[0:16] Good evening everyone and uh welcome to the village of gold rivers regular

[0:20] council meeting. Thank you for all coming out. Um it's wonderful when we

[0:24] get to see all our bosses out here like this keeping an eye on us [laughter] as

[0:28] we go about the uh public's business and the people's business. So anyways, I'd

[0:32] like to um take this opportunity to call the meeting to order and u introduction

[0:38] of late items. Administrator Rory is there any late you like to introduce the

[0:41] the agenda this evening sir? >> No your worship

[0:44] » counselors any late you wish to introduce the agenda this evening

[0:47] councelor Pringle >> to the chair. Would we be able to go in

[0:52] camera please? >> And what would be the reason for going

[0:55] in camera? Councelor Pringle >> some personel

[1:00] » we could if we could get it seconded and we're prepared to second that. Councelor

[1:04] Fawson. No discussion on it. vote for going into

[1:08] camera. Everybody's in favor. Cancer posing. Great. Add that to the agenda at

[1:13] the end of our meeting.

[1:19] Holy smokes, there's a lot of pages here.

[1:23] We could be here for a while. Okay. And camera.

[1:32] [sighs] Okay. personnel.

[1:37] Done. Any other late items? Council wishes to

[1:41] introduce the agenda. Seeing none, moving on.

[1:45] Approval of the agenda. The agenda be adopted as presented. Who can remove it?

[1:50] Councelor Pickard. Second by councelor Waymire. Any discussion?

[1:56] Seeing none, call for the question. All in favor? Carried. We have an agenda.

[2:00] Adoption of the minutes. that the regular meeting minutes from August 4th,

[2:03] 2026 be adopted as presented. Who care to move it? Councelor Fawson, second by

[2:07] councelor Wemar. Any discussion? I was on holidays during that meeting. I like

[2:11] to watch it on YouTube. I was very impressed with you guys. You look really

[2:15] good and you made some great calls, I think, especially on grants and uh and

[2:19] the smiles. So, I was um even though I wasn't there, I thought you represented

[2:23] the community extremely well. Um other than the cheerleading pep top stuff, is

[2:28] there anything [laughter] Anybody else would like to comment on?

[2:34] No. Call for the question on favor. We've got it. We adopt the minutes.

[2:37] Public and statuto hearing. Seeing none, moving on. Unfinished business. Seeing

[2:40] none, moving on.

[2:45] Delegations. We have a delegation this evening on water meter 7.1. I'm terrible

[2:52] at pronunciation, so I hope you'll forgive me if I get it incorrect, but I

[2:56] have it as B. Radowski and M. Shenshin. Am I even am I close?

[3:02] » If you would like to correct that, you're welcome to do so.

[3:06] » Uh, okay. Presenters, uh, I just need you to come to the mic that's behind the

[3:11] screen, introduce yourself, and then, um, yeah, tell us where you live, and we

[3:17] listen to your presentation. If there's just one person presenting, or both of

[3:20] you presenting this evening, are you tag teaming like going back and forth? Okay,

[3:26] terrific. Okay, we have a super long agenda tonight. So, just to make you

[3:31] aware that are some time restrictions on what you're presenting.

[3:40] Yes, please. Ma'am,

[3:47] » do you need some technical assistance? Oh, you got it. You're all lit up there

[3:49] now. Like Christmas. >> Yes. So we are both trained as EMF

[3:56] radiation consultants by the geo vital academy for radiation protection and

[4:01] environmental medicine in Austria Europe clinic known for helping thousands of

[4:06] patients by addressing EMF exposures in people's home

[4:11] across Vancouver Island and the mainland. We have worked with academics,

[4:16] medical professionals, engineers and even former European opera star. We are

[4:22] also co-authors of the book Holistic EMF Protection Made Easy.

[4:28] » Okay. >> Now about smart meters. These units

[4:33] constantly transmit microwave signals which increase harmful radiation

[4:38] pollution in Gold River unlike analog meters. Ultimately the gain is financial

[4:45] interest for corporations not for public health which should be number one.

[4:51] Thousands of doctors and scientists have warned again and again that wireless

[4:56] radiation disrupts communication on the cellular level and over time the body

[5:03] can't keep up leading to illness even in the young population. This radiation is

[5:09] not benign. I pose a question. Has Neptune

[5:15] explained how much additional radiation burden their smart meters will impose on

[5:21] our community and the environment? If not, why not?

[5:27] Shouldn't council be making decisions based on independent scientific

[5:32] knowledge, not vague assurances from the industry lobby

[5:38] since independent experts like us >> are not connected to the profit-driven

[5:43] wireless industry. We would be happy to make an educational presentation to the

[5:48] new council to avoid any regrettable decisions in the future regarding

[5:54] further expansion expansion of wireless technology. In conclusion, our message

[5:59] is simple. Let's ensure council decisions are based on independent

[6:04] science, not industry lobbying. Thank you.

[6:08] » Thank you very much for your presentation.

[6:11] » Oh yeah, now we have

[6:23] Yes, please.

[6:29] scientific controversy. It tells me that scientists haven't figured things out

[6:33] and it means we can >> case after case after case of malignant

[6:39] blastoma lymphoma metastatic carcinoma but also

[6:45] a link between brain cancer and usage. So much so that thankfully I wasn't a

[6:51] loose gun anymore. So it makes no sense to argue that you can use a radio

[6:57] frequency radiation to put chemotherapy into brain and then say that but by the

[7:02] way there's no negative effects. >> It would be very nice to do studies

[7:06] before it is installed and then study patients again after they have been

[7:10] exposed to telephone >> and why do we allow 100 times more

[7:15] radiation exposure to our citizens and our children than other countries do?

[7:20] But when you look at the data and you look what's happening with infertility,

[7:23] cancer, DNA damage, but just seeing these young people that were seen

[7:27] already, >> you talk about the longer you can delay

[7:30] portable screens for your child, the better.

[7:33] » If you interview these patients, they'll tell you about cell phone loose next to

[7:37] their head is that the physicians are not trained to answer these questions.

[7:43] Now with co we all have experienced some form of social isolation but our EMF

[7:48] patients especially feel socially isolated. EMFs act on bacteria and their

[7:53] host in a stressful manner. >> EMF source removal or avoidance are the

[7:57] best way for creating a low EMF environment. If that does not work the

[8:02] most effective solution is to shield their home.

[8:05] » We need to listen to the scientists. We need to believe the scientists that are

[8:09] doing the EMR research. Wireless radiation isn't benign. It's a blessing

[8:15] and it's also a curse. >> If they're not aware of this

[8:18] environmental pollutant and the consequences of this environmental

[8:22] pollutant, they're going to misdiagnose their patients. Dr. Ray said to me,

[8:26] "This is your generation's tobacco." You're He told me this 10 years ago, and

[8:30] I think he's right.

[8:40] Uh so now it's my turn here. This EMF medical conference was very interesting.

[8:46] I attended this as well. It was in 2021 and I was shocked to hear about the toll

[8:53] that EMF exposure takes on patients young and old. They they actually showed

[9:00] the SC medical scans and we heard the stories. It was horrific.

[9:06] I'd like to point out that we are presenting what we presenting is based

[9:10] on scientific evidence and years of medical research not hearsay or opinion.

[9:17] It is backed of by healing thousands of patients who found no healing through

[9:22] mainstream medicine. Uh please be read both sides of the

[9:28] international doctor's appeal. Even the back has text is small but it's very

[9:33] interesting. To be clear, radio frequency is

[9:38] radiation which is emitted constantly by all

[9:43] wireless technologies such as cell towers, smart meters, Wi-Fi, etc.

[9:50] Let me demonstrate a radiation exposure with the cell phone with a tech phone to

[9:55] give you a glimpse to what chronic radiation exposure is all about.

[10:06] This is a typical deck phone many people have in the home.

[10:20] I have a reading of well over half a million.

[10:28] I can go back.

[10:47] So this gives you an idea. This is something that none of the telecom

[10:53] industry does. It surprises me. The engineers

[10:59] Yeah. The the engineers

[11:03] uh that these big companies have, these corporations, they failed to do so.

[11:10] So uh on this

[11:12] » I don't think the gallery can see your presentation.

[11:15] » Well, I'm just going to leave this. I will move it forward so you can see it

[11:19] better.

[11:31] I would think the gallery would be really interested in seeing it that well

[11:34] we'll listen to your presentation but I'm sure they'd be very interested in

[11:37] seeing what you're saying

[11:42] » all about patients >> yes

[11:46] » this because of this you're busy and you should

[11:50] » so this is a typical home I not speak about geopathic stress

[11:56] But this is very typical. We even checked homes in Vancouver.

[12:01] High-end homes are supposed to be smart homes worse for anyone. Here for

[12:07] instance, you have the water smart meter always the ground. Unfortunately,

[12:16] water and copper are in extreme contacttors. It travels through the

[12:22] ground into the house. That's how it works. In fact, this

[12:29] radiation, we have other meters. They are we touch them. They're very

[12:34] expensive. And uh when you touch them, it shows

[12:38] your radiation level inside your body which is absorbed.

[12:43] So, here's a new car.

[12:47] They're loaded with transmitters today. This goes throughout the whole house.

[12:54] Neighbors wireless boosters. Some of them over well over 200 meters or 2,000

[12:59] ft. Baby mones industry likes to say, "Oh,

[13:04] it's as safe as baby." I was present in one of those events.

[13:09] And then they say, "It's a safe. There's nothing safe about a baby. It has the

[13:14] same frequency at that device." And that device actually has been banned

[13:20] in Germany and in medical institution in senior res

[13:26] small children and children that people that are unwell.

[13:32] They said it should not be in the building.

[13:36] Here's an electric smart meter. I think by now everybody would know, but we told

[13:41] they only emit once in a while. It's not the case. They go nonstop. They like to

[13:46] meet many times even the seat even the uh

[13:51] supervisor I can be here I can pick up the smart

[13:56] meter here are the bedrooms baby monitors are the same smart appliances

[14:02] are problem microwave radiation actually goes through your whole house typically

[14:09] go back up go to the other end of the house and you make a presentation

[14:14] cell towers

[14:16] They they proposed on the cell tower. We already our home faces the cell tower.

[14:21] We have nearly 300 micro three no 300,000 microwatts per square meter.

[14:31] 1,000 microwatts per square meter. that

[14:36] doctors appeal in that they say leave the area at 1,000.

[14:44] We we spend thousands of dollars to share a house because we look directly

[14:48] at this town. We we looking three sector antennas hunting directly. We have a

[14:54] beautiful big that we cannot use. When I spend too much in front of the

[14:59] house, I feel unwell. When I just water the plants, I feel unwell.

[15:05] unacceptable. And then Marus was going to insult another one. So, let's hope

[15:10] this would be avoided with the next council. Here's Wi-Fi.

[15:15] This goes through the house. Tablets, they're not quite as bad, but they still

[15:21] live constantly. You should always avoid them if you can.

[15:27] The neighbors Wi-Fi. Some of them have boosters. They can be down here and

[15:31] check the information from home.

[15:40] So gaming consoles children play. Many boys play for hours including my

[15:46] grandchildren s they're horrendous. Laptops are also

[15:53] wireless devices because they communicate back and forth with all this

[15:57] technology. TVs also are the same. It comes you can

[16:04] go back and forth and all of these you only solve one device.

[16:11] Just think at all of these together in com in combination and industry like

[16:19] this like the smart me industry or whichever it is is that it's safe. They

[16:24] base it on one meter in their lab. It's never

[16:29] they have to connect all of them. They have to be functional. And you're

[16:35] dealing with dirty electricity. They're called harmonics and

[16:38] distortions. And they creep. So anything metal, they

[16:43] can come into your house. You have to put filters to to reduce

[16:49] that. So that's why so many people often do that.

[16:54] So that's basically uh so this will give you just an idea and uh lastly

[17:03] uh industry proudly FSIA the product of these devices

[17:10] that they penetrate walls as well. Of course they failed to mention that also

[17:16] penetrates your body and the bodies of your children.

[17:21] Remember when you touched the rabbit ears of the old TV sets

[17:26] and how the perception suddenly improved. This is because our bodies are

[17:30] so superb conductors due to the high water content of our bodies.

[17:39] So I'm almost done. U take the time and read the article I

[17:46] sent all of you by Norman from Harvard Press.

[17:52] called the captured agency. It is fascinating. It reads like a

[17:57] criminal novel. How the Federal Communications Commission is dominated

[18:02] by the industries it presumably regulates.

[18:06] And I can say when dealing with the wireless industry for several years that

[18:11] Canadian corporations are no less guilty in the betrayal of the public.

[18:17] They gaslight the public because they know nothing. Nobody has an if meter. No

[18:22] one. If you have family members or friends

[18:26] who are unwell or those with children, please pass this information on to them.

[18:33] » Thank you very much for your presentations. Counselors, do you have

[18:36] any questions I'd like to address to the presenters? Are you willing to take some

[18:40] questions if there is any? >> Of course.

[18:44] » Not seeing any. Thank you very much for your presentation this evening. very

[18:48] informative >> and thank you for coming out

[18:51] » and thank you very much for your service for this last year last years.

[18:55] » You're welcome. >> On to the next item, administrative

[19:00] reports 8.1 grant partnership opportunity disability alliance of

[19:04] British Columbia. Um moved that the village of Gold River pass a resolution

[19:07] in support of being a partner for Gold River Community Services 2026 disability

[19:12] alliance grant application which councelor to move that councelor way

[19:16] second by councelor Pickard. Any discussion

[19:28] start us off councelor Picker. Thank you.

[19:33] Thank you so so much to the chair and I just want to say thanks to um our

[19:38] partners for bringing this to us uh at the Gold River Community Services. This

[19:44] is um yeah an exciting thing for uh seniors. Councelor Waymire, I had a

[19:50] chance to sit down with the revelers and a lot of them expressed some concern of

[19:54] uh what to do in case a disaster struck and if anyone knew where they were and

[19:58] how they would get their medicines and the people with no mobility, how they

[20:01] would um be helped if there was an emergency. So, this grant's an exciting

[20:05] opportunity to hopefully continue some partnerships with the SRD, Sean Kumman,

[20:09] who's been awesome and um I am really proud of our all the work that Gold

[20:15] River Community Services does and would be happy as a village to partner with

[20:18] them. So, we'll be supporting this application. Thanks.

[20:23] » Thank you, Councer. Anybody else care to comment?

[20:30] Everybody's happy with it. I'm really happy with it. I love to see um that

[20:35] resource available in the community to provide that information and um that's a

[20:40] and I think it's terrific partnership with the different areas and and having

[20:44] that coordinator be available in our community to help these folks out. So

[20:47] yeah, and $40,000 um if the province wants to timber if

[20:52] the province wants to provide that so that we can that we can offer that

[20:55] service that's great. It doesn't cost our local taxpayers anything. It

[20:58] enhances a service people with disabilities. So I'm all in

[21:03] favor of it. Um no other discussion then call for question. All in favor carried

[21:07] unanimously. 8.2 Build community strong fund local

[21:13] impact stream. moved that the council approve submitting a grant application

[21:16] to the build community strong fund local impact stream to complete mechanical

[21:20] systems upgrade at the Anfake aquatic center as outlined in the climate ready

[21:24] infrastructure service CIS study preparation for polar engineering

[21:28] pathway B that's a tongue twister [laughter]

[21:34] first of all who would like to move it council mayor second by councer

[21:39] discussion how we start off with our um staff

[21:43] They can speak to the report. >> Director of operations, Dr. You care to

[21:48] address your report, sir? >> Yes. Is this on?

[21:51] » Your mic doesn't look very red to me, sir.

[21:57] » Hello. Oh, yeah. [laughter] First thing. One, two, three.

[22:00] » Um, yeah. I guess the the first thing I should do is thank Chelsea for kind of

[22:04] doing the lion share of this. And then when I picked this back up, um, I went

[22:07] and, uh, made an error on the recommendation. It should be uh pathway

[22:12] A, not B. >> Um, pathway B, there's three things

[22:16] included in pathway B that are not necessarily the highest priority ticket

[22:20] items for us. The showerheads can be done internally with staff. Uh, the de

[22:24] super uh dehumidifier and the um the um the ice plant heat recovery over on the

[22:32] curling side arena. Um there there is a system over there that is not that

[22:36] terribly old. And so uh pathway A was the like the intended preferred

[22:41] direction. >> Just for a point of order CA we've made

[22:45] a motion accepted the motion. We're having discussion on that presentation.

[22:48] It is been read out as being do we need to go back and address that sir or can

[22:53] we just do that as administrative change.

[22:55] » Uh if you can just do it as a friendly amendment if the mover and second are in

[22:59] favor of the minor amendment. >> Friendly amendment moved by councelor

[23:02] Ramire. Second by councelor Pickard. All in favor of friendly amendment changing

[23:07] it from B to A for discussion. Thank you sir. Carry on.

[23:11] » Yeah. Otherwise um the report is as described in there. This is about energy

[23:16] recovery uh some grants um that are that are plausible to help uh the the this

[23:24] project audit energy audit report or study was undertaken with the lens of

[23:28] looking at equipment that was going to be aging out that was either to be

[23:32] identified or already identified in the 5-year capital uh budget. And so it

[23:36] looked at how do we renew uh assets and infrastructure and and save operational

[23:41] funds on the operational side at the same time. And so with that being the

[23:46] context, the other uh thing that's affected by that switch from B to A is

[23:50] the uh financial implications. They are actually reduced somewhat. uh they go

[23:56] from a outstanding balance of 1,41 uh,000417

[24:02] to $823,000446.

[24:06] So um that um very briefly explains the difference between the two and the

[24:13] report otherwise um kind of speaks for itself and then the um the um what do

[24:19] you call it the climate ready infrastructure uh service study was

[24:23] attached uh for information Um, so I'll leave it maybe to council if

[24:27] they have questions pertaining to the report or the project or the grant.

[24:35] » Counselors, do you have any questions you want to address to the director of

[24:37] operations?

[24:42] Councelor Way. >> I think first and foremost, uh, thank

[24:47] you and Chelsea and staff for all the work. Um, this is a unicorn of a grant.

[24:52] Uh these don't really come around all that often for our infrastructure and

[24:56] you know getting her pool and everything all upgraded and up to snuff. Um I guess

[25:04] um not that I'm necessarily thinking this way, but this grant application uh

[25:09] if we were successful, does that tie us to that dollar amount or

[25:17] um like would we be locked in? director of operations doxy to respond

[25:22] to that >> if I may through your worship. Um I'm

[25:25] not certain until we really finish the application and um and then typically

[25:30] upon successful u successfully being recommended or attaining the grant

[25:35] there's a grant agreement uh process and then the details are flushed out during

[25:39] that that time and period. >> Well, councelor Mary.

[25:42] » Uh very cool. Um that's perfect. And as a second question, um I recognize time

[25:49] is very short. The deadline is very soon. Um [snorts]

[25:55] would um would reaching out to MMFN uh be an

[26:02] opportunity for us to get a letter of support to strengthen this grant

[26:05] application? Um I'm again time is short. Um turnaround time might not happen, but

[26:11] is that a possibility? >> Director of operation

[26:14] » again if I may through your worship. Um it is a possibility. um whether or not

[26:19] there's sufficient time and and capacity, but reaching out to our

[26:22] neighbors is always a good um like never never hurts a grant application.

[26:29] [snorts] >> Just for my clarification and uh for the

[26:32] galleries understanding people are listening uh the grant application is

[26:35] that um it's 50/50. Is that what it is? It's whatever the final dollar amount is

[26:43] we would pay 50% of it and the province would pay 50% of it. Is that the grant?

[26:48] » If I may, uh, it generally is. It says up to 50% and a million dollars. So, it

[26:54] um it it may vary or flux or whatever from project to project in the review

[27:00] and number of applicants, but in general speaking terms, yes, $50.

[27:05] » Great. Because that's how we need to do business. We talked about that early in

[27:09] our term that if we wanted to be financially responsible and the tenants

[27:12] of that would be that we would not consider projects unless we had grants

[27:15] attached that would um supplement the financing of those we've got paid dollar

[27:21] for dollar for the projects we're doing just can't afford it and I think you

[27:25] know the community should understand that if you look at the fiveyear

[27:28] financial plan that this council had passed you know for its projects I don't

[27:32] have the exact number because I'm not an accountant but um it's over $9.2 $2

[27:36] million worth of projects over the next five years that are critical to the

[27:40] operation of this this um this community if we want to maintain our

[27:44] infrastructure, operating systems, our equipment. And there's more like about 6

[27:48] something 6.5 million that have been that have procured in grants. So that

[27:53] allows us to do the things that you're talking about like right now to um

[27:58] upgrade the systems at our facilities, our recreation facilities and u maintain

[28:03] the integrity of those buildings and keep them operational. if we didn't have

[28:06] grants like this and people like yourself and uh our mech dev officer and

[28:11] our CEO chasing these down because you guys got jobs already and we ask you to

[28:16] do this off the side of your desk but without the millions and millions of

[28:19] dollars that are coming in from staff chasing down these grants we would be in

[28:23] big trouble big trouble we couldn't afford it and we would suffer the

[28:27] consequences because things would be burking down and we wouldn't be able to

[28:30] do stuff so yeah I'm very grateful for all your efforts here and Um and the

[28:36] fact that um we even have money in our reserves, it can be attributed to folks

[28:40] like councelor weight and his generation putting money away in the good times so

[28:44] that here we are in the bad times. There's some money in the accounts that

[28:47] we can do stuff with and we've managed the money well so that it we haven't

[28:51] depleted those reserves so that we can actually pay our 50%. Because there's a

[28:56] lot of communities out there desperate for grant money, but they're out of the

[29:01] game because they can't pony up their 50%.

[29:06] So, they don't get to look at this million-doll grant and the 50% of it.

[29:10] They they don't have that money in the

[29:13] reserves to be, you know, to to apply for this. So, um that's a soap box, but

[29:18] I think it's important for public to understand that um the reason that Gold

[29:22] Rivers surviving and making it and not looking at other communities as because

[29:27] the efforts of folks like yourself were going out and hustling those grants and

[29:30] making these um project or upgrades um for our critical infrastructure

[29:35] possible. So, thank you guys for your efforts and like I said um if it doesn't

[29:39] have a grant attached to it, I don't want to see it. [snorts] So, it's nice

[29:43] that uh you guys have found some grant money because there is like council was

[29:47] saying, there is no grants. And all the time that I worked for the village

[29:50] starting in 97, they simply said, no grants for recreation facilities. No,

[29:56] no, no, no, no. Don't even bother. We don't have grants for recreation

[30:00] facilities. We couldn't get a penny out of the province or the feds. So, I don't

[30:04] know where you guys beat the bushes, but if we got a million dollars worth of

[30:08] stuff to do down there and you found $500,000 in grants, I compliment you

[30:13] because in my time doing that, beating the bushes and finding grants, I never

[30:18] found a penny for recreation facilities. So, thank you very much,

[30:24] um, Councelor Pickard.

[30:28] » Thank you to the chair. Thanks for your thoughts and I want to echo councelor

[30:31] Wayer and Mayor Lot and congratulations to staff on finding a grant for some

[30:37] mechanical upgrades and operational costs. As we say, it's always a

[30:40] challenge and very hard to find. So, and we know how important the rec uh center

[30:46] uh recreation and Jerry Morgan are to the community from from little kids to

[30:51] seniors and everyone in between. We we know that that's a big um a big asset

[30:56] for the community and attracting families and keeping them here. So, I'm

[30:59] really glad to see us being proactive about maintenance there and just

[31:03] replacing some um end of life's assets and also looking at ways we can reduce

[31:08] energy and greenhouse gas usage. So, that's awesome. And another huge plus is

[31:13] just being proactive and having everything modernized and energy

[31:16] efficient and up to date um might help some some kind of future investments. We

[31:21] had a group come to us that wanted to do a summer bond spill for curling and and

[31:25] staff was a bit of an issue getting the ice in early but also equipment and not

[31:28] not really being modernized and operating effectively that wouldn't be

[31:32] able to handle that moisture and the heat in the summer. So maybe having our

[31:35] equipment up to date will attract maybe a broader range of groups there, more

[31:40] more teams coming up for hockey, more um usage of the pool and um yeah, I know

[31:45] the pool as councelor Wayer said too also supports the MFN community know TAS

[31:50] residents come and use a lot and Strath Kona Park Lodge there sometimes there in

[31:53] the summer in the winter time. So I think it is a really big benefit to the

[31:57] communities all around us too. So thanks for um all your work finding this grant

[32:02] and good luck submitting on the 11th. Thanks.

[32:05] » Thank you guys pickard. Just another question. Director Paper Doxy is this um

[32:10] report from polar engineering that I spent like seven to 12 hours reading and

[32:14] trying to understand and is this paid for by grant or did we pay for it?

[32:19] » Um again if I may through your worship the report itself was actually funded

[32:22] through a grant at 100% level. So, and it was geared around um helping

[32:27] communities that necessarily didn't have um the in-house expertise um pursuing

[32:32] energy operational savings and of course greenhouse gas reduction. So,

[32:36] » what would it cost the folks in this room and our community if we had to pay

[32:39] for that grant? What was it to pay for this report?

[32:43] » I I might have missed that with all the thousands of numbers I went through

[32:46] there on your that report. >> Don't quote me. I think about a 30

[32:51] $40,000 study. >> Yeah. So I thought something like that

[32:55] terrific study and engineering report done by

[33:00] grant and uh the repairs critical repairs to infrastructure and operating

[33:04] systems half on the grant. I'm a happy man.

[33:09] Uh yeah any other discussion any other questions for director of operations

[33:13] doxy or croy? No. I'm seeing any um call for the

[33:19] question to accept as amended. All in favor? Done.

[33:27] Are you still Are you still sitting there dro? It looks like you have a few

[33:31] reports here. [laughter] >> Yeah, might as well. Yeah.

[33:36] Uh Gold River Aquatic and Sports Center climate ready infrastructure study. that

[33:41] the move that the Gold River Aquatic and Sports Center climate ready

[33:45] infrastructure study report be received accepted for information. Who care to

[33:49] move it? Councelor Fawson second by councelor Pringle. Discussion

[34:11] Everybody's really happy with that one. Okay.

[34:20] Me, too. But I'm biased. I'm a pool guy. Been one for all my life. So, I thought

[34:24] I'd kind of just sit back and let other people take the lead on this because I

[34:27] because I'm unabashedly biased about this. Invested fully invested in this

[34:32] one. I I am curious. So, director of

[34:37] operations, Docs, I see in your report that you were you were you were looking

[34:41] for gremlins in your HVAC and your mechanical systems. Did you happen to

[34:46] find any gremlins there, sir? >> In your in your report, I see that you

[34:51] mentioned that in the things that you did over the summer at the aquatic

[34:54] center there was gremlins running around.

[34:56] » Um, we are still some of them are being solved and some of them are still

[35:01] ongoing. It's a bit of a combination having managed in the at the uh

[35:07] recreation the aquatic center you're probably familiar with just you know

[35:11] things like the control systems not working or HVAC systems running when it

[35:15] shouldn't be hot water where it not where it should

[35:20] be just yeah it's it's a complicated building [laughter]

[35:27] » and I understand that money's already been allocated but you're looking for a

[35:30] little bit more. Is that correct? >> Is this uh

[35:35] » that would be a subsequent uh report coming up on the agenda next.

[35:38] » Thank you, sir. Getting ahead of myself. Okay,

[35:42] councelor Pickard. >> Thank you chair and um yeah, thanks for

[35:48] uh you guys finding the grant to do this study and appreciate and I think it's

[35:51] been good learning for us as we go along when we're always saying, well, why do

[35:55] all these reports and we have reports on reports? But just showing that this

[35:58] climate ready infrastructure service study prepared by Polar kind of was a

[36:03] springboard that allowed us to identify where we needed our upgrades and repairs

[36:06] so we could build a really strong proposal for the build community strong

[36:10] fund. So I think it's a good kind of lesson that sometimes like we got the

[36:14] read up for our ECA report and and study and so hopefully that we have that

[36:20] professional report done and then we can use that to go ahead and find grants for

[36:23] the the priorities or upgrades identified in those reports. So thanks

[36:28] for the foresight in getting that done and making us eligible for this build

[36:31] community strong fund grant. Thanks.

[36:34] » Thank you councard. Anyone else call for the question? All in favor?

[36:40] Cool. And now the meeting. Move that council direct staff to pursue projects

[36:45] and funding in support of the recommendations through infrastructure

[36:48] renewal. Council

[36:52] moved it. Second by councelor Pringle. Discussion.

[36:57] I love it. All in favor call for question. Yeah.

[37:02] Good. That's why I like being a politician in

[37:07] this community.

[37:10] » Yeah, they value health and wellness and uh all the other things that go with

[37:15] having those facilities. Um 84 Anidic Aquatic and Sports Center

[37:22] main [snorts] pool boiler renewal. Move that the council approve a budget

[37:26] amendment drawing upon capital equipment reserve accounts in the amount of 65,000

[37:30] and directing towards the capital renewal of the pool boiler and that

[37:35] council authorized staff proceed with replacement of the main pool boiler a

[37:38] cost of not more than 240,000 care to move it councelor way second by

[37:42] councelor Pringle discussion the same question I had for you before

[37:47] director of operations stocky when I was a little ahead of myself can you explain

[37:51] the um you have money budgeted already in the existing budget for 2026 and um

[37:57] um for doing the job and you're going to consolidate that money and you just need

[38:01] another 65,000 in order to get worked in. Am I am I summarizing it correctly?

[38:06] » If I may through your worship, you're you're pretty close. Um I actually had

[38:10] we had uh $125,000 in the capital budget and then

[38:16] I actually made an air and I had $50,000 in the operational budget for the same

[38:20] thing. >> Okay. Um, so as it turns out, uh, the

[38:23] boiler is, um, more money than either of those. Yeah.

[38:27] » So, the air works in this instance in our favor and we still do need $65,000,

[38:32] um, and recommending to transfer it from the capital reserve.

[38:36] Um, I guess like also point out within the report though that um, this is a

[38:41] good example of having having the study um, it was completed back uh, near the

[38:45] year end. Um, but we we we wanted to have a refrigeration because as soon as

[38:51] we brought the study to to council for information, we knew it was going to be

[38:54] followed up with uh requests for information around uh the budget and we

[38:58] wanted to make sure in the boiler because it had also failed earlier in

[39:01] the spring and we needed to get a refrigeration contractor kind of lined

[39:04] up. So, this is a good example of um just needing to have all the layers kind

[39:08] of like put into a into a row for it to make sense to bring before council, but

[39:13] we do need the main boiler to be renewed. Um it um it's described in the

[39:18] in the report. It failed in the spring. We um we jigged some of the plumbing

[39:23] over from the leisure pool boiler to circulate the the water from the leisure

[39:27] pool or from the main pool through the leisure pool boiler. Um but it involves

[39:31] manually valving open and valving closed uh the different circulation systems and

[39:37] it was able to maintain uh within about 2 degrees of the temperature target

[39:42] temperature but it it will not be able to there's not enough BTU power there to

[39:46] to to heat both both uh bodies of water from uh from a ground cold uh standing

[39:53] still so to speak. Um so we do need to get the boiler going. Um, and that's why

[39:58] they ask for the $65,000. And that is this boiler that's in here is in line

[40:03] with what's being recommended and what'll be being applied for. It is a um

[40:08] what do they call it? A condensing uh hydronic uh boiler. So, it's a separate

[40:12] circulatory system from right now the pool body water goes through the uh the

[40:17] heat exchanger within the boiler and in the new system it'll be heated through a

[40:21] separate heat exchanger. Um, so the the liquid going through the boilers is

[40:25] actually a kind of a a straight tap water, glycol or like some other liquid

[40:30] besides the pool body water. So it won't have quite the chlorine and uh uh

[40:35] exposure. They they last much longer. Um and um that's about all I know on that

[40:40] for right now. [laughter] >> That's a lot.

[40:42] » The report says it all. >> That's a lot. That's triggered.

[40:47] Thank you through the chair and thanks again director DXY for uh your staff

[40:52] doing all their creative rigging up plumbing all throughout last year. I

[40:55] know they had challenges and we go to the pool lots with my daughters and I

[41:00] know there was some disappointment with the community of all the the temperature

[41:03] fluctuations and some seniors and and kids getting packed up and the boiler

[41:08] issues and temperature. So, I appreciate your staff did the best they could with

[41:11] aging equipment. And I also was wondering um you know, if this is

[41:16] included in the building community strong fund grant, does it have to be

[41:18] exclusive and do we have to do this first? But director, administrator Roy

[41:22] and I chatted today and he mentioned the urgency and to get lifeguard staff and

[41:26] to ensure that the pool opens in time. It's a matter of kind of urgent time to

[41:30] get it going for opening day, October 5th. So maybe we can include it as a

[41:34] retroactive expense of the grant. would usually know, but uh and if not, thanks

[41:38] for your guys' foresight and all your guys' work and hopefully we can get it

[41:42] in and temperatures up to standard and the hot tub hot for the opening day.

[41:47] Thank you. >> Thank you, Councelor Pickard. Um Council

[41:52] Remmer, >> yeah, I guess at the heart of it, the

[41:55] boil or pool needs a boiler now and uh placement that staff's recommending um

[42:01] it's fits with the rest of the what is it called? The CIS study. Um so I have

[42:06] no particular qualms with this. Uh it's a unnecessary

[42:12] evil to uh pay that money but at the same time uh we want to you know have

[42:16] our pool up and running in October. So I'm all for moving forward with this.

[42:21] » Thank you Councelor

[42:25] Fawson. >> Thank you through the chair. And just a

[42:28] a question through the chair to our director of operations. Um, so if this

[42:33] passes tonight, then is the boiler going to be installed by October 5th?

[42:38] » Director of operations, Oxy. >> Um, I can't guarantee it, but that is

[42:44] that is what is um uh loosely promised by the refrigeration company. They they

[42:49] say that the one that they're spec is compliant with what's being recommended,

[42:53] but also available on the island with with readily accessible parts. And um so

[42:59] it should be I know that's a strange way to answer.

[43:04] » That sounds like you could be a good politician to me.

[43:11] » Yeah, just a secondary question to our director of operations. Um knowing that

[43:16] um what is the how many days will the pool be shut down in order to replace

[43:20] this boiler? >> Director of operations. Officer, you're

[43:24] shut down right now, correct? Yes, if I may through your worship, the the goal

[43:27] would be to have this done prior to opening. So,

[43:30] » what's your projected oper opening date? Beginning of October.

[43:36] » It's October 5th. It's in the next report. [laughter]

[43:38] » Yeah. Just testing. >> Good. Councelor Fawson, do you want to

[43:45] explore anything else or are you good, sir?

[43:49] » You're good. You're welcome. Any

[43:54] other discussion on this item? Um, I'll just weigh in because I never

[43:59] had an opportunity to really say publicly my express my sentiments and

[44:03] thanks for um yourself and your staff for showing so much creativity and

[44:08] innovation last year. I thought when it I discovered that the boiler was down,

[44:12] being a practitioner, that would mean that the main pool was going to be down

[44:15] for the operating season until you could get your boiler and um you would only be

[44:19] able to operate your leisure pool off your leisure boiler and your hot tub off

[44:23] your hot tub boiler because there are three separate systems there. But um

[44:26] through I guess your [laughter] your creativity and um and and your

[44:34] perseverance, you found a way that you could uh get that leisure pool boiler to

[44:38] maintain temperature in leisure pool as well as main pool so that we could keep

[44:42] that facility available to the community. And I know that um when that

[44:45] facility is open to the community, the health and wellness of the community and

[44:48] the overall betterment of the community is being realized. So I I I do recognize

[44:52] that and I do appreciate that and on behalf of myself, council and the

[44:55] community, we do really appreciate those efforts because um our pool without um

[45:00] you know only partially open and during operating season would have been would

[45:04] have been yeah really diminished what we um the services we operate in the

[45:08] community and uh yeah I'm ready to go. I just like I was looking at your CRS and

[45:14] uh that grant application and the reports and everything. It looks like

[45:17] the two other boilers that you're planning on replacing, the leisure pool

[45:20] and the hot tub are operate on the same system as the main pool boiler. So, we

[45:25] won't be having to reconfigure anything because that's the evolution, right, of

[45:30] the that boiler replacement program. All three are going to operate on the same

[45:34] basic principles. We're not going to have main pool being different from the

[45:37] other two that you want to replace under the CIS.

[45:40] » Uh you're you're correct, Arthur. Um I I I might be could or should add that um

[45:46] some of the headworks uh plumbing is part of the main pooler pooler pool

[45:50] boiler installation that we're proposing here um those headworks are done and

[45:54] installed. So um integration into uh another boiler for the leisure pool will

[45:58] be be no problem. So yeah great. So folks okay with giving director of

[46:06] operations an extra 65,000 to get the job done before so we can go put the

[46:10] pool in October. Terrific. Any discussion on it? All good. Call for a

[46:14] question. All in favor? You have your $65,000.

[46:18] Director of operations, Oxy. Looking forward to seeing being in the main pool

[46:21] on October the 5th. Hot main pool. [laughter]

[46:26] » Thank you, sir.

[46:29] U Nish Park Design. Holy smokes. Director

[46:33] of operations. Doctor, you got like how many reports you got in this thing?

[46:38] [laughter] Oh, this I think this is a record for

[46:42] the amount of reports staff reports that we got from one staff member. Um 8.5

[46:47] Nish Park design options that Nymphish Park design options report be accepted

[46:52] for information. Who care to move that? Councelor Fawson second by councelor

[46:57] Pringle. Discussion

[47:03] councelor Fost. >> Thank you to through the chair. I just

[47:06] wanted to say thank you to staff, but also to um just this has been a long

[47:12] time coming. I think we as council were working towards this uh pretty much four

[47:16] years started four years ago. So I know our our community has been wanting to

[47:21] see the plans, wanting to know what we're going to do. And I think by

[47:25] directing our staff to okay, let's go out and get professionals to u look at

[47:30] this and give us design ideas is great. I think it's um part of what we need to

[47:36] do to be physically responsible to make sure that whatever we do is going to be

[47:40] uh one beneficial to the community but also to uh financially responsible. So I

[47:45] um really look forward to seeing which option we choose. I already have picked

[47:51] mine but I also want to do some tweaking as well. I I don't think it really meets

[47:56] neither all three do neither of the three do um I think directly uh deal

[48:02] with what I've heard from our constituents.

[48:05] So, but I am very thankful for this report and I know that we can uh move

[48:10] forward with this finally. So, thank you.

[48:16] » Thank you, Cra. Um again, director of operations doxy the $500,000 over budget

[48:22] for the rehabilitation of our nimish park by this council. Where'd that money

[48:27] come from, sir?

[48:32] » Um actually maybe I can defer that one to uh

[48:36] talk to [laughter] your CEO.

[48:40] that is coming from the grant funding that the village received a couple of

[48:43] years ago that we have to allocate and uh expend in the a fiveyear window

[48:48] » that was a growing um communities fund the 966 some thousand that we got

[48:54] » that is correct >> four years ago thank you sir so all this

[48:57] all this stuff that you're talking about here is going to be paid by grant money

[49:02] » uh >> and uh not these folks here we're not

[49:04] going to be taxing them and they're going on their tax bill to rehabilitate

[49:07] Nkush work >> well well up till the value of the grant

[49:10] money that is held in question. Um there are certainly more options available to

[49:15] council to elect from that might be over that value but certainly a lot of the

[49:19] amenities are within the grant. >> Just wanted to emphasize that um we're

[49:23] not taxing our citizens in order to do this upgrade to Nimish Park that this is

[49:27] being done through grant money that's been procured for the provincial

[49:29] government. And I think these folks in this room when they look at their tax

[49:33] bills are really happy when they don't see them themselves having to be taxed

[49:37] another million dollars to upgrade their um their main park in their community.

[49:42] So anyways, I just wanted to make that point. I know where the money came from.

[49:47] [laughter] Um any other discussions on receipt?

[49:51] Seeing none, call for the question and receipt. All in favor? And next is that

[49:56] council direct staff to proceed immediately. like that word immediately

[50:00] with playground equipment renewal using the growing community spun cost not to

[50:04] exceed 150,000 and that council direct staff to include the report for upcoming

[50:08] budget discussion and secured a movement councelor Fawson second by councelor

[50:13] discussion care to lead us off I thought you would lead us off on that one

[50:17] councelor Fost starting blocks >> thank you for the through the chair um

[50:22] yeah I can't wait to see our tetanas parks changed into uh parks that are

[50:25] actually going to be safe for our children um I've only been here 23

[50:29] years. Um my son and my wife and I, we've enjoyed the parks with him while

[50:34] he was growing up and we're a little concerned when we saw how unfortunately

[50:39] well I'm really thankful the parks were there. I I think with Helicopter Park, I

[50:43] think in Nipius Park, I already really appreciate what the uh school school

[50:48] division had done with their school parks. Um, and I think the school park

[50:52] uh, elementary park um, playground is actually a great example of what or

[50:56] should give inspire us for the village what we should do for our parks. So, I

[51:00] just wanted to uh, say thank you. It's it's about time that we deal with this

[51:04] and I'm glad we have the opportunity to look forward to dealing with it. Thank

[51:08] you. >> Thank you, Counc. Any other counselors

[51:11] want us? Councelor Bickert. >> Thank you to the chair and thanks

[51:16] Councelor Fawson. I agree with you. It's time to look around and it's been

[51:20] identified as a priority by a lot of a majority of residents to look at the

[51:24] tetanus parks and good term. [laughter] I live beside the helicopter park done

[51:29] multiple emergency trips of other kids on the rusty metal there. But yeah, we

[51:34] have to start bit by bit and this one's all grant funded and um from community

[51:38] engagement has shown that it's a priority. it's in the middle of town and

[51:43] will be kind of part of whatever we do with the rest of the funding so that we

[51:47] can have kind of one defined space that's not going to affect whatever plan

[51:51] whatever option design option that we do and get started on it while we have the

[51:54] grant funding and a deadline to use it I think is fantastic and I I really

[51:59] recommend I don't know who's going to kind of look at design if it's going to

[52:02] be staff or if we'll have a chance to review it but there's some really

[52:06] gorgeous um just kind of thinking outside the box inclusive kind

[52:11] educational parks that include kind of maybe we can include some gold river

[52:15] kind of history like Luna or salmon or wildlife or MFN culture and art and

[52:20] Naimo where we had some conferences before I have a gorgeous really really

[52:25] um it's just inspiring and really beautiful for the kids and kind of

[52:28] incorporates lots of um traditional images and animals and stuff and also

[52:33] all along the Wfuca Trail down have some really neat kind of interactive parks

[52:38] for the kids too so I think it'd be really special to include some um some

[52:43] local kind of culture or some local uh First Nation culture and have it a bit

[52:48] artistic too as well as safe and um upgraded. So, thanks staff for bringing

[52:54] this forward. >> Thank you, Council Pickard. Anyone else?

[52:59] » That's where I'm Yes. It's a long awaited report.

[53:06] I've had a few people on my case uh having been at the uh open house in

[53:12] February, I think it was. So, I'm very glad to see this in front of us today.

[53:16] Um I fully support um getting the playground equipment in as soon as

[53:23] possible, as soon as we unleash the funds. And um

[53:30] I think we perhaps might want to go slightly further. Um I'm looking at one

[53:36] of the alternates. Um [snorts] talking to the uh community garden um so

[53:43] that they have their preferential area. And also, I'm thinking about I mean,

[53:50] because this has been so long, I want us to be hitting the ground running in

[53:55] spring 2027. Um, so I have another subsequent motion.

[54:01] I won't totally speak to it now, but more or less getting

[54:07] as much of that done um in the meantime so that we are hitting the ground

[54:11] running. >> Thank you, councilor.

[54:15] Director of Operations, Docy, I see in your report that you're recommending

[54:18] that um we select one [snorts]

[54:24] component of the proposals and that's the upgrade of playground equipment for

[54:29] 150,000. And I presume that the reason that you've

[54:34] presented this to council in that manner is you're looking at resources and um

[54:38] climate and time and how much construction period you have and that

[54:41] you feel that this would be the only thing that you could accomplish um

[54:44] during this um this year. Is am I am I on the right track there, sir? Is that

[54:49] the rationale for recommending this council that we just do the $150,000,

[54:54] upgrade the playground equipment um and then defer the other stuff to the budget

[54:58] discussion and then look at um doing that in next year? Is that is that the

[55:03] rationale behind the way that this is being presented to council? Uh pretty

[55:06] much uh just keeping in mind um you know the the next larger uh project will you

[55:13] know like budget time will be you know post elections and so there would be

[55:17] time for the fresh fresh council to kind of evaluate and and uh understand and

[55:23] own uh their priorities of the day. Um and so yeah the playground equipment is

[55:27] aged. It is um it is not meeting like current what would be Canadian standards

[55:32] acceptable for a playground. [laughter] Um the um I guess the the one notion

[55:39] that is listed there in the alternatives would be that if council like maybe not

[55:43] necessarily selecting a priority next project, but if they um if they were in

[55:48] a position where they were comfortable to select um an option one, two, or

[55:51] three in terms of where the community garden goes, that would be beneficial to

[55:54] get them moving sooner than later. Um and that would be the only, you know,

[55:59] that that's listed as an alternative uh motion. Um

[56:03] um but that could also be kind of deferred and uh you know discussed in in

[56:08] line with budget discussions as well. So [sighs]

[56:12] um if this $150,000 was approved for the replacement of the existing playground

[56:18] equipment um is that realistic and you can do you believe that you can

[56:22] accomplish that before but uh before the end of this budget year and would that

[56:27] be contracted out to somebody else or would that be an in-house project? Uh if

[56:31] I may through your worship, the the most likely um what I was would have been

[56:35] kind of planning on for that would have been to go through a proposal and kind

[56:38] of leverage um some of the playground manufacturers and installers

[56:42] um against each other to get the best pricing. Mhm.

[56:45] » Um, so there would be there probably wouldn't uh it's it's uncertain as to

[56:51] whether or not the the whole thing could be 100% completed before December 31st,

[56:55] but we would need the funding and the certainty to to be able to move forward

[57:00] um to be able to uh run a successful competition, award a successful

[57:04] competition, get them going. And then what what would happen is anything

[57:07] that's not finished or incomplete at the end of the year, we would um I believe

[57:12] here we don't do carry forwards, but we would roll it forward and budget for it

[57:15] in the following year. Anything that's not complete,

[57:19] that sounds like a maybe.

[57:24] And that I keep on saying, you're going to make a great politician one day, sir.

[57:30] Okay. Um council, any other discussion? >> Thank you. to the chair. And um just one

[57:37] more thing to throw out there without really having to decide on a design

[57:40] option, but since we've kind of parcled off the playground as an attainable goal

[57:44] is it won't really impact whatever design we go with, would we be able to

[57:48] maybe throw in um the pickled tennis ball courts into that too or is that not

[57:53] doesn't really make sense now because of weather? But I know there's been quite a

[57:56] few groups that have approached us that are doing some makeshift stuff with the

[58:00] nets and repairing them themselves and doing the lines themselves. So, I know

[58:04] that's kind of a defined area that won't be impacted by what whatever design

[58:08] option um that we choose out of those. So, I'm just wondering if that would

[58:12] make sense to do also implement now and get it done with the park or just wait.

[58:17] » That would really be >> Sorry. Yeah. To your worship, that would

[58:22] 100% be uh council initiative. Um it it um

[58:28] it could be a constraining in terms of like staff time um being able to set up

[58:33] and uh run multiple uh competitions at the same time while we have the metering

[58:39] project ongoing and uh but yeah um I mean if we're directed to move forward

[58:46] we will move forward with it. >> Any followup? Councelor Brickard are you

[58:50] good? Any other questions for director of operations Doxy?

[58:56] Call for the question. All in favor? Done. Carried. You have your $150,000

[59:01] there, sir. And do we have any follow-up motions?

[59:08] I thought we might. Councelor Rymer. Uh, I have two follow-up motions. I'll

[59:13] start with one. um that council direct staff to proceed by coordinating with

[59:18] the community garden association on relocation of the community garden based

[59:22] on the preferred option plan.

[59:27] » Do you have a seconder? Councelor Fawson discussion.

[59:36] » Um again this is uh very much uh trying to get ourselves ahead in the

[59:42] game. Um it's not going to take too much time to have that conversation and uh

[59:48] shows that we're reaching out to um a very important organization uh whose you

[59:54] know main goal right now is probably to find a home for 2027. So the more

[1:00:00] prepared we are for the 2027 growing season which will be spring um the

[1:00:05] better it is for them. >> Thank you. Director of Director of

[1:00:10] Operations Joy. Do you see any um any issues with that

[1:00:16] motion that we're debating? No, there um there is some flexibility

[1:00:23] um I I guess with regards to the community garden location where um

[1:00:29] it could pro like if if council were to say uh settle on option one, two or

[1:00:33] three um and something were to change in the imple in in implementation

[1:00:38] implementation process, sorry. Um

[1:00:43] there um it looks like um there would be flexibility that um it could be wherever

[1:00:50] it is chosen to go there would be room to move with whatever the remaining

[1:00:54] aspects of those option plans could still go. Um you'll see that they're

[1:00:58] largely kind of around like number 60 the main uh just kind of a field in one

[1:01:04] of the option plans. that main field becomes a uh looks like a what's it

[1:01:10] soccer pitch if I I'm confusing myself. Um

[1:01:16] yeah, it's it's yeah, there is room there um to accommodate that community

[1:01:23] garden. It's basically if they'd like it over towards the north or more over

[1:01:27] towards the south um there there is room to play. There's

[1:01:32] flexibility. Council Raymire, do you have any follow-up questions, sir? Are

[1:01:35] you good? >> Okay. Anyone else? Councelor Fawson,

[1:01:39] » thank you through the chair. And I'm glad Council Ray, you brought that up.

[1:01:42] And u the this the one question I have when when looking at all these different

[1:01:48] options. >> Yes, sir.

[1:01:49] » Is again, I have a small garden. I look for sunshine.

[1:01:54] » I look for shade. And so when I was looking through these different options,

[1:01:58] I was like, neither of the proposals in my mind are a great location for the

[1:02:04] community garden. But I did want to ask director Doxy because this was done by

[1:02:09] um a consulting group, engineering group. Um

[1:02:14] what is their recommend? So I'm assuming from all option one, two, and three that

[1:02:18] these are where they propose the best place for the community garden would be.

[1:02:22] And um like you said, I'm pretty sure which whenever council decides we can

[1:02:27] consult with the community garden group cuz I'm pretty sure they're maybe a

[1:02:30] little more knowledgeable than me about the amount of sun that the gardens need.

[1:02:34] Um so there flexibility is there flexibility with these one, two, and

[1:02:38] three options and if so um >> I'm understanding that it's easily

[1:02:45] changed. if I may through your worship. Um w

[1:02:50] within reason. Um you know um I was looking for the all-in-one uh package.

[1:02:55] That's the one that has like a soccer pitch uh instead of just a a simple main

[1:02:59] field. Um if you look at where the community garden goes there, it is not

[1:03:04] terribly dissimilar than where it goes in uh the music in the park option.

[1:03:08] Well, that one is different um sorry than the green thumb option plan. Uh the

[1:03:13] green thumb option plan has it going up nestled up near the corner with the uh

[1:03:16] the spray park and the playground. Um versus the all-in plan has it kind of uh

[1:03:22] located in the middle of the west side of the park. Um so if we put it in that

[1:03:28] uh all-in plan, it would really just be a matter of juxtapositioning the

[1:03:33] gathering space or the gazebo. Um, you know, um, and similarly, um,

[1:03:41] you know, if you put it like putting it in location on the all-in-one plan, it

[1:03:45] probably makes the most flexible sense in that if you do or don't go with a

[1:03:50] gathering space, at least the gathering space is reserved to be near the

[1:03:53] playground and the spray park for parental monitoring uh, sake.

[1:04:00] um the uh you know putting it over towards the north

[1:04:05] um in the music in the park option plan um and then the green thumb option plan

[1:04:12] those are also similarly compatible. So it really comes down to if we really

[1:04:16] like the all-in plan versus the uh the green thumb plan I guess.

[1:04:23] Um, >> yeah, it's uh

[1:04:28] » I've seen counselor Pringle's brain starting to explode.

[1:04:31] » But it's simply Yeah. The green thumb um like the primary green thumb and the uh

[1:04:37] and the all-in option plan had the community garden in a similar space and

[1:04:41] the music in the park and the alternate green thumb have it at the north end of

[1:04:46] the park. So there's two very, you know, crude basic depictive areas uh for the

[1:04:52] community garden. And if we can select one of those two places, we can move

[1:04:56] forward with the rest in the time. Um, you know,

[1:04:59] » thank you, sir. Um, >> I just can I just want to just check on

[1:05:05] something here again, could you um read back our motion for

[1:05:10] us, sir? I want to know what we're I just want to refresh myself on what

[1:05:13] we're actually >> to proceed with the community garden

[1:05:17] » uh based on the preferred plan. >> Excuse me.

[1:05:22] » To proceed with the community garden based on the preferred plan.

[1:05:27] » Okay. Thank you, sir. Councelor F.

[1:05:30] » Thanks. Just a follow-up question through the chair to the director of

[1:05:34] operations. Um when this when these plans were drawn up and the the pe the

[1:05:39] men and ladies came out to survey the whole nkish park um I'm assuming they

[1:05:45] came in the summer or the spring and not when the uh one section I'm going to say

[1:05:52] the section closest to uh Eagle Crescent is not flooded. And so I'm I'm thinking

[1:05:59] that needs to be taken into consideration with whatever we put in

[1:06:03] there, whether it's community garden, dog park, uh you know, the the um

[1:06:08] community uh you know, like anything we put in that side of the park or that

[1:06:14] side of the track. I'm pretty sure hopefully they were informed that that

[1:06:17] area floods quite a bit. uh they they were they heard it from

[1:06:22] staff, they heard it from the community, and they were out for the comm the uh

[1:06:26] the open house, I believe, was March 5th.

[1:06:29] » Um and so the survey work would have happened uh prior like during during the

[1:06:34] winter period. So um I can't remember specifically if there was snow or rain

[1:06:38] at the time. There wasn't a heck of a lot of snow all winter here, but uh um

[1:06:44] it I don't think it quite flooded. This was probably not the most representative

[1:06:48] year for flooding there, but yeah.

[1:06:54] Terrific. Any other discussion?

[1:07:01] You look like you're kind of in the wilderness there. Councilor Pringle kind

[1:07:05] of feel the same way. Health for the question. All in favor? Carried.

[1:07:14] Council Mer, >> I'd like to make a subsequent motion

[1:07:20] that council direct staff to advance the technical design, costing, and

[1:07:24] procurement preparation required for rehabilitation of Nimish Park pathway

[1:07:29] and resurfacing of the tennis courts and bring implementation ready options back

[1:07:34] to council for consideration ahead of the 2027 construction season.

[1:07:39] » Do you have all that, um, C Roy, or do you have a copy of that motion? I would

[1:07:43] be getting one from council way. >> I sure hope so.

[1:07:48] Anyone care to second that motion? Councelor Fawson. Discussion.

[1:07:55] » Councelor Wayare. >> Uh, so as I previously said, I want us I

[1:08:00] mean, this has been a long time coming. I want us to be able to hit the ground

[1:08:02] running in spring of 2027. Um, as we all know, Canada has two seasons. We have uh

[1:08:10] winter and construction season and we are uh heading into winter. So it's not

[1:08:16] quite realistic to expect resurfacing of the pickle ball or tennis or basketball

[1:08:22] courts uh right now. But um what we do have in front of us is multiple plans

[1:08:28] that all have a common entity of having dire need of resurfacing of the tennis

[1:08:34] courts and the Nish Park pathway being in need of a lot of love. Um, so that is

[1:08:41] very much uh the root of this motion uh that staff has the winter to uh get the

[1:08:51] ball rolling and then hopefully come spring of 2027 we can hit the ground

[1:08:56] running instead of uh possibly missing another window.

[1:09:01] » Thank you, Counc.

[1:09:05] » Yeah, thank you councelor Weimar. And um I I love this motion and I think it's

[1:09:10] great. We've been waiting a long time for the macain report. I know staff's

[1:09:13] going to be really busy putting the ice in and then the pool and the boiler and

[1:09:16] all that, but and then Christmas and all that, but during that time, I think it

[1:09:21] would be great to be ready and prepared and have have as much ready as we can. I

[1:09:25] know that the park was a big concern with residents, but also that walking

[1:09:29] path around and how unsafe it is and how two people can't go side by side and

[1:09:33] it's not great for mobility and needs a bit more accessibility. having that for

[1:09:37] residents to look forward to in the spring to get them through the dark days

[1:09:40] of winter. And also that pickle ball, I know I haven't played it yet, but I used

[1:09:45] to play tennis with the old deli guy against that wall and I love that that's

[1:09:50] gone. But I think just having that knowing

[1:09:53] » deli guy [laughter] the deli.

[1:09:57] » Okay, >> I used that wall till it fell over and

[1:10:01] Mr. Kim Mr. >> [laughter]

[1:10:04] » Anyway, I think having that, yeah, knowing that that's coming and knowing

[1:10:08] that all the consultation was listened to and we're working on it and it's

[1:10:12] going to be um have a facelift will be a great um boost for residents over the

[1:10:17] winter. And just as a side note too, I I like the option. There were some

[1:10:21] recommendations to have that, you know, Molini drew up these different

[1:10:24] proposals, but the design options, but the gazebo and kind of sitting viewing

[1:10:28] area by the parks, a great option for parents who want to monitor their kids

[1:10:33] and who have to listen to all the shrieks and laughs, but also maybe a

[1:10:37] second gazebo option for people who are um don't really have kids or don't want

[1:10:42] to listen to all the shrieks and laughs. some of the um elderly people or people

[1:10:48] who've moved on from the parent phases to maybe even considering two different

[1:10:51] options to kind of accommodate both those um listening pleasures for

[1:10:57] residents would be nice to consider. Thank you.

[1:10:59] » Thank you, Council Pickard. Any other discussion on the motion? Seeing none,

[1:11:03] call for the question. All in favor? Terrific.

[1:11:08] Okay. Are we done with that one, folks? I think [laughter] so.

[1:11:13] All good. 8.6

[1:11:18] Anfidic Aquatic and Sports Center and Jerry Morgan Memorial Center reopening

[1:11:22] plan that the Anfidic Aquatic and Sports

[1:11:26] Center and Jerry Morgan Memorial Center reopening plan report be accepted for

[1:11:30] information who care to move it. Council Pringle second by councelor Pit.

[1:11:36] Discussion

[1:11:43] [laughter] the chair. Good luck getting the boiler

[1:11:47] in it. >> One day I'm going to get one of these

[1:11:49] closed before you get your hand up. Councelor Pickard.

[1:11:53] » I already did. It was really quick through the chair. Good luck getting the

[1:11:57] boiler installed. I don't know if I'm going to be able to accomplish that.

[1:12:00] » Looking forward to it.

[1:12:04] » Are you done?

[1:12:08] » Any other discussions? No. Call for the question. All in favor? carried

[1:12:12] unanimously. 8.7 recreation service rate review that the move that the recreation

[1:12:18] services rate review report be accepted for information. Who care to move it?

[1:12:22] Councelor Faucet, second by councelor Pringle. Any discussion?

[1:12:29] Director of operations Doxy. I see you're recommending that um we do an

[1:12:33] inflationary increase for our fees and charges at um the aquatic center and

[1:12:37] pool and you're recommending zero increase at the um campground. Can you

[1:12:41] tell me why that we have a you're you're recommending that um

[1:12:46] this that option of having zero at the campground instead of 3% of the

[1:12:50] compound. What's your rationale behind that sir? Um

[1:12:55] well the willingness to pay I suppose uh the campground has just historically um

[1:13:02] it hasn't hasn't seen uh the the assets or the quite the infrastructure. There's

[1:13:06] no water service. There's um there's it's it's basically staff time um which

[1:13:12] does go up every year, but there aren't a lot of uh secondary um technical

[1:13:17] amenities down there um that drive cost quite as much as there are with the

[1:13:21] facilities like the pools, the arenas, and such. Um

[1:13:26] so that's kind of the basic crux. Otherwise, the recommendations towards

[1:13:29] 3% or um I'm going to say they're kind of balanced. We heard the report from

[1:13:33] the health medical health officer tying in uh kind of the need for recreation uh

[1:13:38] services in a community and and tying it into the [clears throat] need or the the

[1:13:43] benefits of access in terms of like physical health, mental health, and

[1:13:47] addictions and uh and heading those things off. So, it's a bit of a

[1:13:50] conflicted report where I'm recommending a 3% to keep us up with inflation, but

[1:13:54] also reminding council that some of these things are um um they are

[1:13:59] community services um intended to benefit the whole community and um and

[1:14:04] with that respecting council's um direction as to what the increase should

[1:14:08] be, but we were recommending 3%. director of operations oxy and

[1:14:12] historically over the last few years you've been recommending the same amount

[1:14:16] and council's been proving that Croy historically last few years has been 3%.

[1:14:22] » I believe it has been 3%. >> Yeah, that's my recollection also. I

[1:14:26] could be incorrect but I'll go back and take a look at the YouTube for the last

[1:14:29] couple years and see what we actually recommended because I've got a boring

[1:14:32] life [laughter] but I'm pretty confident it's 3%.

[1:14:37] And I do agree with you. Um I don't know if my colleagues do, but I'm quite

[1:14:41] prepared to support um inflationary increases and those facilities. That

[1:14:45] basically in my mind that's no increase if we're just doing inflationary

[1:14:48] increases. And that's kind of a best of both worlds. And at the same time, I

[1:14:53] don't believe we should be increasing the costs of our um fees at the

[1:14:58] campground. I think they're excessive at this point based on the amenities that

[1:15:01] are available down there. And you know, I wouldn't support any increase in the

[1:15:04] the costs. I know that um you still got some improvements that you're going to

[1:15:07] be doing down there, which is encouraging. It's nice to see that I can

[1:15:10] finally find the campsites now because they're all numbered and we have nice

[1:15:14] new information signs down there. And you're planning on replacing those

[1:15:17] dreadful toilets that we have down there that are the most that are disgusting, I

[1:15:22] think. And that's compliment. I could probably get into other words, but I get

[1:15:25] in trouble for using exploitives, so I won't go there. But I know that you're

[1:15:29] replacing those, so I'm very happy about that and maybe some work on the signage

[1:15:32] and other thing. But one thing I got from the people that were down there

[1:15:35] this summer, director of operation, Dr. seem very happy with the fact that um

[1:15:40] you've uh you're keeping all of the um campgrounds down there very clean. Your

[1:15:45] staff is doing a great job keeping it very clean down there. Seem to be very

[1:15:48] happy with that. And the other thing is that you've done some work on those

[1:15:51] disgusting toilets by putting in new toilet dispensers and sand sanitizer and

[1:15:56] using a biodegradable thing to reduce the smell and everything. So, I know

[1:15:59] you've been making efforts, but you know, sometimes you can only put so much

[1:16:03] makeup on. The pig is still a pig, right? So, I'm sure glad that you've got

[1:16:08] your $8,000 I think council gave you to replace those um those um those

[1:16:13] buildings down there. The what do you call those those rooms? Those toilet

[1:16:17] rooms down there. >> John's John's.

[1:16:20] » Whatever you worship, they're they're pit toilets. The super structure.

[1:16:25] » Yeah. I've never found a pit toilet I like. It doesn't matter how nice it is,

[1:16:28] but I never but anyways I do appreciate all the efforts that you guys made down

[1:16:31] there. But getting back to the question here is that receiving for information

[1:16:35] I'm happy with your proposals and your recommendations. Um any other

[1:16:39] discussion? All for the question on favor receipt

[1:16:42] done. And then I see you kind of gave us some detail in the next one here that

[1:16:46] council adjust the rates at the an Aquatic Center as shown in column C that

[1:16:50] I assume is a 3% one. That's what I referenced. Yeah. And that council

[1:16:54] adjusts the rate at the jury. Morgan Moral Center as shown in column C and

[1:16:59] that council retain the rate at the campground set during the April 20th

[1:17:02] 2026 council meeting as shown on column A. Who care to move that? Councelor

[1:17:07] Picker second by councelor Foster. Any more discussion that we had? Councelor

[1:17:11] Pickard. >> The chair and um I think that the

[1:17:15] inflationary 3% is really fair. Just keeps us in line with what we're

[1:17:18] increasing for wages and costs and utilities and upgrades. And I think it's

[1:17:23] still really important to note even though we do the 3% increase, infants

[1:17:28] and preschool kids six and under still stay free which is awesome I think for

[1:17:32] little kids and increases accessibility and safety and learning how to swim. So

[1:17:36] I appreciate you guys keeping that free for kids under six. And also still our

[1:17:41] rates you know the 3% a child goes from 405 to 425 quite nominal and still

[1:17:47] really affordable and adults and seniors too is quite nominal. So I agree and

[1:17:52] support it and still believe our rates are really fair for the quality of our

[1:17:56] facilities. So thank you. >> Thank you councelor Pickard. Any other

[1:18:00] comments? People happy. Good to go. Call for a question. All favor

[1:18:07] reports from councelor counselors councelor fost officer.

[1:18:13] » None at this time. Your worship councelor Fson councelor Pickard.

[1:18:18] Thank you through the chair and um just a couple updates for the last month I

[1:18:24] guess since we've met last and first of all just want to say thanks to all the

[1:18:29] organizers and the groups and individuals that made Goldiver days such

[1:18:33] a success and important event for the community. It's always a highlight for

[1:18:37] our community and visitors in the summer. So thanks to everyone involved

[1:18:40] in organizing and also thanks to the Chamber of Commerce for taking it on

[1:18:44] this year. That's that was really great. And also thanks to Connie and her crew

[1:18:49] from the slow pitch um Gold River Slow Pitch and they did a lot of work to

[1:18:53] organize lots of crew and team and visitors to come in and it was great to

[1:18:57] see so many people some great ball and tons of people spending hopefully lots

[1:19:02] of money in Gold River and supporting all our businesses and just making our

[1:19:05] community more vibrant. And also just wanted to send consol

[1:19:10] condolences that that event unfortunately ended um in a tragedy and

[1:19:15] we lost a really important member of our community and send prayers and strengths

[1:19:20] to the Christensen and Johnson family and the entire MFN community and Gold

[1:19:24] River community as Shane was a gentle and kind soul with a big heart and

[1:19:29] brought our communities together more than anyone I think I know in the

[1:19:33] community and um brought people together and he was really committed to salmon.

[1:19:37] So he I don't know if anybody knows but he right now the hatchery is out in all

[1:19:41] the rivers and getting all the salmon in there so thanks to the Kuma hatchery and

[1:19:46] all their staff but he was a big part of that team for over a decade. So he made

[1:19:49] a really big impact on salmon in the community and um fed the salmon all

[1:19:54] throughout the year before their river releases. So, um, yeah, well, he'll be

[1:19:58] deeply missed by a lot of us, but I hope his legacy lives on through us and

[1:20:03] through, um, his love for salmon and the impact he had. And so, um, yeah, and

[1:20:10] thanks to everyone who showed support to the family community and celebrating his

[1:20:13] life. And, um, on that note, brood collections going on. Mayor Lot's been a

[1:20:18] volunteer for that before, but the Canuma hatchery and all their staff head

[1:20:22] out to the rivers and they actually support six rivers and they collect

[1:20:25] they're collecting brood now in the Burman and Gold Rivers. And that's super

[1:20:29] important for our area. They get the fish, do the pairs, match them even for

[1:20:33] the Burman River, um get the most genetic Burman DNA fish and make the

[1:20:39] pairs and then do all their brood stuff magic out there and raise the fish all

[1:20:44] winter and then release them in the river. So that really supports our

[1:20:47] fishing industries and our sport fishing and wreck fishing and family fishing. So

[1:20:51] they're doing really important um work out in the rivers right now. So thanks

[1:20:56] to their team. That's that's really big for our fisheries around here. And um uh

[1:21:02] another note in some restoration work. I don't know if anybody went out to

[1:21:06] Mushlet Lake at the end of August, but our council's been really supportive of

[1:21:11] a big restoration project that's restored some really important quality

[1:21:15] salmon spawning habitat at the outlet of Mushellet Lake. So, that was a 1.4

[1:21:20] million all grant-f funded project that restored habitat, employed local MFN

[1:21:26] members, um had some contractors come out from Trinity Consultants and Far

[1:21:31] North contractors. So kind of a big economic boost for the region too. And

[1:21:35] that project was completed ahead of schedule, unheard of almost in

[1:21:40] construction and on time. And so that is done and you guys will see some media

[1:21:45] and some footage there. But a really also important collaborative project for

[1:21:49] partnerships and for ecosystem health, for wed waterershed function, and for

[1:21:54] salmon health. So hopefully we'll see lots of benefits. We'll see in a couple

[1:21:58] weeks salmon all coming up the rivers. really incredible part of where we live

[1:22:02] and hopefully again using all that habitat and that wershed restored and

[1:22:07] giving nature a chance to heal herself out there.

[1:22:10] And uh two billion tree planting project that's funded by natural resource Canada

[1:22:15] is also starting up in the upper Musl rivers. So that's kind of the last year

[1:22:20] of that project. Restored some upper octaw last year now upper mushullet and

[1:22:24] all just helping planting repairarian areas. That's um Nucasan Wershed

[1:22:29] Society, uh Salmon Park Stewardship Society, and MFN Partnerships also. So,

[1:22:34] some really great work happening um in that restoration area. And then

[1:22:40] Mayor Lot and I had um an update from kind of on the other end of the fishery

[1:22:45] stuff aquaculture. We're going to have a big update tomorrow. So, we'll share it

[1:22:49] with Marian Council from Jennifer Woodland, our contact with Surerach, and

[1:22:53] they um she just got back from a trip, but

[1:22:57] there was a some update. She's actually joined the board for resource works,

[1:23:02] which do lots of advocacy for our uh resources and have been a big big

[1:23:07] partner with us to advocate for aquaculture and our other industries.

[1:23:11] And we are still awaiting any updates or news from the federal government on the

[1:23:16] aquaculture um proposed ban, but there was a really important bi-election at

[1:23:21] the end of August and um they that kind of went in the favor of the aquaculture

[1:23:27] support. So we should as we've been saying for a long time, we thought early

[1:23:31] fall right now have an update on that and we'll kind of know a little bit more

[1:23:35] for our um our residents and all our partners at SURAC. So that's all for in

[1:23:43] Thank you, >> Counc.

[1:23:47] » Yeah. Um I got to uh meet with the new head of operations down at Western

[1:23:52] Forest Products. Um I don't even know his last name, Derek. [laughter]

[1:23:56] I uh what four weeks in now. Um so I'm trying to uh give him a little bit of

[1:24:03] grace as he gets his feet under him. Um he tells me that um they're you know as

[1:24:10] said before the plan was to go into the Saunders and go out to the east coast

[1:24:13] and they're kind of ramping up to start doing that this uh fall. So apparently

[1:24:18] there's lots of wood there. Um it's multi-year so that is very promising.

[1:24:24] And ideally, um, I was going to check up with him, uh, get as, you know,

[1:24:29] up-to-date facts as possible, uh, before heading off to UBCM, uh, which

[1:24:34] apparently I have three days to go and see him again. Uh, that's everything for

[1:24:40] me. >> Thank you, Council Wear. Did I miss you,

[1:24:44] Council Pringle? I know I'm bad sometimes with that. I councelor

[1:24:48] Pringle, >> I think at this time. Thank you.

[1:24:51] [snorts]

[1:24:58] Um, I don't know if you folks pay attention to things like this, but um,

[1:25:02] that's important. Um, just recently our prime minister, Mark Carney, um,

[1:25:07] appointed a new deputy minister of fisheries and oceans, gentleman's name

[1:25:13] is Paul McKinnon. And um Paul McKinnon was invited out to Vancouver Island by

[1:25:20] the Coalition of First Nations for Finnfish Stewardship. And that group um

[1:25:25] invited um stakeholders in the aquaculture industry um as well as

[1:25:31] politicians um like myself, communities that have significant investments in the

[1:25:36] in the aquaculture business um to meet with him. So we met with them in

[1:25:41] Campbell River and it was usually these things are kind of lame. You know, you

[1:25:45] don't get too much attention. They're just photo ops. But um this one wasn't

[1:25:49] this was a person who had a genuine interest in uh understanding the

[1:25:54] aquaculture business on the West Coast because there's a significant question

[1:25:58] before this government that they have yet to answer and that's whether or not

[1:26:03] they're going to resend the um ban on um open net salmon farming. So I was quite

[1:26:11] surprised that he gave me a a lot of time to talk to him about the

[1:26:17] aquaculture business on the banker around the west coast. And he also spent

[1:26:22] time trying to understand how that impacted Gold River and what were the

[1:26:27] implications of us shutting down um Surerax operations down

[1:26:33] at West Coast Marine Terminals, terminating their hatchery and

[1:26:38] eliminating their open net fish farming. And we talked about those implications

[1:26:42] and he was quite open to understanding what was happening there. He real he

[1:26:46] wanted to know what were how is it going to affect the people in your community?

[1:26:50] how many people from First Nations were employed in that industry? Um what kind

[1:26:55] of um economic impacts does it have? Like what kind of wages are generated

[1:26:59] and what secondary industries are supported like um in your community? and

[1:27:04] he he gave me the time to go over that and make the case and said that he found

[1:27:08] he said they found that very enlightening and it's going to help him

[1:27:11] with his deliberations when he goes back to um back to Ottawa and talks to his

[1:27:16] boss Joan Thompson and Joan's boss Mark Carney because I guess this decision is

[1:27:21] sitting on Prime Minister Mark Carney's desk and he's hasn't made it yet because

[1:27:25] he's not doesn't look like he wants to follow what his predecessor did in this

[1:27:29] industry Pier Trudeau and it was [snorts] interesting that bi-election

[1:27:32] that councelor Picker referred to in North Vancouver Capalino. The fellow

[1:27:36] that was the MLA there was a was an ardent um was was ardently opposed to

[1:27:43] the industry and uh was actively involved in um you know drawing up the

[1:27:48] legislation for shutting and terminating it. The new fellow that um got elected

[1:27:52] happens to be a staffer that used to work for Mark Carney who has a

[1:27:56] completely different perspective on aquaculture and the potential for

[1:28:01] aquaculture. So, um, thank you, um, to Paul McKinnon, um, the deputy minister

[1:28:07] of fisheries and oceans for, you know, spending the time, um, getting to know

[1:28:12] me and Gold River and Surerac and the business because representatives for

[1:28:15] Surac were there and plus spending time on the island. He had gone out and seen

[1:28:18] a lot of fish farms when he was here. And so thank you for you know that um

[1:28:23] for for for really diving deep into it and understand the

[1:28:27] implications if if uh we don't if we terminate that business and it has and

[1:28:32] that business has so much potential for growth and and has so many good things

[1:28:36] that it can provide. But I do thank him and he also said that his office on the

[1:28:40] west coast interesting enough is um our DFO building in Gold River. He said next

[1:28:45] time he's out here at the office he's going to phone me up and invite me out

[1:28:49] for a cup of coffee. So I thought, "Wow, I like that. That'll work for me." So

[1:28:54] anyways, that's probably one of the most interesting meetings I've had with the

[1:28:57] highlevel politician. Most of the time it's just photo op and you're out the

[1:29:00] door. They don't really care what you have to say. It's just But this guy was

[1:29:03] really he was really interested. He wants to know and um I think he they

[1:29:08] went very favorably. He seemed very supportive of it. He's from PEI and from

[1:29:13] Prince Edward Island and the Maritimes they aquaculture is a big thing out

[1:29:17] there. He said, "I grew up next, you know, when I grew up, you know, next

[1:29:21] door to this operation. They it was responsible was a hatchery and it was

[1:29:24] responsible for creating all the smolts for all the open net fish farms that

[1:29:28] were operated by the province of New Brunswick and Newf Finland and what was

[1:29:33] the other no scope?" He said, you know, I said, "Well, we want our industry to

[1:29:38] mirror what you guys are doing on the east coast rather than being shut down."

[1:29:41] So, he was kind of Yeah. So, I think that maybe we have a different

[1:29:45] perspective. So,

[1:29:47] That's good. The other thing I was really grateful for, I don't know if you

[1:29:50] guys noticed it, but I sure noticed it by looking around the town and talking

[1:29:54] to the businesses in town and looking at our campground with the Uchuck being

[1:29:58] down. Like I had that terrible accident and um you know that was

[1:30:04] down where was it down? They were down at Barkley. They were down there and

[1:30:08] they ran ground or something to this the bottom of the hull and lost their rudder

[1:30:13] and everything. So, they've been down for the summer. And boy, talk about the

[1:30:16] impacts. Like, usually it's the campground's full, you know, because

[1:30:19] people are waiting to get on to the tours that um you checked in, but not

[1:30:23] this year. Talking to people in town, the businesses, they usually, you know,

[1:30:27] talking they're accustomed to having those customers come in and buy services

[1:30:31] off of them. Not happening this year. So, um it was really it was really

[1:30:36] uplifting for me to be down there. And I talked to the owners as we went through

[1:30:39] the summer, kept the updates, and Sean, the owner, was down in Victoria for the

[1:30:43] whole time, you know, overseeing the project. But the Utre is back in town

[1:30:47] again, and it's really nice to see it in port and uh back in service again. So,

[1:30:52] that is really uplifting for me. And I think uplifting for Gold River and the

[1:30:56] Nook Sound in our economy. And I didn't realize, you know, the type of impact

[1:31:00] that has, but man, does it ever have a profound impact, you know, when you take

[1:31:03] that out, it just like seems like the the heart of our economy, you know, and

[1:31:08] I know these guys did a great job just with that. They just had the a was it AJ

[1:31:12] Greer to work with in the summer and they they were working 24 hours a day,

[1:31:15] seven days a week to keep up. They did a great job keeping the business going,

[1:31:19] but they couldn't do any tourist traffic. So, good for them. And I'm

[1:31:23] talking to Sean, the owner. who said that um two years uh two years ago,

[1:31:27] remember we they he they they went down because they their their motors were

[1:31:31] they had problem with their motors, but they've got new motors now and he's

[1:31:34] going to be bringing it down to dry dock again in October to have those

[1:31:37] installed. So, he's going to have brand new motors on the boat, too, and brand

[1:31:40] new hull and a brand new rudder. And hopefully is he has a fair saving for a

[1:31:44] few more years because he's had some bad luck over the last couple years and it's

[1:31:48] been hard on him and hard on our and his family and his business and our

[1:31:52] community. But yeah, really appreciate these guys. I don't know. I I haven't

[1:31:56] met a heartier souls and these mariners out there. They just nothing nothing

[1:32:01] phases them. They and they keep on going. So, um great work you guys and

[1:32:06] I'm glad to have you back and your business back and in service because it

[1:32:10] sure has a negative impact on the community.

[1:32:14] Um I didn't know whether it was appropriate for me to talk about this or

[1:32:18] not, but I just wanted to share with the community that I did. Yeah, I don't

[1:32:22] care. people say maybe that's not not a mey thing. I said well I'm the mayor so

[1:32:26] whatever I do is a mey thing so suck it up. So anyways, but my my

[1:32:33] thought very much was this is that I did attend that celebration of life for

[1:32:37] Shane Christensen who uh who unfortunately passed away during the

[1:32:41] weekend our weekend where we have our gold river

[1:32:45] days and it was very tragic and um I just wanted to extend my condolences

[1:32:52] like people like um councelor Pringle did at the celebration

[1:32:57] of life very profound and moving testimonies from a lot of people. It was

[1:33:01] really a great ceremony. You know, people just came up to Mike and they

[1:33:04] talked about Shane and um who he was and you know the impact he had in the

[1:33:10] community and what an influence he positive influence was in the community

[1:33:13] that yeah I didn't feel it was appropriate for me to spoke to him for

[1:33:16] some reason. I don't know why but um I do feel you know I should have and I did

[1:33:20] want to make this public comment that um yeah my heart is broken. I think um the

[1:33:28] heart of our community is broken. I think we lost a very valuable son of

[1:33:32] Gold River and Malach First Nations and um the impacts are felt now and probably

[1:33:37] reverberate into the future. But I did want to know that the family to know

[1:33:41] that um I extend my condolences to them and all his friends and family and his

[1:33:47] loved ones. And I was really appreciative of the folks that put on

[1:33:50] the celebration of life because they put on a great um yeah a great ceremony for

[1:33:55] him. I think I just love the fact that they had all those testimony

[1:33:58] testimonials on there. I've never been to one like that before where person

[1:34:02] after person after person went to the mic and um shared their experiences with

[1:34:06] Shane and I was, you know, I'm not supposed to cry. I'm a guy and I'm

[1:34:10] supposed to be a macho guy. But there I was blubbering and like because my

[1:34:15] daughter grew up with Shane and I grew up with Shane and I have a lot of

[1:34:19] contacts with him. But I'm sure you know he had contacts with everybody in this

[1:34:22] town. He was just kind of the great ambassador ambassador for our community

[1:34:26] and [snorts] to talk about a unifying force between Mao Mush First Nations and

[1:34:30] the citizens of village of Gold River. I think we both adopt him. He's both our

[1:34:34] sons, right? So anyways, um Shane, we'll miss you and um yeah, hope you're having

[1:34:40] fun up there with all your friends and relatives playing whatever game you're

[1:34:44] playing because I know you love sports. But yeah, so that's I wanted to do that.

[1:34:50] Um, one of the things that the mayor has to do is he has to sit as a director on

[1:34:59] Strathon regional district and basically represent the whole Stratthon regional

[1:35:04] district which is large areas basically mostly central and a lot of North Island

[1:35:08] and um there was a project that um that were worked on over the years that I was

[1:35:13] with uh sitting in this chair and sitting on the chair and as the SRD and

[1:35:18] one of them was really proud of the BS associated with and enjoyed working on

[1:35:21] and uh has recently come to fruition was the umh

[1:35:27] the project that they had. Let's see if I've got it written down here because I

[1:35:31] don't want to get the name wrong. These are recorded and then people SRD give me

[1:35:35] hell when I go out there. Don't you know the name of that project? [laughter]

[1:35:39] It's uh just like home lodge and the the health professional housing project. And

[1:35:45] there was a ribbon cutting that we just did recently. And that just like home

[1:35:49] project touched me because I'm health care professional. And I noticed that

[1:35:52] there's a lot of barriers for people when they're looking after loved ones.

[1:35:55] Like if you have a your child is really sick and you have to take some place and

[1:36:00] they need care there and you want to be there to support the child, you got to

[1:36:04] you know you got your transportation costs over there. Accommodation.

[1:36:06] Accommodations are such a barrier to to families. is too so expensive. And the

[1:36:11] just like home um allows people that have loved ones um in the hospital that

[1:36:17] are being treated um to stay at this just like home place that's just beside

[1:36:22] the hospital and it costs us for a nominal fee. I think it's about $10 a

[1:36:26] night or something. They can stay there and be there to support their loved one,

[1:36:29] right? And um if the loved one can get to the just like homes, they can go over

[1:36:33] there, too. So um to me it's a it's a project that um I enjoyed um being part

[1:36:39] of and working on and they also we also talked about it's critical for a health

[1:36:43] care system to be able to compete to attract um health care professionals

[1:36:48] especially specialists um there's so much demand for them all over the world

[1:36:52] they can go anywhere they want so we need to you know try and create some an

[1:36:56] edge for ourel and part of this project was um folks that are interested in

[1:37:01] coming to Campbell river to work in Campbell River and their health care

[1:37:05] professionals, they can stay at this um this um health professional housing at a

[1:37:11] significantly discounted rate while they're practicing here if it's just

[1:37:15] short period of time or long period of time or if they want to be there as they

[1:37:19] transition in the community to find housing. And it gives us a little bit of

[1:37:22] edge because one of the things that health care professionals have indicated

[1:37:25] in all surveys that are done is that if um there's some sort of u subsidy or um

[1:37:31] or facilitation for housing that um affects their choice on where they'll

[1:37:36] practice. So, it's really great to be a part of that and um yeah, and it's a

[1:37:41] project that

[1:37:44] I like I'm I'm I'm I'm really pleased with and I think it enhanced the

[1:37:48] healthcare system out there in our region and especially in Camel River.

[1:37:52] And the other one um that and we're talking about my background is in

[1:37:55] recreation and aquatics. So, this one was really passion one of my passions as

[1:37:59] we went through the years is that um Strath Kona Gardens um is familiar with

[1:38:04] that. What we did is we um we tore down the old aquatic center there and we

[1:38:09] built a new aquatic center and a wellness center and that facility is

[1:38:14] going to be opening in the region and I've had a chance to tour through it

[1:38:17] with the um the contractors and it's going to just be amazing. People will

[1:38:20] just be blown away when they when they get in there and they actually um enjoy

[1:38:24] and experience it. And our ribbon cutting for the grand opening ceremony

[1:38:29] is on September the 29th, which I'll be a part of. And um again, I'm looking

[1:38:33] forward to being there. And just to give you some context, that project's about

[1:38:37] $70 million project, and it was done on time and on budget. And um the reason I

[1:38:43] put a number to it and that sort of thing is because when people talk about

[1:38:48] shutting down and bulldozing our pool and recreation center, you're talking

[1:38:51] about um for those assets down there for the community, they're hundreds of

[1:38:55] millions of dollars. Hundreds of millions of dollars that we have and we

[1:38:58] that we that we own and um we don't have any I might be incorrect, but I'm pretty

[1:39:04] confident we don't have any debt on them at all. It's all paid off. Is that

[1:39:07] correct, Cra? >> That's correct. The village of Gold

[1:39:10] River is debtree at this time. >> Debtree. I don't know about you guys,

[1:39:13] but I don't know too many people are debtree. Um, a lot of people I talk to

[1:39:16] have mortgages. They're paying for the car payments. They've got their lines of

[1:39:20] credit. They got their charge cards. And I know a lot of communities that I deal

[1:39:24] with, um, municipalities in the province. I deal talked to a lot of

[1:39:28] politicians. None of them that I've talked to are debtree. Goldfree is

[1:39:33] debtree. As far as I'm understand, CEO Roy, we don't have debt on any of our

[1:39:37] public facilities. Am I correct there, sir?

[1:39:40] » Yes, that's correct. Anybody can review our financial statements. Well, it'll be

[1:39:45] indicated in there, too. >> Yeah, that's pretty amazing. You guys

[1:39:48] aren't paying interest any interest on loans.

[1:39:53] And most of the stuff that we do is done through grants. I like it.

[1:39:58] Kind of keep Mr. Roy here. He's keeping us going and all these creative

[1:40:03] financial ways to keep us going. Yeah. Anyways, do I have anything else

[1:40:08] on my list? Oh, yeah. One more thing. I I was spending some time with um

[1:40:14] councelor Way Meer and I and the CEO are going over to Vancouver to participate

[1:40:18] in this thing called the University of British Columbia municipalities. And

[1:40:22] sometime I wonder about the value of some of these things that we go on. Um

[1:40:26] whether or not we get any return as a community for us going over there and

[1:40:30] spending time with um these politicians and administrators. But uh I think there

[1:40:36] is value. You know, they hear our concerns about what we're what are what

[1:40:41] our priorities for Gold River. It helps us when we want to um apply for grants

[1:40:47] and um I think that you know it networks and so we have contacts there. But we're

[1:40:52] going to be when we go over there, councelor Waymire and I are going to be

[1:40:55] running around visiting or actually having meetings with the Minister of

[1:40:59] Finance, Ministry of Forestry, Ministry of

[1:41:03] Citizen Services, Ministry of Rural Development,

[1:41:06] Ministry of Environment and Parks. And um there's a whole list of each one

[1:41:12] of those ministries. We've got our briefing sheets that councelor Waymar

[1:41:16] worked on and really diligently did a great job putting together and council

[1:41:20] and our CEO um cleaned it up a little bit so it's more presentable so because

[1:41:25] we have to send that over to them. So, we're going to be meeting with these

[1:41:28] ministers um to um discuss u issues that are critically important to the village

[1:41:33] of Gold River and um advocating on their behalf, plus networking and apparently

[1:41:38] learning and every once in a while we're allowed to go play for a little bit, but

[1:41:41] we won't talk about that. So, but most of it's work, work, work, and taking

[1:41:45] time off of work or taking holidays to go over and do it. Yeah. So, that's

[1:41:50] something I've been getting prepared for um during this time and uh hopefully

[1:41:55] next week when we head over like council, he's got three days to meet

[1:41:58] with because we'll be hopping on the hopping on the fairies and heading over

[1:42:02] to to Vancouver for um a week in order to meet with these people and talk to

[1:42:09] them as politicians and bureaucrats to promote Gold River's um interests and

[1:42:17] concerns. S. So that's about it for me. Could go on and on and on, but you folks

[1:42:23] look like you're getting tired. 8:41 long meeting. Probably want to hear from

[1:42:27] me anymore.

[1:42:31] Probably happened about 15 minutes ago, huh? They're just all very polite.

[1:42:35] Anyways, that's it for reports from council. Um, information items, work in

[1:42:40] progress, and let's see. We usually have a motion

[1:42:44] associated with that. Council received the work in progress for information.

[1:42:48] Who care to move it? Councelor Waymer, second by councelor Fost. Any

[1:42:52] discussion?

[1:42:55] Council Way, I thought you may want to talk about revitalization tax exemption.

[1:43:00] » Yeah. Um, that one's coming up, so I'll leave that one alone. Um, I guess a

[1:43:06] question through the chair to staff in general. Um,

[1:43:12] we've had that inquiry into MmfN for months now. Um, have we done any

[1:43:20] followup and have as have they responded?

[1:43:25] » Director of operations, Oxy, I think you've been fielding this one for the

[1:43:28] last 6 months. >> I'm answering your worship. I sent an

[1:43:30] email back to the uh uh the person on the language committee um just this last

[1:43:35] week. I haven't heard back yet, but u I there's been a few prior uh

[1:43:40] correspondences through the through the chain, but this time I went directly to

[1:43:43] the language board or committee person, whoever is answering that email.

[1:43:48] » Beautiful. Thank you. >> Thank you, director of operations. Doxy

[1:43:52] follow question. No. Um you're good. Council, are you wanting to ask director

[1:43:57] of operations council?

[1:44:02] » Can we finish this up and then you can ask him about something else? Any other

[1:44:06] discussion? Call for the question. All in favor?

[1:44:09] Councelor Pringle, what is the something else you wanted to ask?

[1:44:13] » Thank you. I just wanted to ask about when the crosswalks will be redone and

[1:44:18] when they are redone, will we be able to put the um November remembered day or

[1:44:24] Yeah. Um sorry, I can't think. The stenciling, can we put that over top so

[1:44:30] we don't just see red on the roadways? like we it enhances it a little bit

[1:44:37] better. I'm just wondering if there'll be time to do that before November 11th.

[1:44:42] » Director of Operations Doxy. Um that we hadn't necessarily planned on doing. We

[1:44:48] normally do uh some of the pavement markings every other year. Um we could

[1:44:53] we could look at it and see if we can still fit it in. Uh as it gets closer to

[1:44:57] the rain season as well, it does get tight, but we can definitely look at

[1:45:02] that and try

[1:45:06] followup, councelor Pringle. >> Well, just the crosswalks are very

[1:45:11] unseeable and um so I would think that they it's

[1:45:15] either >> come up to the two years or whatever. So

[1:45:18] I know you guys are really busy, but it is also safety as well for our kids with

[1:45:23] them going back to school. So I just was asking. Thank you.

[1:45:28] » So director of operations Doxy, is that a yes or no, sir?

[1:45:33] Um, yes, >> it is a yes, we will we will try to get

[1:45:36] the crosswalks uh done up here um as we're into the fall season. So, and

[1:45:41] particularly the the Legion one. >> Thank you, director of operations. Oxy,

[1:45:44] you good with that? Council Pringle, that satisfy your quir. Okay. Number 12,

[1:45:50] bylaw 12.1, bylaw number 766 to ask 2026 revitalization tax exemption.

[1:45:58] Move that bylaw number 7662026 revitalization tax exemption be adopted

[1:46:03] by title only. Who care to move it? Councelor Wayar. Second by councelor

[1:46:08] Fost. Discussion.

[1:46:13] Holy smokes. I was surprised if somebody else started before you. Councelor

[1:46:18] Rayar. Councelor Rayar. >> Uh here we are. Uh we're at the finish

[1:46:22] line. Um, I think this is a great opportunity for the village of Gold

[1:46:26] River to uh really sell development um to those contractors who uh seem to like

[1:46:33] to ignore our little town. Um think this is going to be a great tool uh help us

[1:46:39] build um build new and you know renovate. Um I'm so glad to see this

[1:46:45] here and I look forward to crossing that finish line.

[1:46:49] » Thank you, Counc. Anyone else?

[1:46:57] For those folks that don't know what the revitalization tax exemption is, I'll

[1:47:00] give you the thumbnail approach. Basically, our overview is that we're

[1:47:03] prepared to defer some of our taxes that we would normally receive to um

[1:47:08] developers are prepared to renovate existing buildings within our community

[1:47:12] or put in new buildings in our community and give us a bit of an edge. Um because

[1:47:16] a lot of times I hear contractors complaining that it's too expensive to

[1:47:20] develop out here because of the costs that are associated with building on the

[1:47:23] west coast instead of the east coast of the island. And it gives us a it gives

[1:47:27] us an edge. Plus it also gives us something that we can sell in order to

[1:47:31] help promote um any sort of initiatives that we want to see happening in the

[1:47:36] community. I can point to and say, "Listen, if you're going to invest in

[1:47:39] this community and bring your business here and uh put your infrastructure in

[1:47:43] and um we're going to we're going to we're going to give you a tax break uh

[1:47:47] for five years." And uh that means that the taxpayers are not going to be

[1:47:51] getting that money for the five years, but on year six, you will start getting

[1:47:54] that money. And that might been money that you're not getting at all because

[1:47:58] nobody came to do any development or set up their business before. So that's kind

[1:48:01] of the rationale behind it. And then folks that want to take existing

[1:48:05] businesses or commercial or residential over $150,000 if they want to do some

[1:48:10] upgrades, we're going to help them. And uh we're going to give them a a

[1:48:16] basically crescendoing or descending tax breaks um as we go year to year over

[1:48:21] five years. And uh again it gives us another just another tool in our toolbox

[1:48:26] because um most of the time what we're dealing with is we deal with uh you know

[1:48:32] things that discourage business and um I think that's when we'll really encourage

[1:48:36] business and we're invested we got some skin in the game now right we've uh

[1:48:39] we're taking we're we're giving up some of our potential revenues um in order to

[1:48:45] attract people in businesses in to do build start businesses for existing

[1:48:52] businesses or commercial homes to upgrade them. And I think uh you know, I

[1:48:56] remember I was had the debate with the CEO and some counselors and community

[1:48:59] members as we went through this and people said, "Yeah, we need to have an

[1:49:04] incentive. We need to have something. We need to have some sort of edge. We need

[1:49:07] to be able to sell something." And I remember working with this council and

[1:49:11] our staff and and I'm glad that we're here at this point. And I was wondering

[1:49:15] sometimes these things take a while like councilor Wayer's kind like, "Yeah, it's

[1:49:18] finally across the finish line, but But all I can do is say um thank goodness

[1:49:24] for the perseverance of all people involved, council members, staff, and

[1:49:28] the community because at the end of the day, I I I'm a little bit of a farmer at

[1:49:34] heart, community farmer anyways, but I think we planted some good seeds there

[1:49:38] and it's um and hopefully um we see them grow to fruition and u and we see some

[1:49:43] beneficial things in the community. Yeah,

[1:49:48] that might stimulate some discussion. Councelor

[1:49:51] Pickard. >> No, thank [snorts] you to the chair and

[1:49:53] thanks for your thoughts. I agree with all of them and thanks councelor Wayer

[1:49:57] for bringing this to um council to consider and thanks to staff for taking

[1:50:01] the time putting it together. And Mayor Law, you're right. It's things take so

[1:50:05] much time, but it's just to be accountable and have transparency and

[1:50:09] have have us review it and have um information sent out to the community.

[1:50:13] And this feels kind of nice to come near the end of the term as we sat down at

[1:50:17] the beginning of the four years and set out our strategic priorities. And a huge

[1:50:21] one for all of us across the board was economic development and increase our

[1:50:26] tax base and make it a bit more diverse so we can generate a little bit more

[1:50:29] money for our services and and keep them up and not put that burden on taxpayers.

[1:50:34] So this is a really exciting opportunity. I think it shows the the

[1:50:38] climate that we're willing to not just say we want to do economic development,

[1:50:41] but we really can use one of the tools in our tool belt that um that is

[1:50:46] attractive to business and as mayor you mentioned too, you know, there's there's

[1:50:50] people that look at different options and developing and revital and and

[1:50:54] investing here, but this is really this is a big card in our back pocket that we

[1:50:58] can say this might offset some of the um being remote or the cost of building out

[1:51:04] here. So I think it's really attractive and you know there's been some barriers

[1:51:09] to groups doing investments here and starting new new development with hydro

[1:51:13] being a big one but the cost has been a big one that we've heard. So, this is

[1:51:16] one thing that we can have have an effect on and it is a bit of short-term

[1:51:21] compromise and not having those taxes right away, but in hopes of growing our

[1:51:25] tax base, having long-term investment, and eventually making the community more

[1:51:29] um more viable and more more robust and economically more sustainable. So,

[1:51:36] thanks to everyone for your patience on this and work on it and look forward to

[1:51:40] what the future holds with this tax exemption. Thank you, Mor Pickard.

[1:51:46] No. No. All good. All the question. All in favor? Done.

[1:51:55] Correspondence. That the correspondence be accepted for information. You can

[1:51:58] move it. Council. Nobody wants to move correspondence. Is there something

[1:52:02] controversial in there? Councilor Ray. Second by councelor Ringle.

[1:52:10] Discussion. Seeing none. Call for question. All in favor? Done. You

[1:52:14] [snorts] guys must be getting tired. You want to race through the rest of these

[1:52:16] items. >> Okay, new business. Seeing none.

[1:52:21] Question period. Mr. Roy, do we have any um inquiries online, sir?

[1:52:26] » Not at this time. Your worship >> gallery. Um does anybody wish to come to

[1:52:30] councelor White? Go ahead, sir. You know how that you

[1:52:35] know the drill. >> Getting used to it. Yeah.

[1:52:42] » Chris White, 507 Golden Hind place. >> Chris,

[1:52:47] » I'm just tickled pink with with the meeting tonight, you know, like like we

[1:52:53] are so lucky and and this just just reinforced everything. I feel good about

[1:52:57] this place. The fact that we have zero debt, just that alone, like zero debt to

[1:53:03] live here. our taxes are reasonable and it it's just it's just it's just really

[1:53:08] really good. You guys have done a great job and I'm just tickled being here and

[1:53:13] it's just it was just good. It was a good I feel really good about everything

[1:53:17] going on here. Thank you for that. Yeah, I I remember when I was working

[1:53:22] for the village of Gold River and you'd hear the squeak squeak squeak squeak and

[1:53:26] that was uh councelor White walking down the um hallway

[1:53:31] looking at the looking at the dispersements at your bills had to sign

[1:53:36] off and knocking on everybody's door and says, "Is this the best that we could

[1:53:40] do? Can we get it cheaper?" And I used to be just terrified. [laughter]

[1:53:47] » Oh, good. like is that my is that one of is that one of the things that I bought?

[1:53:51] But one of the things I gained from that is that um I realized that um it's a

[1:53:57] petition of trust to have um stewardship over the public purse and that we're in

[1:54:03] we've been given a very important role and that is to make sure that we get the

[1:54:06] best value for the taxpayers for the money and that um and people like

[1:54:11] councelor White at that time and others. I had a CEO who was

[1:54:16] » Larry Plur who even squeakaked more than you did I think um who are they they

[1:54:21] were very good about managing money and uh I got beat up a lot. I still got the

[1:54:25] bruises and stuff but um I think it I think it made me more more financially

[1:54:30] conscious because when I got in here the first thing on my radar was and we

[1:54:34] shared with this council was that we need to be financially responsible and

[1:54:38] get our financial house in order. We cannot kick this can down the road

[1:54:41] anymore. We've been doing it since 1997 9 what I remember when I started right

[1:54:47] and we never had a budget balance and we never had a budget um operation budget

[1:54:52] that was balanced and we were constantly drawing down on our surpluses and

[1:54:56] reserves and living beyond our means and we're going to get to the point where

[1:54:59] the the cupboard was bare and we'd be shutting down pools and arenas and golf

[1:55:05] courses and everything else and laying people off and contracting stuff out and

[1:55:08] I thought don't ever want to get close to that.

[1:55:13] » So, mayor council, that's all I had to say is just thank you. A heartfelt thank

[1:55:17] you. You're doing a great job. Tickled pink and and yeah, thanks.

[1:55:22] » Yeah, we better have Thank you very much, Councelor White. We appreciate

[1:55:25] that. And uh yeah, and thanks for um like you

[1:55:29] said, other people before us um deserve the recognition because like in hockey,

[1:55:34] there's a term called setting the tone. You guys set the tone for your, you

[1:55:39] know, the pre the your council and the subsequent councils. And I'm hoping that

[1:55:43] the council after us will look at what we did during this term, cutting

[1:55:47] millions and millions of operating budgets and we had to raise taxes a

[1:55:51] little bit more than folks wanted them, but and I I understand that and we

[1:55:55] wanted lots of grants, but we wanted at the end of the day I I said to this

[1:55:59] council is that let's see if we can achieve something that hasn't been

[1:56:03] achieved for for all the time that I've been here since 97. I don't know the

[1:56:07] math. That's about 20 what, eight years or something. Um, let's get a balanced

[1:56:11] budget operationally and and um and projectwise and yeah, and once we get

[1:56:18] it, fight like hell to keep it. Don't ever lose it. [snorts] And uh yeah, and

[1:56:23] that like you said, with no debt, we're in pretty good shape. And um I think you

[1:56:29] see that because I talked to people that want to invest in our community and

[1:56:32] they're saying they're going to put a little bit more money into our community

[1:56:35] because they see that we got our financial house in order. Like um Kent

[1:56:39] O'Neal, they said they they they're building some things or adding some

[1:56:43] value buildings down there at his lodge. And then and then there's a fellow down

[1:56:47] in the industrial sub down there who's bought those two lots. All the for the

[1:56:53] what 27 years I was here, Chris, were empty. there when nothing was in there.

[1:56:57] He bought those and now he's developing those and expanding his business. He

[1:57:02] said, "Yeah, you guys got your financial house in order. I'm feel comfortable

[1:57:05] that you're not this town's not going to, you know, go bankrupt and um I'm

[1:57:10] investing some money." So, I think that not only did we do our work, but um

[1:57:14] hopefully that reverberates and other people have confidence and they're

[1:57:17] willing to um take a risk and invest some money in in our community. So,

[1:57:22] yeah. Anyways, I don't know how I got there. This is just question period. So,

[1:57:25] I'm not supposed to be going on and on and on and on and on. Especially when

[1:57:28] it's nine o' especially when it's nine o'clock at night. People are going to

[1:57:32] get upset with me. So, um any other questions?

[1:57:42] » Glad you talked for so long. I got a few things here.

[1:57:45] » Uh you got as much time as you want. Go ahead.

[1:57:50] » I wrote all over it. So, my first question to the mayor, um,

[1:57:57] do we no longer do territorial recognitions at the beginning of

[1:58:00] meetings or was that just an oversight tonight?

[1:58:02] » What's that? I over I missed it. >> Okay. The other thing that apparently

[1:58:07] [clears throat] is an oversight that quite upsets me because it's not the

[1:58:10] first time. Um, we made a lot of big deal tonight about all the grants the

[1:58:15] village gets and you thank Joe a number of times and no disrespect to you Joe.

[1:58:20] I'm sure you're you are doing a wonderful job, but not once did you

[1:58:24] thank Chelsea Stubs whose job it literally is to look for grants for this

[1:58:28] village and that really upsets me because she does an awful lot of work

[1:58:32] for us and you never thank her. >> Yeah, I my apologies. I agree with you.

[1:58:37] I think Chelsea does a wonderful job for us and I and I know that um when the

[1:58:43] grant that we got from ICE TE to provide for her position when that had expired

[1:58:50] um at that point I advocated for um investing in that position and encourage

[1:58:56] council to continue on with that employment because I realized how

[1:58:59] invaluable it was. I think maybe um >> bad you can't remember to thank her once

[1:59:03] in a while then that's all I really wanted to say. Thanks.

[1:59:05] » You're you're right. Um my next question is regarding the work in progress. Um

[1:59:10] last spring I came to council with a couple of requests. One of them was to

[1:59:15] have um cemetery awareness day recognized which we did and it went very

[1:59:18] well. Um but the other was also to get the cemetery mapping up and running. I

[1:59:23] spoke to the SRD money wasn't a problem. Nothing else seemed to be a problem. I

[1:59:29] don't think it's been done. So I'm wondering why it's not on this list.

[1:59:33] » It's a good question. I don't really know myself. I'd have to refer it to

[1:59:36] staff. Staff, would you any staff member care to um field that question? Director

[1:59:41] of operations, Doxy, >> can you use that mic there, Sarah, to

[1:59:45] respond? >> It is a work in pro progress. It's it's

[1:59:48] gone um to the consultant that's working on our asset management um portfolio and

[1:59:53] it will be going into the mapping system and and I don't know exactly when right

[1:59:57] now it'll go be going live, but it is it is a project in in in process.

[2:00:03] » I'm very encouraged to hear that. Can we get it on the next agenda if it hasn't

[2:00:06] been finished, please? >> Sorry. What was your request?

[2:00:10] » To have it as a literal work in progress. If it is one and it's not on

[2:00:13] the agenda now, can we get it

[2:00:18] » point of order sale? >> Uh the council never directed this to be

[2:00:22] placed on the work in order work in progress for council. It was done on an

[2:00:26] operational level. Uh but it's uh council's will.

[2:00:32] Anyone care to move that? Councelor Pringle. Second.

[2:00:37] All in favor of putting it on the list. Okay. Done. Next.

[2:00:43] » Uh, do we know how many people work at Surerac?

[2:00:49] » Surak. The entire >> Sorry. Down at our site here like in

[2:00:52] Gold River. Oh, >> I No, not exactly. It varies, but last

[2:00:56] time I had a reading from them, they said that they're somewhere in the 3540

[2:01:01] range if [snorts] you include both the hatchery and um open net fish farming.

[2:01:06] » And do we know how many of those people live in Gold River?

[2:01:09] » I don't, but there is a number of them that do.

[2:01:13] » Um also with regard to your >> I think

[2:01:16] » meeting with the minister, >> I think if you wanted that information,

[2:01:20] you could probably talk to Surerac. I think Shannon Moberly at Surerac would

[2:01:25] be able to provide you with that data. I think she keeps that data.

[2:01:28] » Well, I was just curious because you were advocating for them with the

[2:01:31] Minister of Fisheries and whatnot. So, I was just curious how many there were.

[2:01:34] Um, and with regards to that meeting with the Minister of Fisheries, um, do

[2:01:38] you know anything about where we're at with regards to being able to buy fresh

[2:01:41] seafood at our dock? >> I don't.

[2:01:44] » Could we find out what the problems are with that happening?

[2:01:48] » I don't know if I could find out, but I'll look into it. It had it had been

[2:01:52] discussed some years ago because I knew we were at a point where the local First

[2:01:56] Nations could have licenses to sell things like halibet and whatnot.

[2:02:00] » Yeah. So, have you looked into it in the past?

[2:02:04] » It has been looked into before, but I was just thinking that with you being in

[2:02:08] contact with the fisheries minister, it might have been something you had been

[2:02:11] asking about. >> No, I was looking at something

[2:02:14] different. >> Okay.

[2:02:15] » What else have you got? Um,

[2:02:18] I had a question about who's going to UBCM, but you actually did bring that

[2:02:22] up. And I'm just wondering if one of you is planning to attend the session on

[2:02:27] hospital and rural health funding,

[2:02:32] seeing as that was another thing you brought up under your regional district

[2:02:36] meeting,

[2:02:39] » the funding for Sorry, >> your question. Can you repeat it again?

[2:02:44] uh seminar at 2 p.m. on the 14th regarding regional hospital funding with

[2:02:48] special regard to rural areas. >> No, I didn't.

[2:02:52] » Okay. Um you also rattled off a bunch of minister meetings. Are those actual

[2:02:56] meetings that have been scheduled or are they just meetings that you've already

[2:02:59] asked for? >> Um they've been confirmed.

[2:03:03] » And you also didn't mention the Minister of Highways. So are they on the list?

[2:03:07] Well, say Roy, we've got some correspondence

[2:03:11] back from the Minister of Highways concerning Highway 28 that you shared

[2:03:15] with us. Did you want to share that? >> Uh the

[2:03:20] council did not uh do a request for meeting with the highways ministry this

[2:03:24] year. Uh but uh conversation with the ministry is that they are planning to do

[2:03:28] some work starting this fall on some base work repairs on Highway 28 near

[2:03:34] Gold River. Yeah, I remember your correspondence and it was um indicated

[2:03:38] that you've been working at staff level with their managers and they've

[2:03:40] committed to a number of briefs. >> An email

[2:03:44] 28 based on our request. Correct. >> Yeah, I had an email correspondence with

[2:03:48] highways contact last week where he that is what he stated. He would be advising

[2:03:52] of timelines once he had them and it would be posted on drive BC.

[2:03:56] » Thank you, sir. I specifically asked about meetings with

[2:04:00] the highways minister last spring and was told that at no point in the

[2:04:03] previous three years had you met with them. Um I ser at that time that meant

[2:04:08] you were going to have a meeting with them this September and I'm very

[2:04:10] disappointed to find out that you don't consider that a high enough priority.

[2:04:14] » Fair enough. >> Um

[2:04:16] » what else have we got? >> Oh campground.

[2:04:20] Is the public going to be able to see a report on where the campground was at

[2:04:24] this summer compared to previous years? Director of operations, Doxy,

[2:04:29] would you care to respond to that question, sir?

[2:04:33] Sure. >> If I may through your worship, we we can

[2:04:36] put together a report. Um, with the information that we have in prior years,

[2:04:40] there is not always consistent information that was reported on monthly

[2:04:44] basises, but we can certainly do a report like kind of a like an annual

[2:04:49] summary uh total revenue, total revenue, what we expected and um kind of what

[2:04:54] projects were were going on and successful.

[2:04:57] I would very much like to see that because although I did also hear a lot

[2:05:01] of very good comments about work that had been done at the campground, I also

[2:05:04] heard from numerous people that they had not paid to stay there. Nobody had come

[2:05:10] around to collect money and that was rather upsetting.

[2:05:16] That's feedback that's valuable for operations.

[2:05:19] Okay. Um,

[2:05:27] I had another thing, but I'm going to leave it for now because I still need

[2:05:31] things from the village. >> Thank you for your question.

[2:05:33] » Thank you very much. >> Anyone else care to um address council?

[2:05:42] » Nope. No other questions? Thank you. [laughter]

[2:05:47] Okay, moving on. No. No. A motion. Motion to adjurnn in camera. Who would

[2:05:53] care to make that motion? Councelor Pringle, second by councelor Waymire.

[2:05:57] All in favor, folks. We're in now in camera. So, thank you for coming out. Um

[2:06:02] enjoy your evening and um as always

[2:06:08] » as

Village of Gold River's Personal Meeting Room

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