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camera for public input period and
question period we have asked citizens
to have Reg reged with legislative
Services by noon yesterday we have a
total of two registered for public in
Period and nobody for question period at
this meeting citizens will be invited to
speak when called called upon by the
chair as always we will be following
parliamentary procedure for this meeting
and we appreciate your patience and
understanding as we navigate through
this meeting
event chair we are live streaming and
ready to go all right thanks for that so
like to start by recognizing that the
cbrd is on the the unseated territories
the keton Malad subad alal penel Samus
Laxon packin didat and patat Nations
whose people have walked gently here for
thousands of years so the core being
present I'd like to call this uh
committee the home meeting to order our
first
item of business is approval of the
agenda can I get a motion to approve the
agenda moved by uh director Duncan we
have a seconder it's live J already
checked director nichon assistant
that's I think 7 doesn't have mute on
right
now all right I'll call call the
question all in
favor and oppos none oppos motion
carries we'll now move on to adoption of
the minutes so we have before us the
committee the whole minutes of December
11th 2024 would someone like to move
that these be
adopted move by director
Abbott seconded by director Justice call
the question all in
favor and opposed un opposed motion
carries we'll now move on to the
committee the whole minutes from
December 12th 2024 would someone like to
move that these be adopted sherff may I
intera for a moment please yeah thank
you we have noted that the minutes need
to be amended per item
16 that function 100 reduce contingency
G else to reduce requisition and that
the it says 35,000 that is a should say
85,000 for the consultant projects be
taken from the operating reserves and
that function 100 General government
being approved as
amended so if the minutes could be
approved as amended that'd be greatly
appreciated all right can I get a motion
to uh adopt the minutes as
amended move by director CIO seconded by
director McKai any disc discussion all
in
favor and
opposed none opposed motion
carries we'll now move on to public
input period I'm just going to read the
uh Preamble here public input period is
to offer the public an opportunity to
comment on an agenda item before the
board considers the item the public
input period procedure policy allows for
an allotment of 15 minutes where the
speakers welcome to comment on any items
on the agenda up to a maximum of three
minutes this excludes items that are or
have been the subject of a public
hearing input from the community is
valued and appreciate we request that
input is presented in a friendly and
respectful manner the cooperation in
maintaining a safe respectful and
orderly environment is greatly
appreciated so I understand we have two
members of the public who have signed up
to provide input at this time I'll turn
to Seth yes um we have John Robertson
for agenda item ub1 AV I CC resolutions
private managed Forest
lands all right Mr Robertson you've got
up to three minutes you like to
start yeah good morning chair board
members uh thank you for the opportunity
to speak today my name is John Robertson
and I am here on behalf of the shaigan
Basin society and wish to speak in
support of the resolution for the aicc
regarding the private managed Forest
lands review of 2019 and the need to act
on concerns outlin in the responses to
the review particularly those submitted
by the
cvrd I would like to start by
emphasizing the importance of sustaining
and restoring ecosystem Services
provided by mature forest in the Upland
regions of our watersheds these natural
systems provide quality water resources
at rates and times that benefit the
communities that rely on them the short
rotation clear-cut civil culture system
employed by the owners of private
managed Forest lands systematically
degrades and removes ecosystem
attributes necessary for the healthy
hydrologic cycle in our
Watershed water quality can be reduced
and the timing and delivery of water
through the Watershed is
disrupted the regulatory controls on
private managed Forest lands are
delivered by the managed Forest Council
an independent provincial agency with no
ties or accountability to the
communities most affected by the
management practices on these lands the
regulations that guide their work are
diminished and ineffective when when
held against the existing regulations
governing Forest practices on public
lands particularly with respect to
harvest
rates the problems associated with the
private managed Forest Land Act are well
documented in the responses to the 2019
provincial review as well as in the
multitude of resolutions to the Avic and
the ubcm that have come before this one
you have
today the solution lies in the
establishment of ecosystem based Water
Management plans that apply across the
spectrum of land ownership and set
standards and goals for private managed
Forest lands in alignment with
conservation and restoration of a
healthy hydrologic
cycle the shaigan Basin Society has such
a plan for the shaigan Watershed and the
work of the kilo Watershed working group
is a landmark effort in producing a
truly Community generated plan Regional
governments must gain access to
regulatory oversight of the private
managed Forest lands the BC government
recognizes the importance of ecosystem
based decisions and is pursuing
Solutions on public lands but disregard
the private managed Forest lands program
and its management deficits this places
an unfair burden on Vancouver on
communities as the private managed
Forest land Remains unrestrained by
local interests and concerns for
Watershed Health uh thank you for this
opportunity thank
you well now turn to staff when
understand there's one more member of
the public wanted to provide input yes
thank you chair uh Bernard HJ
agenda item uv1 aicc
resolution private managed Forest
lens Mr
JY sorry CH I thought I he's on mute so
one moment
ah good morning chair and
directors I'm also a member of the
shanigan Bas Society but I'm speaking
this morning as a private citizen so I'm
in full support of the Avic resolution
number two I've always maintain that
Force may be private but excuse me the
Watershed is public and the public
should have a say in how the force are
managed I would also urge the cvrd to
push for changes in the private managed
Force Land Act to better protect the
health of the forest and water
therein and to have also to have better
Forest practices on crownlands I'll I
point out again that the Canada's Forest
used to be net carbon sinks and
according to Natural Resources Canada
which is an unbiased agency I would
think the last time Canada's managed
Force sequestered more carbon than they
emitted was in
2002 and this is due mainly to wildfires
since naturally regenerate regenerated
Force have been replaced with
monoculture fire prone resin containing
coniferous trees while eliminating
deciduous trees and shrubs that are fire
resistant such monoc monoculture Force
also have a large negative impact on
biodiversity in part by removing food
sources that deciduous trees and shrubs
provide so I would also urge the cvrd to
urge The Province to change all Leg
legislation that governs Forest Harvest
to have better protection of the health
of our forest and thus of our water
sheds thank you for your
attention great thank you so I believe
that uh concludes public input we can
now move on to the next item of the
agenda which is
delegations I'd like to invite uh Julia
Fischer and Jesse McGee Chalmers from
Vancouver Island University to present
on the the one-year performance report
on the Agriculture and food program
activities for
2024 great thank you chair and directors
um I will share a PowerPoint to give a
summary of our activities for 2024
okay is it coming up just the
presentation right yeah we can see it
okay great I've ran out of screens to
see it um okay um so we're um glad to be
here today to speak about what we've
been up to over the last year um my name
is Julia Fischer I'm the lead program
coordinator for agriculture and Food
Systems at
viu your notes are up there
too oh it's okay I don't have any notes
but that's not what I
want thanks
see if I
can she's just trying to she may want to
go to presenter mode yeah maybe
presenter
mode
yeah
Point sorry about
this okay how's that do you still have
the notes
it's fine to just go ahead I think it's
fine to go ahead yeah okay great sorry
about that um so uh I just wanted to say
Jesse's here also He's our campus
administrator um and we're grateful for
the support from the cvrd for the 2024
year um so I'll give you a uh an
overview of our activities uh we've been
working on the micro credentials um the
workshops at Providence farm that we met
mentioned last year uh we've done a lot
of Engagement work and I'd like to share
uh what we'll be doing next uh so one of
the uh projects that we were working on
was to uh complete the development of
some micr credentials and deliver them
to the community so the first micr
credential um that we delivered uh in
2024 was on soils uh we had 26 students
and it ran uh from September to October
and there were a total of nine classes
um we had two field days and they were
at the Sandown Center for regenerative
agriculture and tatlo Road farm and the
Nimo food share and so we have a lot of
local experts so um the students were
thrilled with these um Field Days even
though it was during an atmospheric
River um and uh you can see one of the
students wrote To Me uh in an email
after the course and said it was
fabulous I cannot share all the ways you
will change the way I farm but I can say
that the farm will be better for having
for me having had this opportunity so it
was a really positive um pilot of this
course uh we've completed the review and
the edits of the
pilot the next course was on agory
Colley um so we had 15 students complete
this course and it ran through November
to December
um we also had the same format we had uh
nine classes two of them were Field Days
um and we spent time at David Adams Farm
in Glenora Lockwood Farms the Estuary in
couch of bay Ken Elliot's restoration
nursery and the Eco Village in shanigan
Lake um so again there was very positive
feedback for the field days uh where
they could um bring the online learning
uh and and see some real life
applications um um we also had uh a
guest Thomas mson join us um and I
forgot to mention the soils course the
development was funded by The Innovation
Grant from CWC uh and the agroecology
course development was funded by the
Ministry of postsecondary Education and
future
skills hey Miss fiser for your
presentation did you want to move
through the slides we're still on the
the first slide right
now oh no I am so sorry thank you for
letting
me that
frustrating okay I know I this in as
well I'm not sure if someone is able to
help with that um I haven't used this
WebEx meeting platform um so
Julia what so are you wear using um like
Google Slides or what's the
software um it's it's a PowerPoint
presentation I think it's FB try pushing
F5 see what
happens is that
working no I thought it was I could be
wrong for presenter mode let me go or
View
a few slideshow or there slideshow at
the top yeah a few at the top and
slideshow yeah like I don't think it's
to do with your sharing you're sharing
correctly just your
VI there ah then use the space bar and
push your space bar yeah there you go
yeah you seeing the other slides yeah we
are yeah okay okay thanks for letting me
know I'm glad I didn't get through it
all um before so here's a photo um of
the soils course where everyone's in the
atmospheric River um then here um we're
with Ken Elliot uh and um Brandy at the
Eco Village um and so I'll move on to
the the third micro credential that we
were working on the development on last
year and that was developed in
collaboration with Canadian organic
Growers and Seed change um and there was
also funding that came from CBC for the
develop Vel M of this course um this is
Mary Brittain she runs an heirloom seed
company and she is an our instructor and
was the primary writer for this course
um and it's delivered online completely
um and Canadian organic Growers will
also be piloting the course in February
um so all of these courses we are able
to secure funding from the um uh BC
future skills grant for the majority of
the students um that really helps um to
uh bring awareness to this course and
enable students to to take the
courses uh last year we ran seven
workshops in the spring uh at Providence
Farm um here's Christen M Cali of saf
flower nurseries um teaching about
Meadow making uh we had a large number
of other we had a yeah we had seven
other courses so we had a um workshop on
Native pollinators beekeeping Meadow
making
backyard chicken Sarah scaping
Irrigation Design and basic maintenance
and operation of farm equipment um
so that's something that we are working
on now and I'll speak about in a few
minutes um we also engaged with a number
of community
organizations um to kind of strengthen
our um the awareness of our offerings
and also to to receive feedback um to
have one-on-one conversation
and
um uh gain some insight into how we can
partner whether that's field days or um
attend events um so there's a mix of all
of those interactions with this list of
um Community
organizations and then uh what's next um
so right now we have submitted an
application um for funding to develop a
livestock micr credential um and that's
been submitted with the small scale meat
producers Association so we're waiting
um we've sent in an expression of
interest at this point and we're hoping
to be invited for an um an application
and
um right now I'm working on the spring
workshops at Providence farm and other
locations um so the first workpop will
be pruning uh and the end of February we
have a SM fire smart Workshop in the
work
basic maintenance and operation of farm
equipment again a beekeeping course and
a few other
workshops um North Island College who
we've partnered with on a number of um
programs and offerings including the the
micr credential Suite um they have
developed a program or a course called
Community Food Systems and so we're
going to look into seeing if that's
something that we can incorporate into
our suite um we have a partnership with
North Island College uh to to deliver
the craft brewing program so helping
with um practicum placements for that um
program we um plan to continue our
involvement with cwc's agriculture
special interest group um and we hope to
um attend or we plan to attend a number
of Agriculture events and focus groups
um in this year and continue to seek
funding um to support students to take
these courses um
and we'll look again to see if we can
secure funding for the BC future skills
Grant uh when that becomes available um
so that's a summary of the of the
activities from last year um and I
welcome any questions and I thank you
for being patient and helping
me thanks M for the presentation um yeah
I'm going I'm going to open up to the uh
rest of the committee for questions but
I what I will say is it's it's great to
see viu taken a much uh more active role
in supporting local farmers or or people
interested in getting involved in the
the agricultural sector to improve our
to ensure they have the skills to
improve our local food production and
and food security so it's a great work
and glad that we're we've partnered with
uh you and viu to advance these
important initiatives I'm going to turn
to the committee I've got director
Wilson director martman and then
director
Abbot thank you and and thank you for
that presentation um I support the
farming Community 100% because of the
work that you do here um one of the
things I'm most interested in is the the
work that you do as therapy um at
Providence Farm uh that's mentioned on
on the website with the writing society
and those with some I I don't know what
the correct term is disability um that
kind of thing can you elaborate more on
the on the work that you do with the
with with that kind of thing
please sure um so we actually aren't
involved in their therapeutic activities
our programs are run um after hours and
on the weekends um so we're um yeah it's
it's separate our activities um
and
um there has been in the past a
relationship with horiculture therapy
and I believe there's some conversations
around getting that program revitalized
um but that's um currently not being
offered right Mr Cher If I could have a
followup please and so the the
therapeutic work and the disabilities is
uh is is ongoing you have a a a good
number
there um um I'm not sure of their
numbers that's Providence Farms um
day-to-day activities so that's um
separate so they um have um they're
happy to have us bring in the public in
the after hours and on the weekends good
thank you very
much yeah you're
welcome d marman uh thank you chair and
hi Julia thank you for your presentation
love to hear what you've accomplished
and and look forward to more in
20125 uh my question is more around um
how are you finding the funding is is to
be sustainable uh maybe you can speak a
little bit about that and my second
question will be about more about
Communications
okay good question nice to see you um so
we're working to make sure this is a fun
a sustainable program um we want to be
able to offer this in the long run and
continue to develop um programs that are
affordable and
um but that also uh keep the program
going so um there's a balance of of um
looking for grant opportunities
the future skills Grant is an amazing uh
program the the majority of the students
had their tuition completely covered um
and so that um helps students to take
the course but then they can also learn
about the other offerings uh while
they're taking that course which kind of
um brings some more support to the the
short workshops and longer programs so
we'll continue to look for um grant
opportunities and we have our
partnership with cwbc and North Island
College in particular
which is also a member um and so um we
work together on sharing those
opportunities um Jessica I'm not sure if
you have anything you wanted to add
about the
sustainability yeah maybe I can just
speak to uh from an Institutional
perspective um as most people are aware
most postsecondary institutions are
experiencing Financial challenges these
days uh and viu is is no different we're
part of that group and when it's done is
it's forced us to look at our program
mix and what we're offering and and I
know in my conversations with senior
leadership and what the long-term vision
of eiu Agriculture and and food security
food sustainability um is part of what
we want to include in our uh in our
program mix moving forward um and
there's lots of different forms that
that can can look like uh whether that
is US building out further um
agriculture programming opportunities
but also um kind of embedding it as as
cross cutting themes in a lot of our
other programs um so that it's not
necessarily Standalone but it's
connecting to with uh a lot of our diff
students at different programs at viu so
um like I say it's uh currently you know
most of the programming that we're
offering is operates in a cost recovery
activity uh but we are looking at
expanding the program mix to
uh hopefully get uh some more syst
stainable um provincially funded
programs running in the
future great followup director Marvin
thank you chair and and I think that
thank you for that answer I I guess you
know the importance of this um to me
can't be understated and the concept of
micr credential I think fits well with
Farmers time and abilities to you know
to um focus on something um for a short
term but get long-term gain out of the
knowledge the I guess the other part of
my question is around communication and
the and can you speak a little bit about
uh maybe your growing Rolodex if that's
not a archaic term about H how much
you're able to reach out and um in terms
of groups and individual people or do
you have a way that people can get
informed or reach out to you I'm just
looking to share that information
great question um so we have a uh
newsletter that's on our website and
that we have been directing people to
sign up for um we have around um 200
people on that newsletter and we um have
a couple other organizations that have
been um sharing information about the
micro credentials and other offerings um
such as the couch and Agricultural
Society and um I know the young agrarian
systems some sharing as well um and we
do a back and forth with those groups to
kind of promote them um
so yeah we continue to do that with our
newsletter um the events we I'll be at a
um Booth a booth at the islands
agriculture show um and a couple of CD
Saturdays so that's another way to um
continue to reach out and grow that um
interest list um I think there's um I
I have the Good Fortune of being a
lifelong resident at the couch and
Valley so I and growing up in the
farming community so I do have a lot of
uh Connections in my personal life um
that has helped me in this role to to
share the information so I think um yeah
we're just very lucky that there's a lot
of people who are seeing the need for
these um courses and programs so um
people are also coming to us as
well thanks Jaren if I may um I I I
think what I guess I'm getting to is
that you can leverage this group
probably um because there's a great
source of contacts through each
individual director um that may be able
to also Point people to your
direction thank you chair and thank you
Miss fiser Julia if I may um a wonderful
summary of what you've done and exciting
news about what's in store coming
forward especially the craft brewing
which I'm sure is near and dear to the
Fisher family um my question pertains to
the program that was offered in the
Estuary couch and Bay Estuary are you
able to expand a little bit more on what
uh what happened and what plans are
going to happen in the couch and Bay
Estuary re regarding
agriculture um so your question is uh
what occurred on the field day at uh in
the Estuary yes please jul
um so we we essentially we needed more
time um there but we had um some
connection to it through um connecting
with h Ken Elliot and he spoke to us at
his plant nursery but we made a a stop
um at the EST beforehand and we could
see the beginnings of the um Nursery
that's been established there um and so
Thomas mson who is um um a restoration
uh expert and he teaches at UIC um he
gave some information there um and we
hope to have some more the next time we
offer this course one of um some of the
feedback from the students is that they
would love to spend more time there and
um so our hope is that we'll be able to
have um maybe a full day or a half day
especially to learn about the the
project going on there thank
you thanks
all right seeing no other hands raised
from the committee members I want to
thank uh Miss Fischer and Mr MC Almer
for your presentation and if you want to
hang tight for a few minutes our next
item on the agenda is going to be a
staff report on uh releasing the uh the
$10,000 uh in support for this project
so thanks
again all right so we can now move on
straight to reports we have before us
item R1 report from The Economic
Development Division regarding the
Vancouver Island University agricultural
development program update I will turn
to Mr Oren to uh speak to this
item good morning chair and directors
thank you um as you saw from the
presentation uh the purpose of this
report is to provide an update on the
2023 to 2025 Vancouver Island University
a development program that's being
supported by EDC um in 2024 this VD
board approved Financial
contribution uh for the program over two
years subject to certain
deliverables these deliverables have now
been met as per the report so staff are
recommending the release of the 2024
contribution of
$10,000 I'm here to answer any questions
and biu is also present as you see thank
you great thank you Mr aen so I'll turn
to the committee any questions for staff
would we like to jump straight to the uh
the recommendation
yeah uh director marman I would move the
recommendation it's been moved is there
second seconded by director Abbott any
discussion director
mcgonagal just second
in all right I'll call the question then
all in
favor and
opposed and oppose motion carries thanks
again uh Miss Fischer and Mr uh McGee
almers uh GL glad to be working with
theu on this important
initiative wonderful thanks for having
us all right thank you chair thank you
board thank you we'll now move on to the
next report we have a report from the
deputy chief administrative officer
regarding the CD strategic plan 2023 to
2026 quarter 4 2024 status report this
is provided for
information any questions from the uh
the committee for
staff all right we'll move on then to
the next item on our
agenda R3 report from the deputy chief
administrative officer regarding the
seity capital projects quarter 4 2024
status report again gain for information
any questions for the from the committee
for staff director
Morrison uh thank you chair I'm I'm just
wondering uh I'm sorry I didn't get my
hand up for the first one if our Deputy
CAO had any uh remarks or thoughts on on
the process and and where we're at on on
the previous item uh I know it's an
information item and I've I've read it
and uh I I found it very interesting but
uh was just uh thoughts if we wanted to
hear any general remarks on on that
process and and how it's
working Mr
postings uh yes thank you uh Mr chair uh
so in relation to the quarterly
strategic report so this is now our
third round of quarterly reports uh I
think you know that what I would be able
to share and what I was uh always able
to uh share with the the board is I
think this process is is becoming
smoother and smoother from from the
staff and organizational perspective we
we have a uh system now where staff are
providing regular updates into our uh
the software that we're using and it
allows us to you know have accurate you
know information in a timely manner of
you know where projects or where
initiatives are so uh it as I think I
mentioned way back uh you know back in
the summer last year this is evolving
and and uh but I think at the end of the
day one of the benefits of this is we're
able to as a staff uh look you know
internally and have some celebrations on
some of the successes that we've had uh
you know and this year when we look at
the end of Q uh four there the end of
the year uh there certainly has been a
lot of accomplishments that uh we want
to be able to celebrate uh the the next
step is we are scheduling a a meeting
with the board or a workshop with the
board uh it's scheduled right now in
February at time I don't know the exact
date in front of me here which would be
a check-in that annual check-in for the
board to be able to check in on the
Strategic plan and make sure that if
there are any adjustments or
conversations so that Workshop will
happen and and and and the fact that we
have this quarterly report uh updated
with all the information will be very
helpful for not only the board but staff
to be able to present you know if there
is other initiatives that want to be
considered or you know some of the
current initiatives uh adjusted so yeah
to date things have worked really well
and I think internally uh the other the
other one other point I would mention is
uh this will as of today this will be
posted online so it's available right
away for the for the public to be able
to access and see where the various
strategic priorities are so uh I I think
uh any any sort of process like this
does take time but I think it's getting
smoother and smoother each uh session
taking less less staff time and and
becoming more efficient so uh yeah so
far so good Dr Morrison a
followup uh thank you chair and and I
appreciate uh the the opportunities for
staff to celebrate uh the the wins and
the on tracks and the completed I I
think that's great uh I'm I'm thinking
the uh the ones that are the behinds and
and uh not completed yet is these
quarterly reports I think are great
opportunities for those adjustments to
be made midyear and is there anything
that that comes to mind from this report
that is I wouldn't say keeping you awake
at night but uh that is is a priority
that uh you would like to see uh
Advanced further than it is now and uh
is behind uh behind its scheduled uh uh
timeline is anything in particular come
to mind
yeah um through the chair to the
director the so I guess two parts to
that one is that uh the the intent of
these reports such as be information
reports will be allow the board to
receive this and and if there certain if
there's question was happy to answer if
the what we have as staff uh made sure
if there are things that are behind or
say budgets are not uh sufficient it's
it's absolutely critical that comes
forward as a staff report so we'll bring
that forward so the decisions and
directions so uh we will I would suggest
we avoid too much changes in these
presentations this is the information
but I will say that there's a couple
that are behind that you will see some
staff reports coming fairly soon in the
sense of maybe there's some adjusts
maybe there's been a uh something uh
come up that needs to be needs to be
changed so we will continue to do that
through the staff report process and
this is flagging basically what you're
likely going to see in the near future
if there is if if there is any um in
relation to one that I would say is
highlighted you will uh the probably the
first section there the reconciliation
uh you will be receiving a report in
February uh in regarding a number of
things related to reconciliation
activities as as has been noted we have
hired uh our uh First Nations advisor
and that uh position started in Jan on
January 6 I guess it was and they've
already initiated a internal uh advisory
uh uh committee uh presented a work plan
to the we'll be presenting a work plan
to smt this week and then the the next
step is once that work plan is has been
uh reviewed we'll be bringing that to
the board and so that's probably the big
priority right now that that we want to
get that underway and and we have a lot
of uh uh energy and excitement behind
that one there so there's there that one
will be in February so that's the one
that jumps out right now as as that
whole section of reconciliation is is uh
is our priority uh in the you know
immediate future
here director
estash thanks chair um looks like we ho
back to strategic plan and I thought we
were on Capital plan is it fine to speak
on Capital Plan setatus update right now
um let's I'll just turn to the committee
ask any other questions on strategic
planner can move on to Capital plan
now all right seeing seeing No Hands Up
director sash will move straight to the
capital plan like the Strategic plan no
real questions or comments it's great to
now to see the updating reports and
hearing the other directors on their
comments on those type of things apply
across to the capital plan um but real
quick was uh relevance to our most
recent press release on page nine with
our regional Parkland acquisition uh
great job by staff and all involved of
course to get the Paul uh Bald Mountain
Park expansion uh I shared that press
release all around but the big question
I kept getting back was uh can we
provide a map so not really a question
just a request to staff if they can
update the press release somewhere or
put it somewhere of an actual map
because everybody was asking me they
didn't understand where the expansion
was so great work by staff and just a
quick comment on that and otherwise uh
looking at all the capital projects yeah
definitely Lots on the go and great to
see okay yeah D Mr postings yeah thank
you uh um and just to respond to the uh
director's uh comment absolutely we we
can work on that and get that map uh
available so uh yeah that's a great uh a
great comment um one thing with the
capital if I could just share there's
just really only one item is that uh
when we last presented the capital the
one thing that we talked about is that
uh you've got there's two sections
within this one section is the completed
items because we had not been reporting
on Capital uh consistently in the past
up until now we'll be providing an
accordly update is we have broken out
the ones that are completed so those
completed items some of those go back to
20189 when they were funded uh some were
multi-year projects so that completed
just just for the the director's
awareness uh uh the or the committee's
awareness is that uh we'll show that
that'll be posted as completed but in
the future uh for 2025 we'll just be
posting the ongoing ones uh and the ones
that have been completed for 2024 and
prior will be uh archived or will be
actually just available online so we're
just not post we're not going to be
showing year quarterly after quarter
ones that are two three years old um so
just want to share that that's why
they're separated out so each year we'll
do that where we combine all the
completed ones uh and the remaining ones
will continue along and as what was
approved in 2000 what uh will or is
approved in 2025 will then be inserted
into that Q2 report there so or q1 sorry
thank
you Dr
Morrison uh thank you chair uh Mr
postings I'm just wondering if you uh
this is more of a 30,000 foot level
question but in relation to the uh
difficulties in the sort of Municipal uh
cost of living inflation rates that
we've been seeing uh extraordinary
numbers coming in for rfps and the likes
and and I'm just wondering if you're
seeing any uh Trend towards a a
normalization of of costs and and you
know our supply chain issues being uh
are being resolved and and is there much
in what you've reported on here that you
would say might be exposed to uh some of
those uh cost overruns that uh you know
are experiencing all across the province
and the
country Mr
posings uh yes through the chair to the
director uh yeah great question and and
I would say the one of the benefits of
these now that we have these corly
reports we are actually able to have
these conversations and start looking
ahead at let's just say a project is
defined and we are seeing some cost
impacts that we're possibly going to be
expecting uh so we are having those
conversation staff are having this
conversation internally about you know
possible adjustments to the uh work
plans which of course will come back to
the to the uh uh board and get direction
uh due to the fact that there are some
costs that are are certainly uh we're
seeing are not within budget uh may not
be the best interest for the for for us
to proceed forward at this time maybe we
need a a break uh in the sense of uh the
timing of that but uh so we are having
those
conversations as of now just because of
some of the some of the impacts but I
don't think there's any in there right
now that that jump out that I I can flag
right now but I would say it is a
conversation that staff are having and
we will uh certainly bring any of those
uh impacts of potential calls back to
the board for for direction um but not
none highlighted right now yeah thank
you director Nicholson
um thank you Mr postings that's a great
report I appreciate them um you
mentioned that we're going to have a
conversation about strategic priorities
in the near future and and I we've
talked about in in the past about the
absence of or the perhaps the the the
need to strengthen our uh focus on
agriculture and I know that it needs to
be uh done in terms of the budget as
well so I'm wondering what the timeline
is for that those
discussions through the chair to the
director uh So the plan is either what
we're looking at right now this is just
tentative but it's either uh February
5th or 12th we're just looking at the
calendar there and we'll work with the
chair to determine what that uh what
that timeline looks like we have a draft
agenda um the CAO uh and myself have
created a draft agenda with the with the
GMS and we will we will uh bring this
Workshop back to or develop this
Workshop we have the workshop developed
we'll bring to the uh board for
consideration of new items so if you
recall there's been things such as
placed in what we've termed the parking
lot so these are items that are not part
of the actual strategic plan currently
but there's some interest in considering
those those items for uh uh the
Strategic plan so we will bring that
forward we we already have that list of
the parking lot items that have been put
there which includes agriculture that's
that's one that is uh there's a number
of aspects of the Agricultural side and
then the board will have to make some
decisions is is as is there an
adjustment to the actual existing
strategic plan uh to be able to fit
these in or maybe some of the things on
the Strategic plan are not that were
developed AFCO not a priority at this
point in time for the next couple of
years and need to be adjusted out so
that Workshop will be happening in the
next month and we'll check in with the
board make sure that the current
strategic plan is clear for for staff to
then go and uh uh continue that
developing that but uh there are parking
lot items that have been brought forward
uh and those will be discussed and
presented followup director
Nicholson yeah and so can I be um
assured that if we need to to alter the
budget we'll have time to do
that uh I'm not sure I can answer that
right now that's uh a good question I'm
not sure that uh we'd have to look at
that exactly what that looks like I
think how I would I would
mentioned that looks like the Daniel may
have a comment on
that M Miles Wilson hi oh I'm looking at
the wrong video uh I just I just wanted
to note that um uh because of the
timeline in the calendar um you know
reminding reminding the directors that
you have the Strategic Investments fund
which is set aside um and can be used to
fund strategic priorities that do come
up throughout the year as you already
know um but because of the cycle that
we're creating with these these updates
and reviewing of the Strategic plan the
intent is that the Strategic Plan update
is informing um the next budget cycle
moving forwards so although you have
some flexibility in the Strategic
Investments fund to activate a project
or an initiative that we don't currently
have uh funded we're looking at kind of
the next cycle and kind of um how we
would uh advise you on um revising your
your work priorities and the Strategic
plan priorities in the in the next cycle
but I'll just highlight that there's
there's definitely an opportunity there
but um anything of significance would
have to be looked at in the in the more
comprehensively Victor Nicholson
follow no just so so when you say the
next cycle you mean 20 the budget for
2026 yes uh so just just kind of
highlighting that you do have some
ability to fund oneoff projects um in
different areas that we don't currently
have budgeted right but but that if
there's anything of significance if you
want to explore any significant
investment or or a new service type of
thing we'll be looking at the next
budget and then in the following
year all right I'll turn to the
committee any further questions with
regards to the capital plan projects
update we will now move on to the next
item on the agenda are four rep reports
from Emergency Management division
regarding the Regional Emergency
Management local Authority agreement CD
and member municipalities we do have a
three-part recommendation before us but
I will turn to the committee to see if
you have any questions for
staff and if not I'll ask if someone
would like to move the recommendation
moved by uh director Morrison seconded
by director Seagal any discussion call
the question all in favor and oppose
none opposed the motion carries we'll
now move on to Unfinished Business ub1
Report from the office of the CEO
regarding the 2025 Association of
Vancouver Island and Coastal communities
resolutions we have a recommendation
that that it be recommended to the board
that on January 22nd 2024 that the three
resolutions provided be submitted to
Avic for consideration at the 2025
convention so we have three resolutions
before us I can certainly read them all
out if you like or not any any
discussion or would someone like to get
these on the
floor moved by director mcgonagal
seconded by director Nicholson any
discussion director
Nicholson thank you sorry about that um
I am wondering if it's possible to
strengthen the one about the private
managed Forest land um I am
um I think I think having the review is
important and I know that the review has
heard a lot about the issues that were
identified by the um public input folks
today and I think they're really
important and I'm wondering if that
should be emphasized a bit more right
now it's just the review and more more a
um local government
input but I want to be very explicit
that we've got um the need to manage our
watersheds more ecologically so that we
protect our water
supply I can respond Mr chair yeah Miss
Miles Wilson yeah and so I just just to
remind the directors too that um we did
uh request a ministers meeting last year
at ubcm uh on this topic and we met with
um met with the deputy uh and uh we met
with actually with staff as well and um
there was lukew war kind of commitment
and interest but then again that was um
at a time where they weren't they
weren't in a position to make
commitments as um uh um the government
was not willing to make any of those
commitments but um uh H we're happy to
revise and strengthen the resolution
itself but I'll just also remind that uh
these are to be submitted with back back
grounders um and so staff with your
direction if there's other additional
details you'd like to be submitted in a
backgrounder we can actually strengthen
the resolution but also just put a
little bit more information in in that
additional document um and the other
thing is um we'll need to identify or
the chair will need to kind of appoint
someone to speak to each resolution at
the convention if it gets accepted so
just as a bit of context um on on the
process thanks m m I'm going to turn to
director mcon a moment but um could sta
provide us with a bit of guidance on how
best to incorporate that um stronger
emphasis that director Nicholson
reference would we do this kind of on
the fly right now with adding some
additional wording or provide staff with
some direction maybe make some tweaks
before this comes back to the the board
this afternoon so that that would be my
preference Mr chair is to give a bit of
direction and then we can recraft the
wording and then put it back on the
board this afternoon these have to get
submitted by February 6th so we do
really need to wrap it up today if
possible all right well let's hold that
thought for a second I'm going to turn
to um director mcgonagal and director
Morrison and um and perhaps we can
discuss whether we want to provide staff
with direction to to strengthen some of
the wording so director mcal thank you
chair through you I think the
opportunity with the backgrounder that
Miss Miles Wilson spoke of and by
appointing uh a director to speak to
that once it hits the floor could be the
Avenue for the strengthened language
where we had a captive audience of uh
fellow elected officials throughout the
room that might support us who also have
uh considerable concerns within private
Forest manage lands within some of their
communities so that would be an Avenue
that I would I would think might be
appropriate instead of trying to uh
write on the Fly and bring it back this
afternoon just a
thought thanks director mcgonagal uh
director
uh yeah thank you chair and and just you
know thinking about the process here and
the fact that this will be uh reviewed
by ubcm staff and Avic CC staff and and
this will be a long uh added to a long
list of resolutions that have been
submitted and you know hearing and and
agreeing with a lot of what director
Nicholson is saying is is that we're
we're going at the private manag Force
lands act with a principal focus of of
watershed protection and management and
I'm just looking at this and considering
is uh should we perhaps be uh splitting
this and saying we have a grave concern
about our watersheds our aquifers and
the general management lack of of uh
local uh participation and oversight in
that
process and also we have uh as a as a
separate resolution a uh uh an issue
with the private managed Forest lands
act and its lack of responsibility
around practices and and the like so I I
put that out there it I'm reading the
resolution like so many others we're
going at water through forests and uh
this hasn't ever been very well received
by the provincial government so uh for
information thanks director Morrison
I've got director mclinton director
stash I'm g go back to director
Nicholson thanks chair I just want to
support uh director
McGonagle's IDE and I would nominate him
to be our speaker and if he needs help
standing I'll be there right with
him thanks director mcgonagal um
director estash
like director mclinton I was going to
support what director mcgonagle said uh
um on putting someone on the spot on
that and actually I was going to
recommend the chair um mostly just for
benefit of the cvrd board here um chair
Douglas has uh for our Council we've
been on six local Mill tours now we've
been touring and meeting with the
executives at all the P Mills value
added Mills Primary Mills new kils the
Investments and everything and pmfl does
come up in a bit in that discussion I do
take um it is important to clarify what
our goals are on pmfl like director uh
Morrison said are we after water or we
after the whole process access Community
input and engagement but myself
personally from what I've seen and also
I've seen um the chair Douglas Corner
the previous Minister Ralston and his
Deputy Minister several times so has
their ear knows the staff so if he was
going to speak to it on the floor if
he's willing to I'd suggest that maybe
uh our chair of committee does that
speaking at Avic as he's so well versed
on it but I'm open to the whole boards
but I just wanted to put him on the spot
and explain the work he has been doing
and the countless letters on behalf of
our municipalities he's wrote about pmfl
in the entire forest indes and he's
traveled we've actually done tours up in
comok in other regions to see Mills and
other people dealing with similar pmfl
issues not so much related to water more
so to
economic um issues it creates but I just
wanted to speak to that so I think uh
I've said my bit and I'll stop talking I
just wanted to put there I think it's
really important but director Morrison
his point was really important is what
is our ultimate goal and maybe we be
need to be really clear on what we're
doing here me It Isn't So Much the water
we're doing good work on the water side
it's the whole pmfl pmfl in its whole
and if we can get any kind of review
done and get a community impact and like
they're doing on frpa and the community
planning workshop and their logging
practices where there's Community um I
can't even remember the the forest
planning part of it all the
better great thanks director stashi I
appreciate the the vote of confidence I
think around our table there's many of
us who have different areas expertise
around um forestry and the private
managed Forest signs program and um I
know I know last year ubcm several of us
spoke in the the meeting with the
minister and all again brought a
different perspective I think which made
us made us very effective um I'm gonna I
know director Nicholson you we're next
director martman hasn't spoken yet so
I'm going to director martman then then
you're next after that director
Nicholson thank you chair and I I think
there may be a third item that around
this that um maybe staff can speak it's
around the uh property taxes that are
paid by forestry lands and that's sort
of been I gather not been addressed you
know since the review is not complete is
that part of that as well and I have a
followup well turn to staff I mean that
certainly I think is something we could
address in the the background or could
be addressed if we do get the province
to actually complete the review but I'll
turn to Miss Mes Wilson yeah I it has
been in background material keep in mind
that this issue has been coming up for a
decade and I I do feel like we're kind
of repackaging the same argument over
and over not to disc the fact that this
is very important advocacy work and and
you guys have identified this in in your
strategic plan as being a major priority
for advocacy but I would say uh
absolutely we we would we can work
something like that into the
backgrounder um by the nature of
resolutions they're meant to be very
short and sweet into the point and so
not all of our argument or our concerns
necessarily are make their way just the
most important uh Focus point is what to
be in the
resolution thank yeah yeah thank you and
I and I think this is where there are so
many things that fall out of this one
issue around the review that I I think
we have to be very strategic and I would
leave the staff to look at that because
I I think if you look at all if you put
all three things down um it it may not
get tractioned whereas one item May and
I think the Watershed in aquafer for my
community is actually absolutely
Paramount and so I guess I leave it to
staff to say this is the time to push
this button right now because it has
more ability more chance of being
successful thank
you okay I'm gonna turn to director
Nicholson then I'd like to to weigh
myself uh thank you I sent a suggested
for
a modification of wording and I sent it
to you and Alison
Boyd and I can read it out if you'd
like yeah please do s director marman
can you lower your
hand so I just suggest that the the last
uh part be um CH to say therefore be it
resolved that Avic requests that the
province of BC and the min Forest reform
the private managed Forest lines act so
that it protects the groundwater and
surface water quantity and quality
ecologically regulates the Harvest rate
and ensures that local governments have
input to Resource harvesting activities
within the watersheds that support their
communities and and just to be clear DK
Nicholson would that be an addition to
the other therefore be it resolve that
staff have
presented no you you if you know in in
the one that the staff um suggest
this is a just to replace it it's just
an edit I've added a couple some words
around the water quality and
quantity all right so we have a
suggestion then to um revise the the
wording for the the resolution I've
heard different perspectives around the
table here um we can ask uh director
Nicholson to move that get it on the
floor for debate or I know does anyone
have any D
Nicholson uh I can move it if if you'd
like okay let's get it on the floor so
it's been moved is there a
second seconded by director
deck director
Morrison uh thank you chair I was just
wondering if it was appropriate to split
the uh three resolutions or consider
this separately yeah that's a that's a
great idea how about
um yeah we sever them so
let's yeah this is the
um the second
that we could deal with resolutions one
and three to get those out of the way
and then then Circle back to number
two does that work recognize we've got a
motion on the floor right now but before
we move to debating that we'll just kind
of clean this up so moved okay so we
moved um resolutions one and three for
submitting to the a
aicc moved by director uh Morrison
seconded by director Abbott any
discussion I'll call the question on
resolutions one and three all in
favor
opposed uh none opposed we're going to
go back to resolution two and we have a
motion on the floor to revise the the
wording for the therefore be resolved Mr
chair can I ask a question for clarity
yeah before so um the STA staff had
recommended that we um in the res
resolved section of the resolution that
we request that the province uh um uh
complete the currently stalled Phase 2
pmfl review um at the previous
convention there was there was not a
commitment to kind of move forwards with
that so I just wanted Clarity around the
revised wording do you want to still um
note that as a bit of a followup from
last year or um or remove that
portion so like I can't speak on behalf
of the committee my preference would be
to include that reference to completing
the review I think it is a nice simple
message that you spent money you
apprciated this thing you asked for our
input the couch and Watershed board
provided input most of the regional
districts and municipalities on uh
Southern Vancouver Island as far as I
can tell did provide some input and um
it would be great to see the province
wrap that up and if they do that wrap
that up and if they are taking our
feedback seriously I think that they are
they would have to address many of the
the issues raised that doesn't mean we
can't certain doesn't mean we can't pass
the um the addition suggested by
director Nicholson but for perspective I
I definitely would like to keep the
reference to completing the program
review in the the
resolution so turn to the committee any
further discussion got a resolution on
the the floor here director mclinton
I think I need excuse me just little bit
of clarity so keeping the review and
then adding the that's already in the
existing resolution right
yeah I think if I could my understanding
is director Nicholson thought it would
would replace it but I think we do have
the option of of adding it instead so
that we are continuing that reference
the program
review I I'll just say this I I just
share our cao's concerns and I think we
should be chipping away at small wins
with the province I mean they're dug in
on this this is a massive Money Maker
for them for tax revenue
I just think this is going to fall flat
so I just for that reason I I don't
think I can support it I support it in
principle I wish if we have the
decision-making process I would support
it but I I won't support the resolution
for just those
reasons thanks director mclinton
director Morrison and then director
martman yeah I'm I'm challenged as well
because uh I just in in listening I
don't have it in writing but in
listening to the resolution put forward
by director Nicholson again it's we're
talking completion of the review we're
talking practices and then there's that
chunk that's water
sustainability you know water balance
which is you know the pro provincial
Ministry responsible for Forest is going
to look at that chunk and and
essentially ignore it if there is a a
resolution that refers to the ministry
responsible for watersheds and aquifers
to work with the the ministry of forests
to protect watersheds and and and
aquifers I think that it's more targeted
it's more specific and uh it it's not
going to get lost because there's too
much of an ask in in a in a broad-based
resolution great thanks director
Morrison I'll go to director martman
then director deck sorry I noticed
director Sorry Miss Miles Wilson your
hand
did you have anything to add before I
move to director
marman no that uh that is a mistake I
put it down all right director marman
then director deck so easy to do um I I
guess I think there's value in what
director Nicholson is saying and I and
but I'm uncomfortable sort of flipping
um resolutions so so quickly without
maybe having staff take a look at both
of them and saying maybe there's a
better one to come forward was that we
could vote you know look at this
afternoon so I'm wondering if staff you
know I think that's where staff sort of
started as well saying you know give us
Direction we'll come back let's let's
have something this afternoon because I
think there's there's pieces of both but
I think as as other directors are saying
we also have to be strategic about what
we can accomplish so uh I don't know if
this is is a referral motion or we just
leave it till defer it till the board
yeah I don't have the answer to that
director martman I would look to the
rest of the committee Miss Miles Wilson
you look like you're about to add
something yeah just if there is
direction we can we can um refer this to
the board this afternoon and then I can
connect with our Environmental Services
team who helped put this together and we
can um take a look at the the the
wording and um and uh carry on with the
discussion and hopefully land a revised
uh resolution that uh sit well with
everyone okay so how about we have that
as an option then we we can refer the
motion uh to staff to refine the the
resolution and bring it back to uh the
board for for the discussion this
afternoon some along those lines M Miles
Wilson all right Dr
deck uh thank you can you hear
me yep okay thanks
um I
think I can't uh
understate overstate I can't I can't say
how much value there is in thinking of
Forestry or any activity on the on uh
private managed Forest land that's more
important than um whole of watershed
approach in terms of Forestry and water
sustainability I mean water is the key
here you know it's what the release of
of water from the watersheds
in you know over logged mountains is
what causes the the pulses the big
floods the lack of water in the summer
that that whole timing thing is because
of logging so our
yeah so so in term that's my perspective
sorry I I can't just speak for everyone
but from my perspective water is the
most important reason we need to look at
changing private managed Forest land so
I don't want that to be forgotten at
all thanks director deck I'll turn to
director
aach very quick for the reasons director
mclinton said keep it simple and just
even getting the ACT continued and
reviewed that's the goal that's that's
the win and all these other points will
be built into there so as they say keep
it simple so I support director
mcclinton's
position director
Justice yeah just very simply I would be
in favor of keeping the original motion
and adding a second one
expressing
um director Nicholson's uh motion
all right so here in the comments around
the the virtual table here I think we
can either um we can either vote on the
the motion on the floor as is we can
refer it back to staff to come up with
some refinements to the the original
resolution or um or we can just leave
the leave leave the resolution as
is do we do we want to test see if there
is an appetite for referring it to staff
so we can at least consider the I I see
you director one sec do we want to refer
this to staff just to see what some
alternative wording might look like for
consideration of the the board meeting
alternative
director yeah I'd move that to refer it
to the board this afternoon okay so we
refer the motion on the floor to staff
to refine the wording of the abic
resolution regarding private managed
Forest lands for the board's
consideration
during the uh January 2022
meeting does that work so moved by
director seal second by director
mclinton
call the question all in
favor and
opposed A none opposed so it's been
referred we can discuss this
further very soon so we'll now move on
to question period and I'll turn to
staff as we are in a virtual meeting and
ask if um
if there are any virtual attendees their
hands
raised nope we do not have anyone
registered for question period and
nobody in the spare room deide
me all right um we do not have a closed
session a days so I think we can move
straight to adjournment I'll look for a
motion to
adjourn uh move by director Nicholson's
second by director Duncan call the
question all in favor and
opposed and opposed motion carries so
I'll declare this meeting a jour