] now that we have the once we have the

[1:37:09] spring sampling results back in a few

[1:37:11] weeks they'll be able to look at a

[1:37:13] Year's worth of of data and and see some

[1:37:15] of these Trends um so and it's being

[1:37:17] brought into the provincial system um

[1:37:20] some of these very site specific ones um

[1:37:23] would probably take a little more

[1:37:25] investigating to make sure that you know

[1:37:27] if they are being brought into the the

[1:37:28] provincial system that we want to

[1:37:30] capture that and make sure those results

[1:37:32] are available to you know whomever is

[1:37:34] looking at them in terms of a big

[1:37:35] picture analysis so that

[1:37:38] concludes uh moving online to director

[1:37:41] martman to speak about his underwater

[1:37:43] Lake I'm

[1:37:44] sure yes of course and that's my first

[1:37:47] question I have two questions chair if

[1:37:49] you don't mind uh and thank you Mr Moore

[1:37:52] very appreciate the uh the background

[1:37:54] and also you know where where we're at

[1:37:56] and where we're going particularly this

[1:37:58] year I just it's not clear though in any

[1:38:01] of the material are read about where the

[1:38:05] you know the Cassidy water shed and the

[1:38:08] Cassidy aqu fits into the plans within

[1:38:11] the

[1:38:11] cvrd um wonder if you can help me with

[1:38:14] that and I have a second question after

[1:38:17] that um yeah through the chair to

[1:38:20] director martman um I'm a apologize I

[1:38:24] don't have all the details of which

[1:38:27] aquafers um are recommended for which

[1:38:29] types of monitoring and stuff but uh

[1:38:32] definitely the Cassidy aquafer we we did

[1:38:35] consider all the aquafers within the the

[1:38:37] region in in terms of developing the uh

[1:38:41] um hydrometric strategy looking at at

[1:38:43] the quantity there and um I would

[1:38:45] anticipate that uh the quality

[1:38:47] groundwater quality is we all know it's

[1:38:50] a a concern in in the yellow Point area

[1:38:53] and with the capity aquifer so we'd be

[1:38:55] uh seeing something coming out of that

[1:38:57] as

[1:38:59] well follow up you thanks for that yeah

[1:39:02] I and the follow-up and I I appreciate

[1:39:04] all the questions from all the other

[1:39:05] directors and my question is more around

[1:39:09] what the board can do to help um

[1:39:13] complement or achieve some of the goals

[1:39:16] within this um within this area and and

[1:39:20] one of the things I think about is what

[1:39:23] what we might be buying or purchasing in

[1:39:25] the future around

[1:39:27] properties and what parts of what you're

[1:39:30] doing can help inform that type of

[1:39:33] decision making particularly as very

[1:39:35] trying to create strategies around you

[1:39:38] know I use the the very general term of

[1:39:40] Parkland acquisition meaning that you

[1:39:43] know it's it's areas and of of different

[1:39:46] parts of our region that could be very

[1:39:49] useful and supporting drinking water and

[1:39:51] Watershed protection so wondering if is

[1:39:54] that technical advisory the part that we

[1:39:56] need up in place or do we need other

[1:39:58] other things in place from your

[1:40:03] perspective um yeah through the chair to

[1:40:06] uh to director martman

[1:40:08] um I think that raises a lot of really

[1:40:10] interesting points and it's great to see

[1:40:12] uh support uh from the directors and

[1:40:15] wanting to be engaged too because that

[1:40:17] really helps us out

[1:40:20] um in terms uh one of the

[1:40:24] points that that really comes to mind

[1:40:27] and it it touches on what we heard in

[1:40:28] the public input period too is the

[1:40:30] importance of communication and the

[1:40:32] education piece that that fits into this

[1:40:35] drinking water and Watershed protection

[1:40:37] strategy and um you know a lot of uh the

[1:40:42] directors having such you know extensive

[1:40:45] ties within the community you know we

[1:40:47] might be able to uh look for some ideas

[1:40:50] of how to better communicate a lot of

[1:40:52] this information out

[1:40:55] um and uh also uh um just uh other ways

[1:41:02] of sharing the uh the the information um

[1:41:05] out to the community um and in terms of

[1:41:08] the uh the the land piece I I could see

[1:41:12] a possibility that that one factor that

[1:41:14] that might come up is if we identify

[1:41:16] areas that are particularly um sensitive

[1:41:20] for a groundwater surface water

[1:41:22] interaction so if there was any area

[1:41:23] that we knew was just amazing for uh

[1:41:26] groundwater recharge that you know lots

[1:41:28] of water accumulates there there's nice

[1:41:30] gravel it gets down into the uh into the

[1:41:33] aquifer then that might be a factor for

[1:41:35] hey you know this this is an area that's

[1:41:37] important whether that looks at uh at

[1:41:40] purchasing it or or ensuring that it's

[1:41:42] an environmentally sensitive feature

[1:41:44] that gets uh preserved when

[1:41:45] development's considered in that area I

[1:41:47] think that's another important

[1:41:50] piece that concludes director marman

[1:41:56] I think we've lost him so I guess it

[1:41:58] does uh looking yes it does thank you

[1:42:00] chair okay thank you very much director

[1:42:04] Morrison thank you chair through you

[1:42:07] um I don't know exactly how to put this

[1:42:10] but it's it's a concern around scope

[1:42:14] creep and and maybe a little bit about

[1:42:16] what uh director Sagal was was uh

[1:42:20] starting to uh inquire about so I you

[1:42:23] know but fully supportive of of this

[1:42:26] Department's initiatives and this

[1:42:28] particular um function that that we have

[1:42:31] and I know that uh I think uh someone

[1:42:34] mentioned earlier that there was some

[1:42:36] push back initially and I'm really

[1:42:39] thrilled to see all of the different

[1:42:41] areas of of study that's going on I

[1:42:43] think it's great it's helping to make us

[1:42:47] better at our decision making because

[1:42:49] we've got access to not only more but

[1:42:52] more accur

[1:42:53] information but I I wonder too where

[1:42:58] that line is that imaginary line between

[1:43:02] Regional District uh you know

[1:43:05] self-imposed responsibilities and those

[1:43:08] of other orders of government and I I

[1:43:12] guess what I'm asking is do you and

[1:43:15] staff know where that line is and are

[1:43:17] you staying on your side of it because I

[1:43:20] I get the sense that you know your

[1:43:22] success is going to breed more success

[1:43:24] and more requests for uh additional

[1:43:28] information so are you comfortable where

[1:43:30] you're operating now and do you see

[1:43:33] increased pressures and will that spill

[1:43:36] over into what maybe other jurisdiction

[1:43:39] or other orders of government's

[1:43:43] jurisdiction yeah through the chair to

[1:43:45] director Morrison some some excellent

[1:43:47] questions there and definitely some

[1:43:48] things to think about um we are seeing

[1:43:51] you know Perhaps Perhaps some examples

[1:43:53] of this as director seigal alluded to

[1:43:55] the uh the Water license uh applications

[1:43:58] that are coming in and they're quite

[1:44:00] often ones that get referred uh to the

[1:44:02] cvd so we we could imagine a situation

[1:44:05] where we have quite a bit of information

[1:44:07] about water supply in the area that's

[1:44:10] informing those decisions and you know

[1:44:12] should that be coming from us or should

[1:44:13] it be coming from the province who who

[1:44:16] is the uh the decision maker with

[1:44:18] regards uh to

[1:44:20] licenses U so there's definitely uh

[1:44:23] uh some some gray area there another way

[1:44:27] is that you know we want to gather

[1:44:30] information from a lot of broad

[1:44:31] different sources not just for those

[1:44:33] specific water licensing questions but

[1:44:35] hopefully to inform the broader uh big

[1:44:38] picture of watershed management um so so

[1:44:42] there's the the information we're

[1:44:44] collecting isn't limited to that one one

[1:44:46] purpose so there's definitely some pros

[1:44:49] and cons there would be something I see

[1:44:51] um at the moment we we're working

[1:44:53] working quite cooperatively with the the

[1:44:55] various um agencies and organizations

[1:44:59] and trying to share information and as

[1:45:01] best we POS as we best we possibly can

[1:45:04] um that that is probably a question that

[1:45:06] you know as we develop a a technical

[1:45:09] advisory or or oversight committee and

[1:45:11] with you know regular check-ins to the

[1:45:13] board that we would hope to keep that

[1:45:16] you know within our lane of where we

[1:45:18] should be and we would get some

[1:45:20] oversight if we were starting to stray

[1:45:23] thank you any other first time speakers

[1:45:26] before I go to my list of second

[1:45:30] round see none I have director deck and

[1:45:33] then director

[1:45:35] Harriet thank you chair sure you um I'm

[1:45:39] just wondering about um contamination of

[1:45:44] aquifers and I and just in general not

[1:45:48] anyone in particular

[1:45:50] just so the enforcement

[1:45:53] of of fines or

[1:45:57] mitigation that is the responsibility of

[1:46:01] the provincial government am I correct

[1:46:03] so

[1:46:05] how how does that relationship work in

[1:46:09] terms of of um follow following up are

[1:46:13] is the provincial government following

[1:46:16] up with you on these kinds of issues how

[1:46:20] you know how does that work yeah um

[1:46:22] through the chair to uh to director deck

[1:46:25] um we haven't had um really a specific

[1:46:28] instance where we you know we've got a

[1:46:29] water um Quality well and all of a

[1:46:32] sudden some toxin shows up in there and

[1:46:35] you know there's a real concern so so we

[1:46:37] haven't had that if that was the case

[1:46:39] you know if we identified any source of

[1:46:41] pollution regardless of where it's

[1:46:42] coming from then we would report that to

[1:46:45] the provincial authorities who um have

[1:46:47] the responsibility to follow up on it um

[1:46:51] a lot of what we would try to capture

[1:46:54] with the uh the groundwater quality it

[1:46:57] might not be those Point sources of

[1:46:59] pollution um but just a broader picture

[1:47:02] uh you know it could be from not from

[1:47:05] one specific location but just well

[1:47:07] there's industrial activity or there's

[1:47:09] agricultural activity and some sort of

[1:47:11] runoff and you know the these big

[1:47:13] picture ones we're more likely to find

[1:47:16] rather than a very targeted one if we

[1:47:18] did we would certainly it would be the

[1:47:20] province that would follow

[1:47:22] up alternate director Harriet thank you

[1:47:26] um another comment I I meant to mention

[1:47:30] before my last one was that

[1:47:33] um I did enter into that Advisory Group

[1:47:37] with a a little bit of skepticism and

[1:47:39] cynicism being a a cynic um but I must

[1:47:43] say that's one of the best processes

[1:47:45] that I've ever gone through the staff

[1:47:47] and I I don't think any of the staff are

[1:47:49] still here that we part of that but the

[1:47:52] cvrd St staff and the Consultants did a

[1:47:54] very good job and at the end they asked

[1:47:56] us what our impression was and to go

[1:47:59] along with the question that um director

[1:48:02] Morrison asked was it was pretty much a

[1:48:06] consensus that we felt it was a great

[1:48:08] process provided we stick to those

[1:48:10] priorities and and follow that direction

[1:48:14] that we laid out and through the chair

[1:48:18] uh a question i' would be remiss if I

[1:48:20] didn't ask this question for director

[1:48:22] Wilson do you know how much of the

[1:48:24] budget has been spent to date and and

[1:48:27] what's what uh what's

[1:48:31] remaining um through the on the spot uh

[1:48:36] of the overall

[1:48:37] dww how much been spent to date um on

[1:48:41] the initiative yeah yeah uh I don't have

[1:48:44] the the numbers across the whole uh

[1:48:46] program I I know largely because we

[1:48:49] haven't had the capacity we haven't uh

[1:48:51] been spending all the uh the money that

[1:48:54] has been allocated within the budget U

[1:48:57] part of that's just having vacant

[1:48:58] positions that obviously we're not

[1:48:59] paying out the salaries um and and in

[1:49:02] some cases uh we haven't you know a lot

[1:49:05] of the budget had been uh allocated

[1:49:07] towards some Capital infrastructure in

[1:49:10] terms of installing hydrometric

[1:49:12] monitoring stations or or climate

[1:49:14] stations and stuff um the those are

[1:49:17] funds that haven't been expended yet so

[1:49:19] those are going into to reserve for when

[1:49:21] we have the opportunity ities in the

[1:49:23] capacity to to do more with it you know

[1:49:25] we've been kind of focusing on the

[1:49:27] pieces that we can do where we're um

[1:49:29] getting the strategies and plans in

[1:49:32] place through the chair is is it

[1:49:34] possible to get that number at some

[1:49:36] point yeah yeah we can certainly follow

[1:49:38] up with that and if you can give me any

[1:49:39] you know parameters on you know we can

[1:49:41] give you last year's numbers sure okay

[1:49:43] thank you thank you I have someone

[1:49:49] online director mclinton please I was

[1:49:51] just going to ask you what my name

[1:49:54] was it came up on the screen so

[1:49:56] everything's good thank you chair uh

[1:49:59] through you um a kind of a a big picture

[1:50:04] question you know might be a little

[1:50:06] challenging to answer but I I'm be

[1:50:08] looking for your your personal opinion

[1:50:09] on it you know I mean at least in my

[1:50:12] community and folks I talk with um you

[1:50:15] know the the thought is we live in a

[1:50:17] temperate rainforest and you know we've

[1:50:20] we've got some pretty good water and

[1:50:21] then a lot of the stuff we talk around

[1:50:23] at the board table is you know concerns

[1:50:26] about aquafer Supply you know those

[1:50:28] sorts of things I'm just wondering you

[1:50:31] know both in terms of quantity and

[1:50:33] quality you know maybe you could just

[1:50:35] offer up your your personal opinion on

[1:50:37] how we stack up to other jurisdictions

[1:50:41] and and then the F the second part of

[1:50:43] that question do you see any

[1:50:46] immediate concerns red flags things that

[1:50:50] uh you know from your person doing the

[1:50:52] work on the ground that you know that we

[1:50:56] should be putting immediate attention

[1:51:00] to okay uh yeah through the chair to uh

[1:51:03] to director mclinton

[1:51:05] um those are some uh some big picture

[1:51:08] questions um it it's with our region

[1:51:11] it's really hard to give a a single

[1:51:13] answer as to how it looks because it

[1:51:16] it's very uh varied across the region

[1:51:18] depending on where our water sources

[1:51:20] come from so uh you know unlike some

[1:51:23] other jurisdictions where all the water

[1:51:25] comes from a single large Reservoir up

[1:51:28] in the mountains and it's very easy to

[1:51:30] to understand how much water is

[1:51:31] available um we have dozens of small

[1:51:35] water systems spread across the region

[1:51:38] um some like Sal a come from surface

[1:51:41] water um where you know we've got

[1:51:43] stocking Lake it's pretty easy to

[1:51:45] understand uh that system most of our

[1:51:48] water actually comes from groundwater

[1:51:50] within the region um most of the the

[1:51:52] larger Community Systems are come from

[1:51:56] groundwater and um then outside of the

[1:51:59] Community Systems most uh residents rely

[1:52:01] on their their own individual Wells and

[1:52:04] it's a lot trickier to get a a bigger

[1:52:07] picture of that because it depends so

[1:52:10] much on the the specific Wells um in in

[1:52:13] addition to the overall aquafer picture

[1:52:16] um on a a broad brush across the whole

[1:52:20] region the all you know the larger

[1:52:22] systems are saying that they're in

[1:52:24] pretty good shape um you know there

[1:52:26] seems to be a decent amount of water

[1:52:28] available um there are definitely some

[1:52:30] exceptions where we've had uh a number

[1:52:33] of our water systems and some of the

[1:52:34] smaller ones especially uh where we have

[1:52:37] had to truck water in uh from the provin

[1:52:39] or from other neighboring systems when

[1:52:41] we're uh in real drought conditions um

[1:52:44] and then outside of our cvrd systems um

[1:52:47] we're we are all aware of huge pressures

[1:52:50] on water supplies that we're seeing

[1:52:52] especially in the coke Silo we're also

[1:52:54] seeing um a lot of it in yellow point

[1:52:56] and in other areas where where there's

[1:52:59] development pressures that uh there's uh

[1:53:02] definitely not enough water to go around

[1:53:04] to meet all these demands so so a lot of

[1:53:06] the water systems are generally in good

[1:53:08] shape but it's a lot of the other the

[1:53:10] other users and some of the smaller

[1:53:13] systems that really need

[1:53:15] support thank you if I could just get

[1:53:17] you to turn your microphone off D sorry

[1:53:20] dor

[1:53:21] har any further questions comments I

[1:53:24] think what the um interest from the

[1:53:27] director shows is that water has no

[1:53:30] boundaries no Municipal boundaries just

[1:53:32] like the air shed it's shared uniquely

[1:53:35] throughout the region and the quality

[1:53:37] and the quantity of that is is

[1:53:38] imperative for for uh good health and

[1:53:42] and good uh growth within our community

[1:53:45] and I will Channel director Nicholson

[1:53:47] with her permission on on the need to

[1:53:49] identify those natural assets and to uh

[1:53:52] identify by those that could be included

[1:53:54] within a purchase opportunity to protect

[1:53:57] the water quality and quantity within

[1:54:00] those regions that are developing so

[1:54:02] with that this was just for information

[1:54:05] and I thank you for uh a great

[1:54:08] presentation and for great input from

[1:54:10] you directors I thank you for that as

[1:54:12] well thank you thank

[1:54:16] you sorry to channel you director

[1:54:18] Nicholson but uh I heard someone else

[1:54:21] Channel a previous mayor of North cin

[1:54:24] and staying to their Lane so I thought

[1:54:26] it would be

[1:54:27] appropriate moving on Direct or Miss

[1:54:32] Harrison thank you Mr chair next item is

[1:54:35] item R4 which is a report from the

[1:54:37] Environmental Services Division

[1:54:40] regarding the cowch and adapts update

[1:54:43] and this too is for

[1:54:49] information thank you Mr chair and thank

[1:54:51] you director good morning it is um a

[1:54:54] tremendous opportunity to get to share

[1:54:56] with you the coin adapts update for

[1:55:00] 2024 uh we appreciate uh the the input

[1:55:05] received from from numerous partners and

[1:55:07] want to acknowledge all of those uh

[1:55:09] externally and internally that have

[1:55:11] provided uh that uh that input uh as

[1:55:14] well as uh director's leadership uh the

[1:55:17] incorporation of the adaptation strategy

[1:55:20] in in as a priority item in in the uh

[1:55:23] strategic planning documents uh in Prior

[1:55:26] years uh as as uh as that piece of

[1:55:28] background there as well the adaptation

[1:55:31] strategy was uh adopted by the board in

[1:55:34] 2021 the implementation framework in

[1:55:37] 2022 and the implementation plan in 2023

[1:55:41] and so uh before we continue is there a

[1:55:44] possibility to share that online I don't

[1:55:47] see it uh coming up

[1:55:51] online

[1:55:54] it's just not coming through on the

[1:55:56] laptop on

[1:55:58] WebEx and I can give you the PID of

[1:56:00] those um those properties if if you wish

[1:56:04] that picture does that picture does come

[1:56:07] from the lake couch and

[1:56:10] area

[1:56:12] okay thank you that's uh that's that

[1:56:15] that's being shared now I just want to

[1:56:16] make sure that those online can uh

[1:56:18] follow along with the

[1:56:21] PowerPoint

[1:56:32] we

[1:56:40] go are we seeing the presentation in

[1:56:43] shair mode Now Yep looks good excellent

[1:56:46] if we can make it full size that would

[1:56:48] probably help

[1:56:51] but

[1:56:56] yeah it's not streaming apparently

[1:56:58] according to director Wilson's

[1:57:07] email I heard from

[1:57:12] EV that's

[1:57:14] better hopefully it will uh be recorded

[1:57:17] and uploaded

[1:57:19] later yes

[1:57:21] ma'am

[1:57:25] okay it has been communicated that uh

[1:57:28] there is some problems with the live

[1:57:29] stream and it will be published uh at a

[1:57:33] later date thank you to our

[1:57:36] CAO please continue thanks thank you Mr

[1:57:40] chair uh so if we may continue with the

[1:57:42] the acknowledgments um this this

[1:57:45] strategy also acknowledges how our first

[1:57:48] nation's Partners have been

[1:57:50] disproportionately affected by the

[1:57:51] impacts of climate change uh while also

[1:57:55] understanding uh how First Nations have

[1:57:57] have stewarded these lands for thousands

[1:57:58] of years uh and the opportunity that is

[1:58:01] there to interweave traditional

[1:58:03] knowledge with uh with Western science

[1:58:05] going forward and so we will talk um

[1:58:08] some more about uh some of the

[1:58:09] opportunities uh in in that space as

[1:58:12] well and so uh the strategy recognizes

[1:58:14] that climate change is this large Global

[1:58:17] issue with um local impacts and so uh

[1:58:21] the strategy very much focuses on these

[1:58:23] these local Solutions and uh again the

[1:58:26] update today is really to provide you

[1:58:28] information on the program the the

[1:58:31] various actions there's an attachment in

[1:58:33] the in the package the staff report

[1:58:35] package there that uh includes uh that

[1:58:38] that update uh and the tables at the

[1:58:41] back end of that uh that strategy

[1:58:44] include not only those actions led by um

[1:58:47] our division but also by um other other

[1:58:51] groups within the cvrd as well as

[1:58:53] external partners and so uh that

[1:58:55] provides that that comprehensive update

[1:58:58] and uh we'll talk a little bit about uh

[1:59:00] some of the focus areas for next steps

[1:59:02] for implementation this

[1:59:04] year and so coming back to a little bit

[1:59:07] about that uh that background uh the

[1:59:10] linkages to the the Strategic plan and

[1:59:12] so uh again the strategy was adopted by

[1:59:15] the board in

[1:59:17] 2021 uh with implementation planning uh

[1:59:21] uh developed in 202 2 and

[1:59:23] 2023 uh the uh adaptation strategy has a

[1:59:27] number of actions objectives goals that

[1:59:29] link to uh the various strategic plan

[1:59:32] themes including uh the uh the new

[1:59:35] priority Focus area for reconciliation

[1:59:37] that is in the 2023 to 2026 strategic

[1:59:43] plan and so a bit of background because

[1:59:45] we'll be talking a little bit about both

[1:59:47] of these uh these Focus areas of

[1:59:49] adaptation and mitigation uh when we're

[1:59:51] talking about adapt we're really talking

[1:59:53] about actions to reduce the

[1:59:54] vulnerability of the natural and human

[1:59:57] systems to change climate change uh

[1:59:59] impacts but um and then also at the same

[2:00:02] time we'll be talking about mitigation

[2:00:04] and that's about reducing our carbon

[2:00:05] footprint so reducing our greenhouse gas

[2:00:08] emissions both uh uh as an organization

[2:00:11] and uh as a community and so we do

[2:00:13] recognize at the same time that there's

[2:00:15] some uh uh actions that have co-

[2:00:17] benefits so they'll have that uh that

[2:00:19] benefit of reducing our footprint as

[2:00:21] well as help prepare us for uh the

[2:00:23] impacts of of climate

[2:00:26] change and uh we have been following

[2:00:29] this this five phased process to develop

[2:00:32] the adaptation strategy uh and it's a a

[2:00:36] circular process in the sense that we

[2:00:38] can enter into it at various places so

[2:00:40] that we can continue to provide uh uh uh

[2:00:43] refinements uh with updated information

[2:00:46] into the strategy which is uh very much

[2:00:48] a dynamic document uh and uh so it began

[2:00:52] that that phase in 2016 with the

[2:00:54] development of climate projections

[2:00:56] working with the pl Pacific climate

[2:00:58] impacts Consortium as well as a number

[2:01:00] of other partners uh to develop that as

[2:01:03] well as the recommendations that came

[2:01:05] came out of that uh which set us up for

[2:01:08] this phase of vulnerability and risk

[2:01:09] assessments uh which um did have a focus

[2:01:13] on uh those specific risks related to

[2:01:15] climate so uh including flood uh slope

[2:01:19] failure uh but also um sea level rise

[2:01:22] and uh Wildfire risk assessments all at

[2:01:25] the same time now recognizing that this

[2:01:27] is an ongoing piece of work and we have

[2:01:29] a number of groups across the

[2:01:30] organization uh as well as uh the

[2:01:33] community that are doing risk

[2:01:34] assessments so uh working with the

[2:01:36] municipality of North cin for example uh

[2:01:39] with their climate risk assessment

[2:01:40] working with Emergency Management cowit

[2:01:42] and uh uh with their Hazard risk and

[2:01:45] vulnerability assessment as well as

[2:01:46] First Nations Partners such as malahat

[2:01:49] Nation uh with their sea level rise risk

[2:01:51] assessment so looking at how we

[2:01:53] synthesize this information around risk

[2:01:55] so that we can have uh a broad but

[2:01:58] coordinated

[2:01:59] response and uh this this phase of work

[2:02:03] sets us up for that development of the

[2:02:05] strategy uh where we work through that

[2:02:07] with numerous Partners to uh identify

[2:02:10] actions that were needed going forward

[2:02:12] we'll talk a bit about this fourth and

[2:02:15] parallel phase of work around mitigation

[2:02:17] and the opportunities to to move forward

[2:02:19] there and make uh make progress uh and

[2:02:22] then of course uh the the phase that

[2:02:24] we're currently in which is this

[2:02:26] implementation piece and uh the

[2:02:28] opportunities to uh to go forward and

[2:02:31] work with Partners on

[2:02:33] that and so the strategy came together

[2:02:37] with uh with the input from these these

[2:02:39] various Partners including provincial

[2:02:41] agencies Community

[2:02:43] stewards um from our first nation's

[2:02:45] Partners um Island Health our Municipal

[2:02:49] partners and um other community agencies

[2:02:53] including the school district to develop

[2:02:55] this uh this Vision uh as well as six

[2:02:58] supporting goals and then actions which

[2:03:01] link to uh to each of those those goals

[2:03:05] uh and uh they're grouped according to

[2:03:08] these five thematic areas so we have a

[2:03:10] first thematic area of uh resilient gray

[2:03:13] and green infrastructure and so we're

[2:03:15] thinking about Asset Management uh but

[2:03:17] we're also looking at uh uh building

[2:03:20] standards and um how we move forward

[2:03:23] with uh protection of uh infrastructure

[2:03:27] uh from uh climate impacts we have this

[2:03:30] second theme around Community Health and

[2:03:32] emergency management looking not only at

[2:03:35] um the immediate needs that come with um

[2:03:37] emergency situations but also uh some of

[2:03:40] the preventative opportunities that are

[2:03:42] there um as it relates to for example

[2:03:45] air quality um but also um how we uh are

[2:03:49] are responding to uh to emergencies

[2:03:52] uh and so many actions being led through

[2:03:55] our Emergency Management Group and uh

[2:03:58] and as well as a number of other

[2:04:00] partners in in that realm a third

[2:04:03] thematic area for green growth and

[2:04:04] sustainable development uh which uh

[2:04:07] captures um u a good uh amount of work

[2:04:11] being done by the uh Economic

[2:04:14] Development uh group uh the cvrd uh but

[2:04:18] also uh working with a number of

[2:04:19] Partners so for example uh the develop

[2:04:22] the the uh the progress being made

[2:04:24] around uh circular economy strategy um

[2:04:27] and then this fourth thematic area which

[2:04:29] is uh linked to ecosystems and Biore

[2:04:32] Regional carrying capacity and so uh we

[2:04:34] spoke a bit about that in relation to

[2:04:36] the drinking water and Watership

[2:04:38] Protection Program but we'll talk a bit

[2:04:40] about some of these additional actions

[2:04:42] as well that are uh carrying forward

[2:04:44] this work a fifth thematic area which is

[2:04:47] linked to cross cutting actions and

[2:04:49] those are really about uh partnership

[2:04:52] building capacity building so addressing

[2:04:55] some of the um the comments and the the

[2:04:57] concerns around uh overlapping

[2:04:59] jurisdiction and um ultimately looking

[2:05:02] at how do we look at these big problems

[2:05:05] uh but uh various organizations can come

[2:05:08] together and uh and and really build the

[2:05:11] capacity uh with those shared resources

[2:05:14] that we we all have in a coordinated way

[2:05:16] and we'll talk a bit about some of the

[2:05:18] the mechanisms for that uh and how

[2:05:21] there's the 39 prioritized actions under

[2:05:23] these thematic areas and so uh coming

[2:05:27] back to that fourth uh phase of work on

[2:05:29] the climate mitigation and so the Comm

[2:05:32] commitments that we have in that area

[2:05:34] are uh through the BC climate action

[2:05:36] Charter and so they include uh becoming

[2:05:39] carbon neutral in our corporate

[2:05:40] operations measuring and Reporting our

[2:05:43] community

[2:05:44] ghgs uh and then also uh uh working

[2:05:47] towards complete compact and more energy

[2:05:49] efficient communities uh and and so on

[2:05:52] that uh Community Front we did develop a

[2:05:55] regional energy strategy in 2012 uh but

[2:05:59] a number of uh parameters have have

[2:06:02] changed around that in terms of uh the

[2:06:04] opportunities for for uh uh improved uh

[2:06:08] input data as well as a broadening of

[2:06:10] that strategy to not only look at resid

[2:06:13] the residential sector but also uh the

[2:06:15] number of other sectors that are

[2:06:17] responsible for our and contributing to

[2:06:19] our carbon footprint as a community so

[2:06:22] um the the strategy is is in need of

[2:06:25] update uh uh going forward and so that

[2:06:27] is one of the uh the recommended uh

[2:06:30] steps for this year uh and also

[2:06:32] recognizing that the Local Government

[2:06:34] Act uh does require us to establish

[2:06:36] those ghd reduction targets at the

[2:06:38] community level and identify mechanisms

[2:06:41] to uh achieve and undertake that uh that

[2:06:44] ongoing monitoring and help us uh meet

[2:06:47] those those targets at the corporate

[2:06:50] level uh we also have strategy in place

[2:06:52] and again there's an opportunity for

[2:06:54] update there um currently it has a focus

[2:06:58] on on buildings and structures but also

[2:07:01] uh an opportunity to look at the broader

[2:07:04] corporate footprint and reflect current

[2:07:07] input data targets and best practices

[2:07:09] which have changed uh in in many ways uh

[2:07:12] since uh the uh that that strategy was

[2:07:16] developed and

[2:07:17] so uh and so coming back to the the

[2:07:21] adaptation work and some of these these

[2:07:24] key actions for for the coming year and

[2:07:26] so um uh the implementation of the high

[2:07:30] priority items in the 10year drinking

[2:07:32] water and Watershed Protection Program

[2:07:34] is a big component of the adaptation

[2:07:35] strategy as well and so um as as Mr

[2:07:39] Moore was was speaking about uh many of

[2:07:41] those actions link to uh this thematic

[2:07:44] area around uh ecosystems protection as

[2:07:47] well as bi Regional carrying capacity so

[2:07:50] identifying those High stress aquifers

[2:07:53] uh like we did with the South CCH and uh

[2:07:55] groundwater budgets for aquafer 197 and

[2:07:59] 206 to understand that those are the

[2:08:01] those are ones that are are are

[2:08:03] exhibiting high water supply stress that

[2:08:05] helps us understand the the bi Regional

[2:08:08] carrying capacity as well as the the

[2:08:10] water quality for example in those those

[2:08:12] areas too whether it's related to uh

[2:08:14] nutrient levels in in in groundwater

[2:08:17] seeing elevated levels there in uh

[2:08:19] Cobble Hill but then similarly in the uh

[2:08:22] the South cin watersheds uh with with

[2:08:25] shaigan Lake uh and the the the

[2:08:28] background data that was that was useful

[2:08:29] there to support uh planning around uh

[2:08:33] uh liquid waste infrastructure and so

[2:08:35] these these components support that

[2:08:37] thematic area of Biore Regional carrying

[2:08:40] capacity um in a substantial way and so

[2:08:43] uh at the same time uh there's a number

[2:08:46] of other actions that link to uh

[2:08:48] ecosystems protection and uh as well as

[2:08:51] uh Communications of the of the work and

[2:08:54] so a big component of that uh that we're

[2:08:57] working on right now is the review and

[2:08:58] refresh of The New Normal coin uh web

[2:09:02] page and Communications program so uh

[2:09:05] not only having uh web-based tools uh

[2:09:07] updated but uh having uh deployment of

[2:09:11] uh of of physical uh media as well for

[2:09:15] for spreading the word uh but also

[2:09:17] inviting uh participation from community

[2:09:19] members on uh their Reflections on on

[2:09:22] impacts and

[2:09:24] solutions the conservation strategy

[2:09:26] development uh including an updated Esa

[2:09:29] inventory the setting of conservation

[2:09:31] targets uh is also a key action within

[2:09:34] the adaptation strategy and something

[2:09:36] that uh uh is uh intended to to be

[2:09:39] moving forward uh in this in this coming

[2:09:41] year uh as well as ongoing invasive

[2:09:44] plants monitoring uh and identification

[2:09:46] of new priority plants for inclusion in

[2:09:48] the bylaw which uh uh we uh had

[2:09:52] established uh in in

[2:09:54] 2016 uh implementing the updated airshed

[2:09:57] protection strategy uh updated last year

[2:10:00] uh including uh now going forward with

[2:10:03] the uh refreshed uh wood stove uh

[2:10:06] replacement program wood stove Reduction

[2:10:09] Program uh that we partner on with the

[2:10:11] province uh as well as um uh partnering

[2:10:15] internally with the various uh groups

[2:10:18] around uh reviewing the the the burning

[2:10:20] bylaws as well so key actions uh to be

[2:10:23] moving forward within the airshed

[2:10:25] protection strategy uh flood management

[2:10:28] planning also key within the adaptation

[2:10:30] strategy and fits across a number of

[2:10:32] those thematic areas also strong tie-ins

[2:10:35] to the drinking water and Watershed

[2:10:37] protection uh strategy

[2:10:39] implementation uh and of course uh a key

[2:10:43] um underlying component to uh the

[2:10:46] various uh subject areas is uh planning

[2:10:48] for updates to uh the state of the

[2:10:50] environment

[2:10:52] uh reports which includes these these 14

[2:10:54] sections that were that were developed

[2:10:57] and some have been updated in more

[2:10:58] recent years uh and of course uh many

[2:11:02] have been brought forward to the board

[2:11:04] in different forms uh in terms of

[2:11:07] updated information uh whether it's uh

[2:11:10] air air quality uh reporting updates or

[2:11:14] um environmentally sensitive area uh

[2:11:17] updates we've been bringing information

[2:11:19] forward in in different ways but we're

[2:11:21] at whether there's an opportunity to

[2:11:23] bring that forward in a state-of the

[2:11:25] environment report fashion or or other

[2:11:27] mechanisms so that it's uh it's

[2:11:30] informative to uh to to

[2:11:33] folks uh of course a significant action

[2:11:36] also linked to uh this concept of

[2:11:40] ecosystems protection and Biore Regional

[2:11:42] carrying capacity is uh to continue

[2:11:44] working with Partners on the replacement

[2:11:46] of the CCH and Lake Weir uh which uh we

[2:11:48] now have that that additional funding

[2:11:50] from uh the senior government uh and uh

[2:11:54] link to that is the associated flood

[2:11:57] mitigation

[2:11:58] Works cross cutting actions that support

[2:12:01] not only those actions that are being

[2:12:04] led by our group which we've just

[2:12:06] mentioned again supporting ecosystems of

[2:12:08] bi Regional caring capacity but all of

[2:12:10] the other uh thematic areas linked to

[2:12:12] Community Health and

[2:12:14] infrastructure uh and these cross

[2:12:16] cutting actions again link back to that

[2:12:19] key concept of of capacity building and

[2:12:22] so uh it speaks to our opportunities to

[2:12:25] engage with the public to not only

[2:12:27] communicate out the information but to

[2:12:29] gather input and so um some key

[2:12:31] mechanisms to be able to do that and

[2:12:34] some that are already in place uh we're

[2:12:36] looking forward to hosting a regional

[2:12:39] climate and health Forum so looking at a

[2:12:42] broad number of Partners across the

[2:12:44] region uh for a large space discussion

[2:12:47] uh given the uh the number of various

[2:12:50] folks that are active in this space uh

[2:12:53] to understand where we are at with our

[2:12:57] activities where can we learn from each

[2:12:58] other and uh invite that broad level of

[2:13:02] participation um uh this would build on

[2:13:05] what uh the mech one of the mechanisms

[2:13:07] we already have which is uh as as

[2:13:09] directed by the board in in in the

[2:13:12] previous years this development of The

[2:13:14] Advisory Group which includes the

[2:13:16] intergovernmental participants the

[2:13:18] various Municipal Partners our first

[2:13:19] Nations partners to support implementing

[2:13:22] the priority actions in the adaptation

[2:13:24] strategy and so uh again this is a

[2:13:27] mechanism to uh ensure that the strategy

[2:13:30] continues to uh reflect the the broad

[2:13:33] views of of the community uh and uh that

[2:13:36] we're able to to implement those actions

[2:13:39] in a most in a more coordinated way uh

[2:13:42] wherever we can uh ongoing collaboration

[2:13:45] with partner climate initiatives is key

[2:13:46] so uh working for example with the

[2:13:49] municipality of North cowit and on their

[2:13:51] climate planning program uh with the

[2:13:54] risk assessment and now going forward

[2:13:56] into the adaptation planning work that

[2:13:57] they're looking to do but this also

[2:13:59] includes and and speaks to uh the

[2:14:02] opportunities for directors to be

[2:14:03] involved so there was um a question in

[2:14:07] the in the earlier uh presentation there

[2:14:09] about that and one of one of these

[2:14:11] opportunities is through the Vic can uh

[2:14:15] forum and so we have uh we have been

[2:14:18] notified that they'll be online for

[2:14:21] Forums on May 6th and May 13th for that

[2:14:24] so that's for elected officials but also

[2:14:26] for staff uh and uh there'll be uh

[2:14:29] additional uh opportunities through that

[2:14:32] uh that uh that Forum the vicc can and

[2:14:35] so we're anticipating more information

[2:14:37] about that ourselves and uh looking

[2:14:39] forward to to that opportunity uh and

[2:14:43] really just examining uh uh OPP

[2:14:45] additional partnership opportunities to

[2:14:47] work with the local stewardship groups

[2:14:49] who um can have uh uh a tremendous role

[2:14:53] for for adaptation going forward uh on

[2:14:56] the mitigation side as mentioned the

[2:14:58] opportunities are there to uh to update

[2:15:01] the community greenhouse gas reduction

[2:15:03] strategy the corporate greenhouse gas

[2:15:05] reduction strategy uh continue

[2:15:07] implementing those actions that may uh

[2:15:09] already being implemented for example

[2:15:12] electrical electric vehicle support uh

[2:15:15] but also uh building upgrades and

[2:15:17] ultimately those updated strategies

[2:15:19] would identify

[2:15:21] those that broad range of actions across

[2:15:24] the number of emissions categories that

[2:15:28] could um be reduced and uh looking at um

[2:15:33] looking at how we can work with that uh

[2:15:35] with with our various partners and so

[2:15:37] with that thank

[2:15:38] you to the directors and uh thank you

[2:15:42] very much for the presentation um

[2:15:45] considering this was for information and

[2:15:47] I'm aware that a few directors have a

[2:15:50] 12:00 uh appointment that they were

[2:15:53] trying to keep uh could we or are you in

[2:15:56] favor of taking your questions or

[2:15:58] comments

[2:16:00] offline uh if if that is appropriate and

[2:16:03] that we consider the closed session that

[2:16:07] would follow after the board if that is

[2:16:09] okay with uh the body we could we could

[2:16:12] do that uh I'm seeing nodding so chair

[2:16:17] Stone I mean director Stone I just don't

[2:16:19] want to take away the thanks to Mr

[2:16:22] Lawrence and the team um for doing this

[2:16:24] work and uh we'll talk about how North

[2:16:27] Couch's getting all these resources

[2:16:29] later yes and we'll share them around

[2:16:31] for sure so if that's okay with the uh

[2:16:33] with the body we will uh take our

[2:16:35] questions and comments offline I do have

[2:16:37] some that I'll forward as well and uh

[2:16:41] we'll move forward with the closed

[2:16:43] session after the board completion so Mr

[2:16:46] chair would be appro appropriate to move

[2:16:49] the motion to close session then adjourn

[2:16:50] the close session until after regular

[2:16:53] board so I'd make the motion to go into

[2:16:55] close session a after Miss Harrison

[2:16:58] tells us

[2:16:59] why um thank you Mr chair for you to

[2:17:03] director Stone we have question period

[2:17:08] first so I will turn to the public for

[2:17:10] questions and please be kind to me it's

[2:17:13] been a long

[2:17:17] morning Mr chair it has been a long

[2:17:19] morning and I'm feeling the privilege of

[2:17:21] being the only public witness to this

[2:17:23] morning's deliberations because of the

[2:17:25] technical difficulties today so my

[2:17:28] question is can the board look at

[2:17:30] alternative ways to communicate

[2:17:32] excellent reports like Mr Lawrence's

[2:17:35] material in more of an audio visual

[2:17:37] format that could be going viral and

[2:17:39] sharing just like we did with the cowch

[2:17:41] and tourism almost like a b-roll where

[2:17:43] we can show snapshots from around the

[2:17:45] region and really get people excited and

[2:17:48] emotionally invested in this material

[2:17:50] because I really hate to see reports

[2:17:52] like this be left on the Shelf thank you

[2:17:54] Mr chair thank you very much and we'll

[2:17:55] do our utmost within our it upgrade to

[2:17:58] implement something that you have

[2:18:00] mentioned thank you no followup thank

[2:18:03] you so now a motion to go into close

[2:18:06] Miss Harrison on what

[2:18:09] matters uh thank you Mr chair uh we have

[2:18:14] uh section 91 k

[2:18:19] 91a move by director Stone and seconded

[2:18:23] by Ish Dash director ish Das that is all

[2:18:27] in favor opposed if any motion to

[2:18:32] adjourn

[2:18:36] yes so moved and seconded all in

[2:18:39] favor okay we will convene

[2:18:49] later

[2:19:17] last stay

[2:19:19] tuned refresh yeah it's all yeah

[2:19:24] hopefully

[2:19:27] longm data but you might

[2:19:33] see

[2:19:49] okay

[2:20:05] well we don't know I don't know

[2:20:19] what

[2:20:45] I know

[2:20:49] it's

[2:21:19] [Music]

[2:22:11] makide even if they can't help there's

[2:22:13] nothing can do they would just sit here

[2:22:16] for while we are drowning in other I

[2:22:19] would I would at this point

[2:22:24] Optics we need to I'm just

[2:22:49] sharing

[2:23:12] so so all of that has to do with having

[2:23:15] on the

[2:23:18] [Applause]

[2:23:19] screen

[2:23:36] out

[2:23:42] system needer and just get back

[2:23:46] to just yeah no no no I agree so what

[2:23:49] I'm just saying is that

[2:23:51] that's priority

[2:23:57] [Music]

[2:24:01] we observation wise I know but I think

[2:24:05] that um

[2:24:07] that is unfortunate and

[2:24:09] it's but I want I want to do things to

[2:24:13] actually fix the situation I don't want

[2:24:15] to do things that just obiously make us

[2:24:17] look good even though the situation

[2:24:19] can't be fixed that way

[2:24:25] techology no that's actually not true it

[2:24:28] all works the thing that doesn't work

[2:24:32] St like that's actually the

[2:24:34] misconception is that some technology is

[2:24:36] bad and there are some things that are

[2:24:38] bad like one thing that's really

[2:24:43] bad pieces that are

[2:24:47] not because they are in and they

[2:24:53] but you you tell me one I can hon I

[2:24:57] don't know

[2:25:01] one

[2:25:04] laptop

[2:25:07] abely we need we need to have the

[2:25:10] cameras in here and then

[2:25:13] versatile you and I

[2:25:16] can totally that's I'm saying got so

[2:25:20] there's

[2:25:21] yeah no no I

[2:25:23] realiz I'm only sharing the

[2:25:31] I chase got come in here he doesn't know

[2:25:34] what's going on we got

[2:25:49] weone

[2:26:01] St the problem

[2:26:09] isas well I'll tell you I I'll read the

[2:26:12] report but I will tell

[2:26:19] you I I met guy who did all our

[2:26:30] system

[2:26:32] we and just deliver on this tomor after

[2:26:36] hours get it

[2:26:39] done

[2:26:43] I'm be six 12 months with the same same

[2:26:48] issue some

[2:26:58] so if we do that if we come in here

[2:27:00] other than what you just mentioned about

[2:27:02] the video cameras which actually has

[2:27:04] been like the problems that we're having

[2:27:06] have nothing to do with video we've not

[2:27:08] had a problem with video ceras period in

[2:27:10] two years I mean you may not like the

[2:27:13] fact that right now we

[2:27:15] have this going on but in fact that

[2:27:18] that's not problem complaint

[2:27:21] the complaints have audio

[2:27:24] complaints

[2:27:28] computer well the WebEx issues to have

[2:27:31] almost been all user error setting up

[2:27:41] meetings

[2:27:43] soat now

[2:27:47] [Music]

[2:27:49] isable

[2:27:53] so this morning not first time last

[2:27:56] couple weeks we had a meeting

[2:28:07] withi I the third party was

[2:28:11] all so

[2:28:15] weed and um we went into teams and uh

[2:28:20] fine but what I'm saying is is we've had

[2:28:23] audio issues that

[2:28:25] are

[2:28:29] external sometimes internal sometimes

[2:28:31] exal I don't think it's actually the

[2:28:32] user I think it's it's

[2:28:43] not three weeks ago I submitted the help

[2:28:46] us uh where half the grou

[2:28:52] but

[2:28:54] were and then today was weird

[2:28:58] because no I was

[2:29:01] here

[2:29:02] um no it was it

[2:29:09] [Music]

[2:29:10] [Applause]

[2:29:14] waser exact then there was also one that

[2:29:18] later in the

[2:29:19] day weird

[2:29:27] gety verified unified things apparently

[2:29:32] update on it

[2:29:33] probably

[2:29:39] changes what I have to tell you we

[2:29:42] pursed Your solution we got $250,000

[2:29:45] worth of it upgade overnight and

[2:29:48] implemented it we would have all

[2:29:51] it would not improve anything so I don't

[2:29:53] know why we would do that that's

[2:29:54] actually not

[2:30:08] Sol don't dise that yeah it's just I

[2:30:11] think

[2:30:14] Improvement tra something new every

[2:30:16] Municipal has technology issues but they

[2:30:20] also are probably 10 years ahead in the

[2:30:23] the new system

[2:30:25] the support I don't know how they would

[2:30:28] support

[2:30:31] anyway just that yeah I just

[2:30:34] started okay

[2:30:49] sorry

[2:31:19] e

[2:40:18] for

[2:40:48] e

[2:42:48] for

[2:43:48] e

[2:44:48] for

[2:46:18] e

[2:46:48] for

[2:47:48] e

[2:48:18] for

[2:48:48] e

[2:49:17] for

[2:49:47] e

[2:50:17] for

Committee of the Whole - Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Transcript