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All right, everyone. Good morning everybody. We're going to get going here.

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Good morning everyone. And welcome to this regular board meeting for Thursday the 19th of February.

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We're going to take 26 health here in the Woodhaven board room. Before we get started today, I do want to welcome alternate director Alina Glaesman from Pichland. So this is our first meeting with us today. So welcome.

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And before we begin today, it's been a little over a week since we saw the tragedy unfold in Tumblridge. And I did want to take the time to acknowledge the tragic events that unfolded last week.

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And really, there's no words. I don't think that any of us can share that will meet the loss that's faced in the small community. I wanted to send.

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When we send our loved ones off to school each morning, we have simple hopes that they will learn something new, laugh with friends and maybe come home with some with some new knowledge.

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What we don't expect and we should never have to imagine is that something so senseless like this could happen in a place that's meant to be safe.

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The tragedy is shaking communities across the province, the nation and the global community, and it touches ours here as well.

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In times like these, we're reminded how vital it is to come together and to lead into each other to look out for one another in a whole space for those who are grieving.

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So our hearts are with the families, the victims, and the people of Tumblridge. We know that events like this affect communities of all sizes, especially those that are quite small and rural.

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We also offer our deepest respect to the first responders and the community members who are carrying this incredible weight with strength and compassion.

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So as a symbol of our collective grief and solidarity, the flags that are DCO had been lowered to have massed.

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And we continue to honor those affected by showing care resilience and unity with an our community. Thank you.

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With that, I will call this meeting officially to order and as an open meeting, a live audio video feed is being broadcast and recorded on rvco.com.

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And we do respectfully acknowledge our presence on the traditional ancestral and unceded to move out of the silk open organ people who have resided here since time immemorial.

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And board members, we did change up the agenda a little bit today in terms of order.

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We do have some time constraints for some members to be out by 1130.

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So I just am looking for a mover of the agenda and then also thank you, Director Glazeman, Glazeman, right.

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Glazeman, perfect. I will get this right. And vice or Ireland is seconding that.

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All in favor, opposed and carried.

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And with the agenda, I'm going to try to keep us moving along as much as possible, so if we can keep our comments and questions as concise as we can.

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That will help me steer the meeting along smoothly.

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Can I get a mover of our meeting minutes please from January 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 26.

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Moved by vice or Ireland, seconded by director craft any errors or emissions in those minutes.

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Seeing not all in favor, opposed and carried.

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And welcome, Director Johnston, online and Director Nelson as well.

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All right, so we're heading right into item number five, which is development and engineering services over to you, misgainter.

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Item 5.1 is the west side wastewater development cost charges major review.

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This is the stakeholder weighted vote for West Kalona and Peachland to present the west side wastewater development cost charges endorsed.

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By the west side wastewater services committee to the board, along with related by laws for consideration of first reading.

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This is presented by Travis Kendall, associate director of engineering.

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Morning Travis. Good morning chair. Thank you, Sally.

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So today's staff are presenting the two DCC bylaws for the wastewater system on the west side.

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DCC's are a development cost charges.

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Those are the primary way that we fund growth driven wastewater infrastructure.

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The RDCO does CPI adjustments annually, however we did not do them last year because we started this review process.

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And that review process happens every five years to ensure that growth pays for growth and that the DCC's are properly sized for the infrastructure that we're planning for.

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Make sure that all of those costs are shared fairly across our community.

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That DCC work is underway. It's already been reviewed by the west side wastewater services committee.

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The committee reviewed the report that's included within this package and endorsed the proposed next steps.

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Those steps included a major update.

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Those steps included starting with the major update and a technical review draft bylaws and initial engagement, which has already been completed.

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And today is the consideration of first reading.

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If read a first time staff would then proceed to an additional round of engagement return to the board for second and third readings followed by provincial review and board adoption.

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If that all occurred, there would be a one year grace period for all in stream applications.

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The proposed changes have been circulated to interested parties and local municipalities.

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It's also been posted on the RDCO website.

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Today we've had no comments.

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And there are two bylaws.

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The first is the wastewater treatment plant DCC.

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The proposed adjustment is between 7.7 and 7.8%.

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For the east trunk DCC, that's the collection system.

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The proposed adjustment is 5.2 to 5.3%.

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If first reading is completed today, staff will incomplete a next the next round of engagement and return to the board to summarize what we've heard prior to considering second and third readings.

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And that concludes staff's presentation.

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We're recommending that both bylaws be read a first time.

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Perfect. Thanks Travis. And just reminded this has gone to the subcommittee that has reviewed this back last last year.

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I do any questions for Travis at this time.

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Seeing not do I have a mover of recommendation number one, please.

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Moved by Dr. Dias seconded by Dr. Weber any comments on that.

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Seeing not all in favor.

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Okay.

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They can only move in second as well.

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Okay. So I would look for.

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Moved and Dr. Johnston will use second that.

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Seconded by Dr. Johnston all in favor.

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Opposed and carried.

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And then just recommendation number two, I'll need to move as well.

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Dr. Glaeseman seconded by Dr. Johnston all in favor.

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Opposed and carried. Thank you.

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All right. And I'm five point two, please.

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Five point two is the Northwest side regional water system,

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twenty twenty six budget discussion.

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This is an all directors unweighted corporate vote.

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To provide the board with a review of the scope,

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to have Medical Services partner to help the

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respiratory side of the Earth to become mysterious,

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active, moved towards alternatives.

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Timelines, funding risks and opportunities associated with the

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Northwest side regional water line project.

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In advance of consideration of a way to notice of motion, again

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presented by Travis Kindle.

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Provided is an overview of the Northwest Regional Water System,

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and includes key consideration for the board's upcoming discussion.

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This presentation will cover the current system risks.

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Why the Northwest Regional Water Line was selected and preferred?

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What interior health is communicated in regards to the project?

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The alternatives that have been previously evaluated?

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And what cancellation versus proceeding looks like

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and what that means for compliance, costs, and grant readiness.

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Like to start by apologizing for the size of the agenda package.

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I know it's not every day.

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You get a 618 page report attached to it.

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That was an important inclusion.

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It was part of the previous decision and consideration by the sport when the decision was made to progress this project.

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West Shore State, St. Killingy Beach, are both provided water from Lake O'Kanagan.

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That's surface water.

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There is no treatment beyond chlorination.

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That is contributed to extended water quality advisory lengths.

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We will be experiencing those last year.

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We have a limited system resiliency and we have vulnerability because of the shallow intakes within those systems that are more exposed to changing lake conditions.

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The current system is not aligned with modern treatment expectations or the provinces of objectives for surface water treatment systems.

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This isn't a new issue.

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It's been something that we've studied repeatedly.

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Over the past decade, Northwest, the Northwest side water treatment systems have been examined extensively.

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Completed 11 consulting studies and have spent over $100,000.

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The consistent driver through those is that the systems do not meet provincial drinking water treatment objectives.

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The systems remain exposed to risks that come with surface water, including pollution events and invasive species.

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A key example of invasive species risks is the Kwega muscle, the zebra muscles.

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I believe the discussion around this board at times said that it's not a matter of if but when that they'll arrive and become established within Lake O'Kanagan.

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This slide visually underscores that invasive species can and do impact in drinking water infrastructure.

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The impacts aren't theoretical, fouling and operational destruction can occur quickly and our lake intakes aren't inherently exposed.

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Intakes like those supplying water to kill any beach and west shore states can rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars and expenses over the life of those assets to mitigate damage from things like invasive muscle.

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With that context, I'll summarize the expert opinion that led us to the project we have today.

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Urban systems in September of 2022 provided a report to this board recommending option 1B as the most favorable option.

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You can find that recommendation in page 23 of the attached report.

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Their reasons were that it was a very practical option.

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It had the lowest capital and lowest 40 year life cycle costs was the cheapest.

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It avoided investing in infrastructure that would be stranded or duplicated.

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We don't like to invest our money and things that we're not going to be able to use for their life.

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It improved operational efficiency and it positioned the grant well or positioned the project well for grant funding.

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The regional nature of this program puts it at a higher threshold or higher capacity for painting grants.

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It also preserved opportunities for service extensions, loud enough to service other communities within the area as that line went by.

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The report from urban systems also recommended not considering other alternative technologies.

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Urban systems assessed point of entry and point of use in context of use within BC.

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They concluded that it is well suited for 15 or fewer connections and they recommended on page 22 and page 23 that point of entry should not be considered further.

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I'll pause here and just to briefly outline what point of entry is.

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Generally speaking you have a centralized water treatment plant that provides water to a community.

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As you centralized those costs and you upscale that size you get economies of scale and your cost per water goes down.

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Point of entry is where you distribute the treatment you put a small treatment plant at each home.

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And that's why it's not recommended for larger communities because you can have hundreds or thousands of small water treatment plants that have to be maintained.

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Urban systems recommendation option one B was the north west side regional water line.

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That brings high quality and compliant groundwater from the RDCOs upper fintry system by gravity pipeline to kill any beach and then to west shore states.

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Gravity can advance produces pumping costs and a supports resiliency during power outages by enabling flow between the communities even when the powers off.

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As a groundwater sourced system it's also reduced in as exposure to surface water risks like pollution and invasive species.

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This is a robust long term infrastructure solution it's not abandoned.

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Estimates are for this line to last around 100 years conservatively in our study 80 years.

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The post grant costs for a system like this work out to about 50 dollars per house hold per month.

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And the board has already provided direction on this path twice.

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September 26 2022 the board received the urban systems report and directed staff to prepare a project plan based on option one either a or b.

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On November 28 2020.

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For the board received that project plan, and that was incorporated into the 2025 to 2025 to 29 financial plan.

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Now, the current discussion today is in response to a notice of motion.

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At the January 22nd, 2020, six board meeting, that notice of motion was introduced to a cease advancement of the project in its entirety.

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Staff are here today to ensure that the board has a clear, factual understanding of the consequences, the alternatives, and the regulatory posture tied to this motion.

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A key input for the board's decision is interior health position.

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Staff did inquire with our local and interior health environmental health officer and the manager of the drinking water systems program for their opinion.

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Interior Health's message was direct. The Northwest Regional Waterline approach was considered acceptable for meeting permit conditions.

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If the board decides not to proceed with the Northwest Regional Waterline, Interior Health will consider permit condition out of compliance until an alternative plan is submitted.

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They also included a statement on point of entry treatment.

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Interior Health indicated that they're willing to discuss and update compliance timelines to reflect logistical and financial realities.

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As long as those challenges aren't created by reopening options that have already been confirmed as nonpeasible such as point of entry and point of use.

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I've also noted that where there is no practical plan or commitment compliance activities are expected to progress beyond permit conditions.

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Chair, it's important that I draw the board's attention to three items that come out of these statements.

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First, Interior Health is indicating that reevaluating nonpeasible options like point of entry, which they've called out specifically is not an acceptable excuse to delay progress towards compliance.

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Secondly, if the regional district district decides not to proceed with the Northwest Regional Waterline and does not provide an alternative, a feasible alternative in its place.

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The RDCO will be out of compliance and we should expect that Interior Health will progress compliance activities.

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The third, right in this statement, Interior Health is expressed a willingness to be flexible if grants do not materialize.

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We couple that with the understanding that this project is contingent on grant funding that significantly reduces the financial risks associated with this project.

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This table summarizes the other options that were not selected.

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Should the board decide not to progress the Northwest Regional Waterline project, there are three other feasible options to consider.

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The first is a submarine transmission line similar to the current adoption, but the water line goes under the lake rather than on the shore or on the upland.

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So, 27% higher capital costs with similar operating costs.

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We can also build independent water treatment plants, one in killing a beach and one in west shore states.

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That's a 64% higher capital cost and 156% higher operating cost.

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We could put in a single water treatment plant in killing a beach or west shore states and connect the two communities.

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That's a 21% higher capital cost and 131% higher operating cost.

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And that's where the feasible options end.

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There are other non-peasable options, point of entry, which Interior Health is not willing to entertain.

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As a 10% lower capital cost, but its operating costs are about 2,150% higher.

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We've looked for alternative water sources, but we can find it.

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We were able to confirm that we had enough water from the short-screep entry aquifer and from Lake Oganorgan, but there was not another viable water source in areas.

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We also explored interconnection with OKID.

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Now it was something that they did not have the capacity or the interest in supporting at this time.

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I want to really bow down to it, this came a decision about risk compliance, affordability and timing.

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So to summarize all of that, key considerations that if the board cancels, there are four major outcomes.

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First, there's an additional cost for a new pathway.

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Without a pathway, there's regulatory compliance action against the regional district.

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We would delay or lose our grant readiness, and we would introduce higher life cycle costs.

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Proceeding with the project maintains that credible path to compliance, keeps the project on path on track for grants from senior government, provides for long-term sustainable drinking water, and minimizes life cycle costs.

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We'll share that concludes the presentation.

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We have the answer to any questions.

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Thank you, Travis.

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We'll now, very technical report, and thank you for including all of the former reports from the engineering firm.

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We'll go to questions now from the board.

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Dr. Carson.

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Do you hear some of my first questions?

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I'm going to be allowed to make comments.

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You're at the proper time.

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Your comments can be considered during your next item, which is your resolution.

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Okay.

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Is there an ultraviolet on the telephony in the west shore system now?

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Ultraviolet?

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Through the chair, there is no UV treatment in either of the systems right now.

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It's only declorination.

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That's it.

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Okay.

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The muscle problem that you brought up on there, I just wanted to address that quickly.

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That is something that apparently they have solved in Ontario.

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I did a tour of the RJ Harris water treatment plant when we were back there at one time,

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and that is something that they solved 30 years ago or so.

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They inject chlorine at the head and apparently that takes care of the muscles.

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What do you mean by a economy of scale not viable on the point of entry?

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Through the chair to direct a Carson.

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As you scale up a large single centralized water treatment plant, you can have, for example,

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one operator look after the facility as it grows.

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You can scale up your pumps, your injection technology.

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Everything that you're doing within that facility, so it grows with the community up to a certain point,

209
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and then you invest in a growth further.

210
00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:57,000
When it comes to point of entry, the only savings that you have at economies of scale is buying in bulk.

211
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You still have multiple treatment plants everywhere.

212
00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:06,000
There's still an expectation from the regulator that those are overseen and maintained by the regional district,

213
00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:12,000
which means at least quarterly visits by our operators.

214
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:18,000
So if you apply that to the context of killing a beach and west shore states, you're looking at, you know, an ultimate buildout,

215
00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:22,000
nearly a thousand homes that have to be visited on a quarterly basis.

216
00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:29,000
Coordinated schedules to get into their basements, looking after these systems, making sure they're operating properly.

217
00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:35,000
That requires increased staff time that requires additional filters, additional parts.

218
00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:40,000
There isn't an economy of scale to that, again, other than buying in bulk.

219
00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:42,000
The costs go up.

220
00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:44,000
This is where I have a problem.

221
00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:51,000
The economy of scale, as I see it, isn't really a feasible argument on a system.

222
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:55,000
Dr. Carson, if you can just do questions for clarity, you're going to have that time.

223
00:23:55,000 --> 00:24:00,000
Yeah, I'm trying to get some clarity on what he's just said here.

224
00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:10,000
The staff aren't, they're not here to debate, but they're happy to answer any questions that you have.

225
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:17,000
On point of entry, it's mentioned here that there's regulatory feasibility.

226
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:25,000
Does that mean that there just isn't legislation or anything to cover the systems?

227
00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:29,000
Chair, through to the director.

228
00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:38,000
There is regulatory understanding and framework for smaller scale systems.

229
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:49,000
Scaling it up to size is something that is not feasible both in terms of law.

230
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:53,000
The cost is something feasible if we're willing to spend that additional cost.

231
00:24:53,000 --> 00:25:03,000
The regulators come out to say that based on the studies that we have, based on the size of these communities, it's not an option that they're willing to entertain.

232
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:08,000
I can go further and point to the BC small water systems association.

233
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:11,000
And they have guidance for point of entry on their website.

234
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:22,000
And they clarify not that we've heard this directly, but they clarify this on their website that in BC the regulator requires that we have service access agreements with every single home that has a point of entry.

235
00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:30,000
If one home chooses not to participate, that community does not progress to point of entry.

236
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:36,000
That in itself is a huge hurdle to overcome when you're dealing with nearly a thousand potential users.

237
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:42,000
Our waivers of liability, not a possible solution to that.

238
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:51,000
Chair, the expectation from the regulator is that the regional district remains liable for the drinking water quality within those communities.

239
00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:59,000
We are responsible for ensuring that they have potable water at their home.

240
00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:02,000
You mentioned an O.K.I.B. connection.

241
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:04,000
I've never heard of that before.

242
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:10,000
Does O.K.I.B. is there water system meet the interior health standard currently?

243
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:14,000
Chair, I couldn't speak into detail on their system.

244
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:16,000
My understanding is in 2022.

245
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:23,000
They were looking at investments into their water system and we reached out to them to explore if there was an opportunity for working together on it.

246
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:30,000
And it there was not.

247
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:43,000
Have you applied for explored funding applications from a provincial or federal government's reflecting the $10 million that we would be looking for from each.

248
00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:57,000
I share the only grant opportunity that has opened that we've been successful for so far is $10,000 to support with the pre planning work that has on gone.

249
00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:06,000
We expect that the next significant infrastructure grant is going to open in 2028 and that is what we're preparing for.

250
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:09,000
Is that federal or provincial?

251
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:22,000
Chair, our understanding is that is a multi-party grant opportunity that would be funded through the feds, the provincial and the municipalities, so kind of a third or third or third split.

252
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:30,000
So, one grant application could cover the two thirds funding that we're looking for.

253
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:33,000
Chair, that is our hope.

254
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:43,000
We could achieve $20 million on the grant for 600 people.

255
00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:45,000
Chair, you all throw it out there.

256
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:55,000
When it comes to the size of the community and the financial considerations that are across Canada right now, those grants are tied.

257
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:59,000
So we'd be advocating for that funding just like many other communities.

258
00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:12,000
I can't say if we're going to be at the top of that priority list or not, but I do know that the regional nature of this grant and our willingness to prepare ourselves to apply for these grants and to continue to apply for these grants.

259
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:24,000
By us, the flexibility from our regulator to maintain our current system and wait for an appropriate grant before we make a sizeable investment in that infrastructure.

260
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:34,000
Have you seen any examples of this type of grant funding for a similar type project like this?

261
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:45,000
Chair, I've seen similar grants in other provinces for regional systems for small water systems, service and multiple communities.

262
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:51,000
Does it extend multiple millions of dollars?

263
00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:55,000
Chair, yes, there is a multi-million dollar.

264
00:28:55,000 --> 00:29:13,000
Have you done any looking into partners such as Fortis or provincial federal trails grants and this sort of thing to help offset the cost of this project?

265
00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:18,000
Through the chair to the director, we're concerned looking for opportunities.

266
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:35,000
We have been in conversation with the ministries on how the alignment of this water line could further their interests and other work that they have in the same area, so that we could reduce the overall cost intensity to our residents.

267
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:56,000
How would a grant of this size affect the other four municipalities in a electoral area east that will also be looking for provincial and federal funding, as well for their own projects, most of which will probably be serving a larger population than this project.

268
00:29:56,000 --> 00:30:00,000
I'll take that question. It would be hypothetical.

269
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:06,000
Situation for staff to comment on what a federal or provincial government would decide of a grant.

270
00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:10,000
So I'm not going to have staff be put in the position of a decision that I'm making.

271
00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:17,000
I'm asking about how it will affect within this regional district from other partners applying for grants is what my question is.

272
00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:21,000
I'm aware of what your question was and I've responded, so we'll carry on.

273
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:36,000
What does out of compliance mean?

274
00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:51,000
So chair, right now we have a permit that we operate under and one of the conditions of compliance is that we are making progress towards meeting the drinking water treatment objectives that the province is set for.

275
00:30:51,000 --> 00:31:05,000
And so part of this statement from interior health is that if we do not proceed towards compliance or towards this project, we are not in condition with that permit and we are there for out of compliance.

276
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:09,000
Out of compliance means that the province can then leverage tools against us.

277
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:12,000
We might have additional liabilities against us.

278
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:17,000
It would be up to the regulator to determine how they would apply non-compliance to us.

279
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:25,000
I've heard the word order before, but I know they have the powers to do many other things.

280
00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:34,000
Okay, because how long was the source system at Lake O'Connor and Resort out of compliance.

281
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:41,000
I'm going to keep you in balance with what's being discussed before I share Dr. Carson talking about compliance.

282
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:45,000
Dr. Carson, I'm not about to debate you.

283
00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:49,000
We're going to have time to speak to your notice of motion and then next item.

284
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:58,000
If there's any more points of clarity you need on the water system presentation, feel free to ask them, but please stay within the bounds of the water system discussion.

285
00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:10,000
How much of the $450,000 funded from Reserves is exclusively for the pipeline project as opposed to asset renewal of these older systems.

286
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:16,000
Are we using our asset renewal money now for a filtration?

287
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:19,000
Through the chair to the director.

288
00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:30,000
The capital reserves that we have, those are built up through the asset renewal charges that we apply out.

289
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:38,000
And those funds are in part what's being allocated towards the pre-planning working to prepare for grant application.

290
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:42,000
But this isn't actually asset renewal, is it?

291
00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:46,000
It's in addition of a new service.

292
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:48,000
Through to the chair.

293
00:32:48,000 --> 00:33:00,000
In part, it's helping fund that decision from this board was that the asset renewal fees that we take in do not fund 100% of the actual asset renewal costs that we have.

294
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:03,000
They fund a portion of it.

295
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:10,000
We don't have any other mechanism for collecting capital reserves for these systems.

296
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:15,000
We do it through that process by implementing this project.

297
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:19,000
It fundamentally replaces the need for some of the treatment technology that we have.

298
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:27,000
And you could argue that it would replace and renew the existing destruction.

299
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:35,000
How many connections are there in a kill on the beach and what's the full bill load?

300
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:42,000
One moment chair.

301
00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:43,000
So apologies chair.

302
00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:46,000
I don't have a breakdown by individual community in front of me.

303
00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:54,000
I believe killing is around 330 currently active across both communities.

304
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:58,000
We've been looking at four bills out of about 940 dwellings.

305
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:01,000
And that's based on the current OCP.

306
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:03,000
Okay.

307
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:07,000
Because there's about 300 structures in each community now.

308
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:09,000
But the lots that are left.

309
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:14,000
Are they considered good building lots in your opinion?

310
00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:17,000
Again, we'll stay in bounds with the discussion that we're at today.

311
00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:19,000
And Dr. Creston, there's been quite a few questions.

312
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:22,000
I just want to see around the table if anyone else has any.

313
00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:27,000
Before we carry on, Dr. Creston.

314
00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:29,000
Thanks chair.

315
00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:37,000
Just a discussion or a question around the metrics of risk that were used for our existing systems.

316
00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:49,000
So like we've identified muscles as a major risk and it is a cost to maintain or put in a system that can help facilitate the survival of that system.

317
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:58,000
But what risks for, you know, upland water disruption, slope stability, all the studies and everything that has to go into a project of this size.

318
00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:04,000
You know, how did we weigh those risks?

319
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:07,000
Through the chair to direct a craft.

320
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:12,000
Within the study that's attached to this report, just prior to the recommendation slides.

321
00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:15,000
I'm going to estimate it's about page 20.

322
00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:23,000
There is a table that includes a breakdown of a number of different risks for each option and how they were fully explored.

323
00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:30,000
At the end of the day, when you looked at the evaluation between all of the feasible options that were on the table.

324
00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:38,000
The one that the board is proceeding with is the one that has the old lowest overall risk in terms of pipeline crossings.

325
00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:51,000
Funding treatment risks, operational risks, regulatory risks, environmental risks, all of that was considered.

326
00:35:51,000 --> 00:36:00,000
And just, I mean, this is fundamentally a conversation of costs and worth.

327
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:02,000
My apologies, sir.

328
00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:05,000
But you're likely to know I'm going to have a second one.

329
00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:07,000
It was on the dirt enough.

330
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:10,000
So thank you for that.

331
00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:23,000
This is fundamentally a discussion around costs and worth and value both on all levels of government involved in what pressures it puts on different communities.

332
00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:34,000
So, you know, I guess, with that being said and where I go is where one.

333
00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:42,000
Risk factor away from delays and costs being significantly higher, and we've seen.

334
00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:44,000
The inflation to craft.

335
00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:45,000
Are you getting to your question?

336
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:46,000
Sorry.

337
00:36:46,000 --> 00:37:00,000
Yeah, and just, you know, we've seen over the last two years how much that initial project has gone up in costs and I understand the economy of things, but.

338
00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:03,000
Do you think long term.

339
00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:07,000
This is truly the best option for the community.

340
00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:21,000
Chair, if you were asking me my engineering opinion, I would say based on the risks and the technologies available.

341
00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:30,000
This is the best option that we have at this time for long term sustainable compliant drinking water.

342
00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:33,000
In terms of the best option for the community.

343
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:37,000
I apologize, Chair, but I feel like that's a decision for board.

344
00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:44,000
And one final question and thank you for entertaining my my questions.

345
00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:52,000
We're not the only are this community isn't the only community in this type of situation with with.

346
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:57,000
The provincial legislation that's come down and that has changed over the years.

347
00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:00,000
Do we think that over.

348
00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:04,000
The next few years and like.

349
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:11,000
It doesn't matter who's in government, but the rules around rural properties and smaller towns that are met with these pressures and these requirements.

350
00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:14,000
Do you think the province.

351
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:16,000
Is going to give in.

352
00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:20,000
To try and accommodate projects like these because we're all.

353
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:23,000
It's unfeasible.

354
00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:26,000
And I'd stop aren't in a position that's that.

355
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:28,000
So it's kind of hypothetical at this point.

356
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:31,000
Any other questions.

357
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:34,000
Okay. Final question to you Dr. Carson.

358
00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:36,000
Oh, sorry Dr. Cannon.

359
00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:38,000
Thanks Mr. Chair. Thanks.

360
00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:41,000
Just a couple of questions as far as.

361
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:43,000
It's a 618 page reports.

362
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:46,000
I was just trying to decipher some of the clarification of the information.

363
00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:48,000
So option one be.

364
00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:52,000
So which is a recommended option if.

365
00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:55,000
The board approves proceeding that way.

366
00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:57,000
And.

367
00:38:57,000 --> 00:39:00,000
We make the applications for grants.

368
00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:02,000
And we're in the process.

369
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:04,000
So it's interior health then.

370
00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:09,000
Same or continue to try to be in compliance or moving forward and.

371
00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:10,000
Takes.

372
00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:15,000
Can that be a condition as far as approval grants in order to.

373
00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:17,000
Program in place and until then.

374
00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:20,000
We continue on.

375
00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:23,000
Chair, my understanding is that.

376
00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:26,000
Province is very willing.

377
00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:30,000
To allow us flexibility with all of our timelines.

378
00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:35,000
Provided that we are attempting to move towards compliance for the drinking water system.

379
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:38,000
So by pursuing the Northwest Regional Water line.

380
00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:41,000
By preparing for grants and applying for grants as they come up.

381
00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:43,000
We need that condition.

382
00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:47,000
You've given any timeline as far as.

383
00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:51,000
But as we've alluded to and you know, the coverage pretty bare and.

384
00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:54,000
Our provincial senior levels of government.

385
00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:58,000
So is there some point in time saying, well.

386
00:39:58,000 --> 00:39:59,000
We'll give you.

387
00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:02,000
Ex number of years or they're just saying.

388
00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:04,000
Take it year by year.

389
00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:07,000
Through the chair to the director.

390
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:09,000
I could only speculate.

391
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:12,000
So right now just.

392
00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:14,000
Proceed with the option and.

393
00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:17,000
Hold for the best.

394
00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:19,000
Because the fact that.

395
00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:24,000
Just just trying to clarify from the regional district perspective.

396
00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:31,000
Would this be a number one priority for grant application.

397
00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:34,000
I don't know if we we've ranked any.

398
00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:37,000
Any other grant request.

399
00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:40,000
Yeah, I think that'd be also hypothetical at this point director.

400
00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:43,000
But that would come to the board for correct.

401
00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:45,000
Yeah, and just for clarity.

402
00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:52,000
What the current plan is doing is building a shovel ready plan to get ready for a grant application.

403
00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:55,000
So lots of discussion today around will this be successful.

404
00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:58,000
How would this be perceived or priority.

405
00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:04,000
The current phase we're in right now is getting a shovel ready plan to be actually able to apply for a grant.

406
00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:08,000
And without a shovel ready plan, you can actually do that.

407
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:14,000
So basically the whole strategy here has been get this ready so that you can submit a grant application.

408
00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:18,000
At that point, you know, it would be up to the powers that be that grant those.

409
00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:21,000
Grant those grants and the board to decide from that.

410
00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:24,000
I think that that's helped the clarification one last question you mentioned.

411
00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:28,000
If the grants are successful.

412
00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:32,000
That's what monthly or annually.

413
00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:34,000
Through the chair to director cannon.

414
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:42,000
The $50 per household is a monthly charge to cover the one third capital for a 30 year term.

415
00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:49,000
And if the grants are not successful, there's a cost per household that anticipated.

416
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:55,000
If the grants are not successful, the understanding from discussions around this table is that the project would not go for it.

417
00:41:55,000 --> 00:42:01,000
But there's not a dollar value if they had to go alone.

418
00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:08,000
Chair, we haven't gone that far because that would be against what the board has to do.

419
00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:10,000
Director, whoever.

420
00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:16,000
Well, I see that the motion in front of us is to.

421
00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:18,000
Receive the report correct.

422
00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:20,000
It's all correct.

423
00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:24,000
And the following item that director person is bringing forward.

424
00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:28,000
Is a perspective on removing this plan from right.

425
00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:32,000
So the question I would have is what would happen to the drinking water quality and what when they.

426
00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:37,000
What would the residents expect to see in the future if no project is moving ahead, but I guess that might be a question for the next.

427
00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:39,000
No, please still raise that now.

428
00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:43,000
So it's kind of like not part of report receiving this, but.

429
00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:51,000
I just wondering what is how often are these residents now having interruptions in their water supply or warnings or what have you.

430
00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:57,000
And what could happen in the future if we don't have any plan moving ahead.

431
00:42:57,000 --> 00:42:59,000
Chair.

432
00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:05,000
I guess that's a number of different pieces of in terms of disruptions in water supply itself.

433
00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:11,000
We've been able to keep the system up for for most disruptions.

434
00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:15,000
I think the most impactful disruptions we've had are the major wildfires in the communities.

435
00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:19,000
The 2022 report to the board.

436
00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:21,000
It actually came to the board a few times.

437
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:26,000
Following that and part of the discussion was around generators and additional backup.

438
00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:34,000
And out of that we actually had again another expert opinion regards to the reliability of that system like came to a electrical power.

439
00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:38,000
The recommendation out of that was that as the system exists now.

440
00:43:38,000 --> 00:43:49,000
But for major wildfires like we had in 2021 and again in 2023 we haven't had service stoppages in terms of water supply.

441
00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:51,000
In terms of water quality.

442
00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:55,000
It is very likely.

443
00:43:55,000 --> 00:44:01,000
Almost a guarantee that we're going to have water quality advisories on an annual basis.

444
00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:08,000
As the Okanagan heats up for the summer time and as recreational activities on the lake.

445
00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:10,000
Pick up.

446
00:44:10,000 --> 00:44:15,000
That impacts our shallow intakes and we have shallow intakes that kill a beach and a west shore states.

447
00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:19,000
So that transitions to impacts to water quality.

448
00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:21,000
I won't get into those details here.

449
00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:25,000
But it means that we have to put a water quality advisories in place.

450
00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:31,000
And then something just most recently this board scene is we also have water orders that come up.

451
00:44:31,000 --> 00:44:37,000
Those happen when we lose water pressure usually do this something like a leak or a line hit.

452
00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:42,000
I think that would be independent of the treatment technology that's out there.

453
00:44:42,000 --> 00:44:44,000
That's really a pressure concern.

454
00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:54,000
So in summary I would say until this project materializes the residents can expect more of the same.

455
00:44:54,000 --> 00:44:59,000
Once this project materializes.

456
00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:00,000
Thank you.

457
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:04,640
We should have water quality advisories on going. The only impacts we should have are when we have

458
00:45:04,640 --> 00:45:09,520
one-off emergencies from water-made breaks within the community, from somebody in a contract,

459
00:45:09,520 --> 00:45:16,400
directs them, hitting a water line, those sorts of issues. So if we had any feedback from the residents,

460
00:45:16,400 --> 00:45:22,560
the actual affected residents that what they would prefer to have on going water problems or a project,

461
00:45:23,600 --> 00:45:28,480
a big project that would fix it. I mean, we're kind of as directors sitting, you're not knowing

462
00:45:28,960 --> 00:45:33,920
which way the residents would like to go, although we have an indication of this motion coming up in a minute.

463
00:45:33,920 --> 00:45:40,160
But I mean, in some ways, it's almost up to the residents who live there, whether they want to

464
00:45:40,160 --> 00:45:43,680
live with ongoing water problems or not, or pay money to have it fixed.

465
00:45:48,160 --> 00:45:52,640
Chair, that what I can get through there for the board's consideration is

466
00:45:52,640 --> 00:45:59,680
decision to decide, you know, it's really hypothetical. Travis, I'm not going to put you on this

467
00:45:59,680 --> 00:46:06,000
spot with that. I would actually direct, there's a comment from a resident in the upcoming budget item

468
00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:10,560
from a public engagement regarding water quality in the Northwest side. So if someone wants to see

469
00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:15,440
what people are saying, you can, you can review that, but I won't put staff on the spot to answer that question.

470
00:46:15,440 --> 00:46:19,200
I just myself, I'm just wondering whether we're supposed to be voting in favor of what the residents

471
00:46:19,200 --> 00:46:23,760
want or whether we're health district wants or what I mean, I don't know. Thank you, Dr. Andrew,

472
00:46:23,760 --> 00:46:28,800
Chris and you had a final question. Just stuff we can keep, keep moving forward here. I do have

473
00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:34,080
an indicator of a mover and a seconder of the item. So yeah, I know some more questions that I'd like

474
00:46:34,080 --> 00:46:40,240
to get answered to do. What's the likelihood of filtration regulations being imposed on

475
00:46:40,240 --> 00:46:50,800
aquifers in the future? Chair, I could only speculate. So we could be right back here with the same

476
00:46:50,800 --> 00:46:59,680
issue in five ten years if the regulations change on aquifers. Again, this is hypothetical. Do you have

477
00:46:59,680 --> 00:47:02,880
do you have a question that's related to the board director because I'm in a call the question here,

478
00:47:02,880 --> 00:47:11,040
quickly? With the charge to lots currently serviced within the water system by law area that

479
00:47:11,040 --> 00:47:18,160
don't, that aren't hooked into the service. Who would there? They would have the same cost,

480
00:47:18,160 --> 00:47:27,600
the an empty lot with no service. Chair, anybody within the service area pays the base fee,

481
00:47:27,920 --> 00:47:36,080
which is the S everno fee for providing for the capital needs for the service. Anybody that has

482
00:47:36,080 --> 00:47:43,440
a connection to their property and uses the water pays usage fees. I do not have the cost charges by law.

483
00:47:43,440 --> 00:47:50,880
So if you've got an empty lot and you're not connected to the system, you're paying basic as well as

484
00:47:50,880 --> 00:48:00,080
asset renewal. What about basic was it only if you had service? Through the chair, you're paying that

485
00:48:00,080 --> 00:48:05,200
base asset renewal cost if you have an empty lot because you're in the service area and you have the ability

486
00:48:05,200 --> 00:48:15,440
to get. So you would be basic and asset renewal but not consumption. Chair, if you are connected to the

487
00:48:15,440 --> 00:48:20,880
system, you pay consumption and the base use fee. If you are not connected to the system but you're

488
00:48:20,880 --> 00:48:28,800
in the service area, you pay for the asset renewal fee. Okay, thank you. If one third provincial one

489
00:48:28,800 --> 00:48:35,520
one third federal grants are approved on a $28 million project and that project exceeds $28 million.

490
00:48:37,520 --> 00:48:41,920
Would that leave the rate pairs within the areas responsible for any of the increase?

491
00:48:45,440 --> 00:48:51,840
Chair, those grants typically require that the municipality covers the overages if the costs are

492
00:48:51,840 --> 00:48:57,520
go up. I would say the current cost for the project also includes a 50% contingency because it's a cost

493
00:48:57,520 --> 00:49:02,880
of estimate. So it should be well within the estimate that's been approved by the board and incorporated into the

494
00:49:02,880 --> 00:49:08,400
financial. But if it wasn't, the costs would go back to the residents. The rate pairs within the

495
00:49:08,400 --> 00:49:19,360
biliria. Chair, that's correct. Okay. If the project were moved forward and essentially became one

496
00:49:19,360 --> 00:49:27,040
system, would any capital costs or future expenses now become the responsibility of all the users of

497
00:49:27,040 --> 00:49:36,000
all three systems would it become like one system and any capital costs or any resulting costs from

498
00:49:36,000 --> 00:49:42,480
that system would now be borne by everybody or are we still back on killing of each and

499
00:49:42,480 --> 00:49:52,320
less shores pay on for it? Through the chair to the director, that would be dependent on how

500
00:49:52,320 --> 00:50:01,440
the board would like to structure any services establishment in the future. I could speculate on that right

501
00:50:01,520 --> 00:50:05,920
now but that would be a decision I would be after the board. So we reorganized the water system

502
00:50:06,720 --> 00:50:14,480
at that point. If the board wished. Okay. And Dr. Carson, I'm going to call a question after this

503
00:50:14,480 --> 00:50:18,560
after your final question here because we've been at this for quite some time now. So I'm going to

504
00:50:18,560 --> 00:50:23,760
call the question here to receive this report. It was a $30 million project from my community. I think

505
00:50:23,760 --> 00:50:29,040
it's not fair. I get to ask my questions. Yeah, you've had plenty of time in space. Yeah, okay. And

506
00:50:29,040 --> 00:50:32,160
ask your final burning question. What were you able to find out about the

507
00:50:33,440 --> 00:50:41,520
Mozilla Lake water system area in area H and RDOS? We have 190 connections on a point of entry system

508
00:50:41,520 --> 00:50:44,640
and up for a number of years. What were you able to find out about that?

509
00:50:49,440 --> 00:50:55,520
I don't Travis, I'm going to cut this off. I have a mover and director glazeman. I have a second

510
00:50:55,520 --> 00:51:02,400
er and director craft. All in favor to receive the report. Thank you, opposed. Stractor Carson's

511
00:51:02,400 --> 00:51:12,320
opposed? Moving on. Thank you. All right. All right. Item 5.3, please.

512
00:51:14,720 --> 00:51:19,680
Item 5.3 is a motion by Director Carson for the Northwest Side Water System project. This is an

513
00:51:19,680 --> 00:51:24,160
all director's weighted corporate vote. To consider the notice of motion introduced by

514
00:51:24,160 --> 00:51:28,160
Director Carson at the January 22nd, 2026 regular board meeting.

515
00:51:29,520 --> 00:51:35,120
Chair, I defer to you. Thank you. Ms. Gimter and over to Director Carson to share your ideas.

516
00:51:39,760 --> 00:51:45,520
Do I have to put this as questions or can I make this a narrative? This is my floor resolution. Should I

517
00:51:45,520 --> 00:51:50,960
get a mover on the just I need a mover to put this on the floor before our comments? Sorry.

518
00:51:51,920 --> 00:51:57,680
Oh, would you like to move this get on the floor? Okay. Moved by Director Carson, second by

519
00:51:57,680 --> 00:52:05,520
Director glazeman. Over to you. Okay. First off, it's a real disappointment to me that I have to

520
00:52:05,520 --> 00:52:15,600
bring this motion forward on this, but I find this just unaffordable. When I first started looking

521
00:52:15,680 --> 00:52:25,920
into this with interior health, I was told that point of entry, which is what I was looking at.

522
00:52:25,920 --> 00:52:34,400
First, that the legislation had lagged behind the technology and that it was not up to interior health

523
00:52:35,440 --> 00:52:41,600
to deal with legislation. That was up to us to deal with the legislation that they just dealt

524
00:52:41,680 --> 00:52:46,480
with regulations, so I think that this is something that we need to look at.

525
00:52:49,840 --> 00:52:55,040
One of my concerns for grant applications in this regional district is grants go to the big guy with

526
00:52:55,040 --> 00:53:02,800
a loud voice and direct access to the process. The municipalities put in their applications directly.

527
00:53:03,680 --> 00:53:06,160
The electoral areas have to do it through this board.

528
00:53:06,560 --> 00:53:16,640
The municipalities would come first in the regional district with these grants and they serve a

529
00:53:16,640 --> 00:53:27,040
larger population and are more likely to receive a grant. Without a stakeholder voting right,

530
00:53:27,040 --> 00:53:33,040
I cannot support despite line project with ever expanding cost. Currently, directors that will not

531
00:53:33,040 --> 00:53:38,800
put a dime into this project or even draw a drop of water will decide what could be a 30-year

532
00:53:38,800 --> 00:53:45,040
plus burden on two possibly three or four small rural communities. I don't believe you would in

533
00:53:45,040 --> 00:53:48,640
good conscience do this to your residents. I hope you won't do it to mine.

534
00:53:50,240 --> 00:53:54,800
I'm looking at something that will serve my entire community, not just killing the and

535
00:53:54,800 --> 00:54:03,040
west shores, the pipeline started at eight million as it was its original cost and it went to

536
00:54:03,040 --> 00:54:08,960
12 million, then it went to 21 million, now it's at 28 million. No roots being established, not a

537
00:54:08,960 --> 00:54:14,640
shovel of dirt being turned yet. I've watched the price almost good. I have no confidence that either

538
00:54:14,640 --> 00:54:21,200
the grants will come through from senior levels of government nor will the cost stop escalating. We need

539
00:54:21,200 --> 00:54:28,800
an affordable solution. I did research and found that in interior health, own regional district

540
00:54:28,800 --> 00:54:35,600
50 to 60% of small water systems in interior health do not fully meet modern treatment, filtration

541
00:54:35,600 --> 00:54:42,160
and disinfect and expectations, particularly for surface water sources. This finding is repeatedly

542
00:54:42,160 --> 00:54:48,960
highlighted in drinking water in interior health and assessment of drinking water systems risk to public health.

543
00:54:49,920 --> 00:54:56,560
And recommendations for improvement. This would represent 600 to 720 small public water systems

544
00:54:57,200 --> 00:55:06,720
province wide and BC on 4,000 systems 40 to 50% do not meet standards. That's 1,600 to 2,000 water

545
00:55:06,720 --> 00:55:14,960
systems. It's obviously a provincial wide problem. I'll be attending the EA Directors forum next

546
00:55:14,960 --> 00:55:20,080
month and as usual the subject to small water systems will come up and I will be stressing the need

547
00:55:20,080 --> 00:55:26,960
for an update to the legislation for point of entry. I believe that a solution is point of entry

548
00:55:26,960 --> 00:55:32,800
and that we now need to work on advocacy towards updating the legislation that will allow us to use

549
00:55:32,800 --> 00:55:41,040
our systems on a public water system in particular systems that are finite in size and financial resources

550
00:55:41,120 --> 00:55:47,680
less than 500 connections. This updated legislation would also benefit the private water systems,

551
00:55:47,680 --> 00:55:52,880
people on wells and those drawing directly from surface water sources such as the lake or creek.

552
00:55:53,520 --> 00:55:59,360
They do not have millions to spend on filtration when cheaper and just as effective methods exist

553
00:55:59,360 --> 00:56:05,760
and are successfully used around the world. Interior health states it is willing to discuss an updated

554
00:56:05,760 --> 00:56:14,560
timeline in consideration of financial challenges. I'm in a similar financial position as the

555
00:56:14,560 --> 00:56:22,400
province and I would like to repace refresh and re-sweet sequence this project. Those are

556
00:56:22,400 --> 00:56:31,680
their words from the budget. So I guess to roll it up together here I was in favor of this. I thought

557
00:56:31,680 --> 00:56:42,080
this was the perfect solution for my community but we cannot afford this. It's just beyond the ability

558
00:56:42,080 --> 00:56:48,320
for us to pay within our community here and it still leaves the private water systems and the other

559
00:56:48,320 --> 00:56:56,640
people without a solution to moving forward. I don't see being out of compliance as being a huge

560
00:56:56,640 --> 00:57:03,920
issue here. That seems to be the majority of the small water systems and I think the reason for that

561
00:57:03,920 --> 00:57:10,000
is because we don't have a solution at the moment because we don't have proper legislation that

562
00:57:10,000 --> 00:57:18,560
addresses the technology that is point of entry systems right now. My community had a water quality

563
00:57:18,640 --> 00:57:27,680
advisory and kill any beach from April through to October of last year. My community dealt with

564
00:57:27,680 --> 00:57:34,640
that because most everybody has our systems already in their homes. It's like when you live in an area

565
00:57:34,640 --> 00:57:41,840
like mine and you have numerous power outages you buy a generator. When you have water problems and water

566
00:57:41,920 --> 00:57:51,520
system problems as we have had you get an RO system and you deal with it yourself. I'm asking for

567
00:57:51,520 --> 00:58:00,640
support here. I think that we need to advocate on behalf of the electoral areas to move forward with

568
00:58:00,640 --> 00:58:10,640
on affordable fix for our water problems and and this is no longer that fix. I know that

569
00:58:11,920 --> 00:58:19,040
Lake Country, OS Corona and I'm matching Corona spending hundreds of millions of dollars on water

570
00:58:19,040 --> 00:58:26,240
filtration plants. That's a good solution for you. It does not work for us. I'm asking for support

571
00:58:26,240 --> 00:58:32,000
to move forward and find the solution that will work for us. I know it's there. Thank you.

572
00:58:33,200 --> 00:58:42,800
Thank you. Any other comments at this time? From board directors. Dr. Glazeman.

573
00:58:46,160 --> 00:58:51,280
Thank you, Chair. I just have a question everybody's discussing the external

574
00:58:51,680 --> 00:59:01,120
issue of compliance. We're showing as one electoral area is not in compliance and should that

575
00:59:01,120 --> 00:59:08,400
not or should that remain not in compliance? What is the ramification to the remainder of the district?

576
00:59:08,400 --> 00:59:14,000
The other communities in the area. With interior health saying that they're going to work on that

577
00:59:14,000 --> 00:59:21,120
non-compliance if we don't go forth with this. What's the stick? What is the stick that we are

578
00:59:21,120 --> 00:59:27,920
going to be beaten with if this does not go through in interior health size? I don't know. I've got no access

579
00:59:27,920 --> 00:59:32,560
to that. Normally we wouldn't take questions at this point as we do have a motion on the table.

580
00:59:33,680 --> 00:59:38,880
It was indicated by the director of engineering that basically they would move to enforcement actions

581
00:59:38,880 --> 00:59:45,600
for electoral arrest. Okay. Perfect. And then if that's the case, that affects every single person in

582
00:59:45,600 --> 00:59:52,160
the district, not just the electoral area. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments?

583
00:59:52,160 --> 00:59:58,960
Dr. Nelson, sorry. Thank you, Vice Chair. Yeah.

584
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:27,000
Thanks, Chairman. I apologize for coming into the meeting late. But my thoughts with regards to this is that, you know, there's been a tremendous amount of work done to date. And we've been reviewing it in the past. And personally, I continue to support the decisions that this board has made, the decisions we made in September of 2022.

585
01:00:27,000 --> 01:00:45,000
You know, we have a responsibility to ensure that residents receive good clean water. It meets the standards of interior health. That's residents that live in the electoral area, Western this situation. And also those that are coming in the future.

586
01:00:46,000 --> 01:00:52,000
So we have to look after the needs of the residents today, but also the needs of residents in the future.

587
01:00:52,000 --> 01:01:06,000
So to me, it's really important. It's responsible for this board to ensure that we continue to work with interior health and ensure that the water quality meets those standards.

588
01:01:06,000 --> 01:01:14,000
I think it's important that we continue on looking for grants on behalf, you know, to help with the costs.

589
01:01:14,000 --> 01:01:23,000
And really as far as affordability, if we continue to delay this process, it's going to be much more unaffordable in the future.

590
01:01:23,000 --> 01:01:28,000
We've seen increases in pricing over the last few years. It's not going to stop.

591
01:01:28,000 --> 01:01:39,000
So I think the reality is that it's it's best to go go ahead and maintain the course that we've set for quite some time.

592
01:01:39,000 --> 01:01:46,000
And those are my comments. So I don't support the motion that's on the table.

593
01:01:46,000 --> 01:01:52,000
I would prefer that we continue the course that we have. I think that's the most responsible course for this board.

594
01:01:52,000 --> 01:01:53,000
Okay, thank you.

595
01:01:53,000 --> 01:01:54,000
Thank you, director.

596
01:01:54,000 --> 01:01:58,000
Do I have anyone else with comments that isn't spoken?

597
01:01:58,000 --> 01:02:01,000
Seeing not just some from myself before I call the question here.

598
01:02:01,000 --> 01:02:06,000
No doubt 20 million dollars is a lot of money.

599
01:02:06,000 --> 01:02:11,000
And what we know in in communities in general is that it's only going to go up over time.

600
01:02:11,000 --> 01:02:16,000
The more the more we delay infrastructure renewal, the higher it goes.

601
01:02:16,000 --> 01:02:23,000
And from a provincial advocacy perspective, we've continued to meet with municipal affairs as well as public health.

602
01:02:23,000 --> 01:02:30,000
Dr. Bonnie Henry has stated clearly that this is a direction for public health based on science and data.

603
01:02:30,000 --> 01:02:34,000
It's been noted that we've done over 11 studies.

604
01:02:34,000 --> 01:02:39,000
We know that the system isn't meeting the current water standards by interior health.

605
01:02:39,000 --> 01:02:47,000
And we know that this system that's been recommended by professional engineers has an 80 plus year life expectancy.

606
01:02:47,000 --> 01:02:50,000
And we also know the risks. We know the vulnerabilities.

607
01:02:50,000 --> 01:02:57,000
We know that interior health will start enforcement if we remove this from the plans.

608
01:02:57,000 --> 01:03:01,000
They know the challenges with the capital costs.

609
01:03:01,000 --> 01:03:06,000
But most importantly, this is a public health risk and vulnerability of the community.

610
01:03:06,000 --> 01:03:08,000
And Dr. Nelson put it really well.

611
01:03:08,000 --> 01:03:13,000
We have a responsibility to make sure that there's a plan in place because if you fail the plan you plan to fail.

612
01:03:13,000 --> 01:03:17,000
And I spent a lot of time researching this as well.

613
01:03:17,000 --> 01:03:19,000
We look at Flint, Michigan.

614
01:03:19,000 --> 01:03:24,000
And water systems were changed in Flint because of the capital costs.

615
01:03:24,000 --> 01:03:26,000
People got poisoned. People died.

616
01:03:26,000 --> 01:03:34,000
You look at Calgary with the water main breaks displacing water access for weeks and months.

617
01:03:34,000 --> 01:03:37,000
Because they've been warned about the capital costs for over 20 years.

618
01:03:37,000 --> 01:03:41,000
So removing something from a plan doesn't make the problem go away.

619
01:03:41,000 --> 01:03:45,000
And that's the responsibility around this table.

620
01:03:45,000 --> 01:03:51,000
So I appreciate Travis for the amount of work he put in to bring the report forward.

621
01:03:51,000 --> 01:03:54,000
I appreciate the directors' perspective on this.

622
01:03:54,000 --> 01:03:58,000
Knowing that small communities are faced with major costs.

623
01:03:58,000 --> 01:04:05,000
This is not one off throughout the province and regional districts are going to continue to grapple with this and it's going to continue to be a challenge.

624
01:04:05,000 --> 01:04:12,000
So we need to have a plan to get something shovel ready so that we can advocate and that we can actually apply for grants.

625
01:04:12,000 --> 01:04:15,000
Without that, you can't even apply for grant.

626
01:04:15,000 --> 01:04:20,000
So that's the current plan and I'm not supportive of the resolution today for those reasons.

627
01:04:20,000 --> 01:04:23,000
So with that I'll call the question, all in favor of the resolution.

628
01:04:24,000 --> 01:04:27,000
We have directors craft and Carson in favor and opposed.

629
01:04:27,000 --> 01:04:37,000
We have directors' diast to heart, glazing in myself, Weber, Ireland and Canon opposed as well as Dr. Johnston and Nelson.

630
01:04:37,000 --> 01:04:39,000
And the motion does not carry.

631
01:04:39,000 --> 01:04:42,000
Thank you.

632
01:04:46,000 --> 01:04:50,000
All right, we're going to take a quick five minute break because our heavy item is next with the budget.

633
01:04:53,000 --> 01:04:55,000
Thank you.

634
01:05:23,000 --> 01:05:40,000
We're going to get moving because I promise that we would keep moving forward.

635
01:05:40,000 --> 01:05:45,000
All right, so item 6.1 and I'm going to introduce the item here.

636
01:05:45,000 --> 01:05:55,000
Which is to consider amendments and reductions to the RDCO's draft 20262030 Financial Plan.

637
01:05:55,000 --> 01:05:59,000
This is to consider amendments, reductions and public feedback.

638
01:05:59,000 --> 01:06:06,000
The significant amount of work has gone into this on the back end based on the board's previous feedback as well as the public.

639
01:06:06,000 --> 01:06:14,000
And so thank you to our CAO and our CFO for working through our budget to bring forward some recommendations today.

640
01:06:14,000 --> 01:06:28,000
I'm just from myself. I am also working with the CAO to re-strike an audit committee and start looking at value for many reviews of various services subsequent to this report moving out throughout the rest of our term as well.

641
01:06:28,000 --> 01:06:30,000
Based on feedback from the board.

642
01:06:30,000 --> 01:06:42,000
So that is also going to be subsequent to this though it's not going to affect the budget that you see here before us, but I wanted to let the board know that we have heard loud and clear that we need to.

643
01:06:42,000 --> 01:06:50,000
For view a bit more and we'll turn it over to Tony now to bring you up to date of what what they've been working on. So over to you, Tonya.

644
01:06:50,000 --> 01:06:57,000
Good chair. So good morning everybody. As our chair mentioned, I was speaking to you about three things today.

645
01:06:57,000 --> 01:07:06,000
First I'll be providing you with some information on amendments to the draft plan that are resulting from new information since it was presented to the board in January.

646
01:07:06,000 --> 01:07:14,000
I will also be providing with options for reducing the 2026 financial plan increase as provided in the draft plan in January.

647
01:07:14,000 --> 01:07:20,000
And finally providing with a summary of the feedback received from the public on the draft financial plan.

648
01:07:20,000 --> 01:07:23,000
So just go to wake it up.

649
01:07:23,000 --> 01:07:25,000
There we go.

650
01:07:25,000 --> 01:07:35,000
Got it to work. So our minor of the highlights incorporated into this financial plan.

651
01:07:35,000 --> 01:07:38,000
The first is focusing on the Board's strategic priorities.

652
01:07:38,000 --> 01:07:47,000
Things like emergency preparedness by providing sufficient funding for prior dispatch services and transitioning the emergency management program back to the RDCO.

653
01:07:47,000 --> 01:07:54,000
The board priority of the environment and climate while require recovery work in RDCO parks.

654
01:07:54,000 --> 01:08:00,000
Noxious weed management across those same parks and renewal of essential water in wastewater infrastructure.

655
01:08:00,000 --> 01:08:14,000
Also addresses the board's priority on health and wellness with providing year on access to RDCO parks, enhancing active transportation and accessibility in RDCO parks, meeting visitor demand for programming within our park system.

656
01:08:14,000 --> 01:08:21,000
And completing the backlog of approved capital project to provide updated facilities for visitors to those parks.

657
01:08:21,000 --> 01:08:30,000
It also addresses the priority on transportation by incorporating regional transportation planning to meet legislative requirements.

658
01:08:30,000 --> 01:08:42,000
It's also continued investment in infrastructure used to provide the variety of services to residents and this is also done by continuing to build reserves to fund the replacement of that critical infrastructure.

659
01:08:42,000 --> 01:08:50,000
And finally, always focused on maintaining service levels to continue providing services to a growing population.

660
01:08:50,000 --> 01:08:53,000
So we are here now in the financial planning timeline.

661
01:08:53,000 --> 01:09:01,000
This will ensure that we meet the legislative requirement of adopting a financial plan by March 31.

662
01:09:01,000 --> 01:09:11,000
So before we dive into the amendments and the reductions that are being proposed, I wanted to just do a brief review of the draft plan as it was presented to the Board in January.

663
01:09:11,000 --> 01:09:15,000
So this is a summary of the increases in the draft financial plan.

664
01:09:15,000 --> 01:09:23,000
The Board requested that increases from new debt service and costs resulting from the new municipal borrowing through the MFA be shown separately.

665
01:09:23,000 --> 01:09:28,000
And the increase has also been broken out into non-discrrationary and discretionary costs.

666
01:09:28,000 --> 01:09:35,000
So examples of non-discrrationary increases are remuneration increases that are mandated by the collective agreement.

667
01:09:35,000 --> 01:09:44,000
Increases in the budgets determined by external boards as well as contractual and inflationary cost increases determined by external providers.

668
01:09:44,000 --> 01:09:52,000
The increase of these for these in the draft plan was 3.8 million or 5.3%.

669
01:09:52,000 --> 01:10:00,000
Discussionary costs are things like additional staffing to support current service levels and achieving the Board's strategic priorities.

670
01:10:00,000 --> 01:10:09,000
Increasing transfers to reserves for future spending and request for additional funding from external groups the Board supports to the grant and aid program.

671
01:10:09,000 --> 01:10:15,000
The increase for these in the draft plan was presented was 1.4 million or 1.9%.

672
01:10:15,000 --> 01:10:24,000
So that comes out to a total increase in the draft financial plan from non-discrrationary and discretionary increases of 5.1 million or 7.2%.

673
01:10:24,000 --> 01:10:31,000
And then the final piece is the increase required for additional debt servicing costs from municipal debt.

674
01:10:31,000 --> 01:10:37,000
This money is the cost of this is borne by the municipalities that bore the funds.

675
01:10:37,000 --> 01:10:43,000
And this increase was 1.8 million and it represents 2.6%.

676
01:10:43,000 --> 01:10:49,000
So then we'll have a quick review of the draft plan as it was presented in the impact on the average house.

677
01:10:49,000 --> 01:10:56,000
This table shows for each municipality and electoral area the average house value in each of those areas.

678
01:10:56,000 --> 01:11:03,000
It also shows the 2025 requisition and then the proposed 2026 requisition amounts.

679
01:11:03,000 --> 01:11:06,000
It shows the year over year change in that.

680
01:11:06,000 --> 01:11:09,000
So that's the annual increase which was $29.

681
01:11:09,000 --> 01:11:12,000
And then it also just shows the monthly cost of that.

682
01:11:12,000 --> 01:11:15,000
So the monthly cost will be $37.

683
01:11:15,000 --> 01:11:20,000
The monthly increase was $2.40%.

684
01:11:20,000 --> 01:11:25,000
So now we're going to look at the amendments.

685
01:11:25,000 --> 01:11:34,000
So the draft financial plan included operating projects in the electoral area fire protection service and the regional park services.

686
01:11:34,000 --> 01:11:42,000
Those projects were funded by the fire smart grant which is done through the community welfare resiliency program.

687
01:11:42,000 --> 01:11:46,000
That grant can be composed of three components.

688
01:11:46,000 --> 01:11:51,000
The first was some base funding and that was $300,000.

689
01:11:51,000 --> 01:11:57,000
There was also some funding for wildfire mitigation in the parks and that was an additional $100,000.

690
01:11:57,000 --> 01:12:05,000
And then for 2026 only there was an additional grant provided for wildfire impacted communities.

691
01:12:05,000 --> 01:12:10,000
So that added up to a total of $500,000 in grant funding.

692
01:12:10,000 --> 01:12:17,000
After the draft financial plan was presented to the board, the province announced that the funding available through this program will be reduced.

693
01:12:17,000 --> 01:12:27,000
Therefore the operating project budget in the electoral area fire protection services has been reduced or will be reduced to $250,000 from the original $400,000.

694
01:12:27,000 --> 01:12:32,000
And then the $100,000 operating project that was in the regional parks will be removed.

695
01:12:32,000 --> 01:12:38,000
So this is a $350,000 decrease in the discretionary funding costs are increased costs.

696
01:12:38,000 --> 01:12:44,000
It doesn't impact though the tax acquisition because it was all being granted.

697
01:12:44,000 --> 01:12:48,000
So now on to the options for reductions.

698
01:12:48,000 --> 01:13:01,000
During the presentation of the draft financial plan at the January 22nd meeting, the board expressed concerns about the proposed increases in the operational budget and the proposed increases in the tax recommendation requisition.

699
01:13:01,000 --> 01:13:09,000
In response, staff completed a detailed review of the draft financial plan to identify opportunities to minimize both.

700
01:13:09,000 --> 01:13:19,000
The review involved review of historical spending levels and we looked used a five year term and then we compared that to what was in the financial plan.

701
01:13:19,000 --> 01:13:26,000
And so we're potential reductions were identified was where the historical average spending may be less than what was budgeted for.

702
01:13:26,000 --> 01:13:29,000
So these reductions were identified in several areas.

703
01:13:29,000 --> 01:13:36,000
It is important for the board to understand the risks associated with these reductions and they are explained in table one of the report.

704
01:13:36,000 --> 01:13:52,000
So a high level review of those risks for training and education reducing those financial plan amounts will sacrifice the optimal readiness for regional responses and mutual aid agreements of the fire services.

705
01:13:52,000 --> 01:14:05,000
For contracted services, it could lead to things such as indefinite closures of a park due to an inability to hire a subject matter expert to assess the risk of using a park after a naturally bent such as a fire or flood.

706
01:14:05,000 --> 01:14:18,000
Software licensing, we wouldn't be implementing new software that was intended to reduce or to improve staff efficiencies in daily work assignments.

707
01:14:18,000 --> 01:14:21,000
It would reduce temporary staffing.

708
01:14:21,000 --> 01:14:24,000
This was in the building inspections area.

709
01:14:24,000 --> 01:14:33,000
So there's budget available for hiring temporary building inspectors when workloads get more than what the current level can support.

710
01:14:33,000 --> 01:14:39,000
It would remove that ability and potentially result in longer time lines for building permits.

711
01:14:39,000 --> 01:14:52,000
Emergency responses, if those costs do exceed what is being allowed for in the financial plan, the operating reserves would be used to cover the budget shortfalls because we can't not fund emergency responses.

712
01:14:52,000 --> 01:15:00,000
And it could impact the financial resilience of the services being impacted whether that's a local fire departments or the regional service.

713
01:15:00,000 --> 01:15:20,000
And then for equipment repairs, it would be a similar thing that reducing the financial plan amounts down to historical spending levels, would not allow for any unplanned repairs that may be required, and those would again be funded from operating reserves and potentially impacting the financial resilience of those services.

714
01:15:20,000 --> 01:15:29,000
So this is a summarized version of table three from the report, the total value of the auction aid reductions is $825,000.

715
01:15:29,000 --> 01:15:37,000
They reduce the inflationary increase used in the draft financial plan from the 5% that was originally used down to 2%.

716
01:15:37,000 --> 01:15:49,000
As I know in last meeting, CPI is a consumer price index and is not reflective of the goods that the RDCO purchases, however, this new inflationary rate that's being used is consistent with CPI.

717
01:15:49,000 --> 01:16:04,000
So the result is non-discussionary increases of 2.9 million or 4.1% the reduction in the discretionary increases from the reduction in the fire smart operating projects of 350,000 is shown here.

718
01:16:04,000 --> 01:16:09,000
So the result is a discretionary cost increase of 1 million or 1.4%.

719
01:16:09,000 --> 01:16:17,000
And the impact of all of that means that we now have a $3.9 million increase or 5.6%.

720
01:16:17,000 --> 01:16:27,000
And of course the final piece is the municipal finance authority boring costs, again they remain at 2.6% because it cannot be reduced.

721
01:16:27,000 --> 01:16:29,000
So what does this mean for residents?

722
01:16:30,000 --> 01:16:39,000
This is a comparison of the tax requisition after the auction aid reductions are applied compared to the draft financial plan presented on January 22nd.

723
01:16:39,000 --> 01:16:53,000
So the table comparison for each municipality in the electoral area, the proposed 2026 tax requisition, which had an average increase annual increase of $29 or $7.2%.

724
01:16:53,000 --> 01:16:58,000
It shows you the proposed increase after the auction aid reductions are applied.

725
01:16:58,000 --> 01:17:04,000
This brings it down to an average increase of $20 a year or 4.9%.

726
01:17:04,000 --> 01:17:10,000
And so that results in an average reduction of $9 a year for the average resident.

727
01:17:10,000 --> 01:17:18,000
Sorry, I'm not going to get a drink of water.

728
01:17:18,000 --> 01:17:29,000
So in addition to the decreases included in auction aid, there are some additional reductions that have been identified for the board to consider.

729
01:17:29,000 --> 01:17:33,000
These reductions are not being recommended this time by staff.

730
01:17:33,000 --> 01:17:38,000
Their impacts are summarized in table 4 and look at the potential impacts.

731
01:17:38,000 --> 01:17:47,000
Not adding additional parks staffing resources, this would help the progress towards achieving the board's strategic priority of year-round access to parks.

732
01:17:47,000 --> 01:17:55,000
It would also impact and limit the number of school groups accessing programming in the regional parks because it would not be the ability to add additional programming.

733
01:17:55,000 --> 01:18:04,000
And it could lead to extended closures in regional parks due to delayed maintenance or an inability to address safety issues due to staffing issues.

734
01:18:04,000 --> 01:18:14,000
Not increasing the amounts transfer to reserves could lead to new interest cost to borrow funds for needed infrastructure renewals or placements that can't be funded from reserves.

735
01:18:14,000 --> 01:18:22,000
And the last one was that there was an amount in there to increase the grant in aid for the Ocargon film commission by $15,000.

736
01:18:22,000 --> 01:18:33,000
This was in response to their request when they presented to the board in the fall of last year and was supported by the board to be put into the financial plan.

737
01:18:33,000 --> 01:18:42,000
So this is a summarized version of table 6 from the report, the total value of the option B reductions is an additional $600,000.

738
01:18:42,000 --> 01:18:49,000
So the non-discretionary increases are not impacted and they remain at 2.9 million of 4.1%.

739
01:18:49,000 --> 01:19:02,000
The discretionary increases are reduced, they are now only 428,000 or 0.6% for total increase in the financial plan before flow through items at 3.4 million or 4.7%.

740
01:19:04,000 --> 01:19:07,000
So again, what does this mean for the residents?

741
01:19:07,000 --> 01:19:15,000
So this is the impact of applying the option A and option B reductions compared to the financial plan in 2026.

742
01:19:15,000 --> 01:19:22,000
So again, 2026 the original draft plan, $29 increase, $7.2%.

743
01:19:22,000 --> 01:19:35,000
Option B reduces the average tax increase down to a $13 year increase or $3.2% saving the average homeowner in the Ocargon, $16.

744
01:19:35,000 --> 01:19:44,000
So having looked at all of those numbers, now we'll talk a little bit about public engagement.

745
01:19:44,000 --> 01:19:48,000
The final thing to review today is the public feedback received on the financial plan.

746
01:19:48,000 --> 01:19:50,000
There were several options for providing feedback.

747
01:19:50,000 --> 01:19:56,000
If you go to the RDC was in public engagement platform, you were say, they could send it in by mail.

748
01:19:56,000 --> 01:20:03,000
They could send it in by email or they could have presented in person at the committee of the home meeting in February.

749
01:20:03,000 --> 01:20:08,000
So the feedback received was five comments on your say and two by email.

750
01:20:08,000 --> 01:20:15,000
There was nobody that provided comments at the public meeting and there was no submissions by the regular mail.

751
01:20:15,000 --> 01:20:21,000
So the feedback received was summarized in table seven of the reports along with staff's responses.

752
01:20:21,000 --> 01:20:24,000
The feedback covered a variety of areas this year.

753
01:20:24,000 --> 01:20:27,000
The first one was around staffing resources.

754
01:20:27,000 --> 01:20:32,000
There were comments that there should be no new staff positions or that staff levels should be reduced.

755
01:20:32,000 --> 01:20:37,000
So option B does provide this option of not adding the new staff positions.

756
01:20:37,000 --> 01:20:44,000
There was some discussion about the board remuneration. It was questioned why the municipal appointees to the board are remunerated for their time.

757
01:20:44,000 --> 01:20:52,000
This is remuneration is paid in accordance with the by law 1421 and can be reviewed at this discussion of the regional board.

758
01:20:52,000 --> 01:20:59,000
There was some comments again about west side road conditions as seen to be an annual was public comment that we received.

759
01:20:59,000 --> 01:21:03,000
Unfortunately, the maintenance and upkeep of this road is a responsibility of province.

760
01:21:03,000 --> 01:21:09,000
I will say that the RDCO has been a strong advocate for improving conditions on roads within the electoral areas.

761
01:21:09,000 --> 01:21:17,000
And that includes highway 33 and west side road and will continue to advocate for residents.

762
01:21:17,000 --> 01:21:20,000
There was some discussion about neighborhood emergency egress.

763
01:21:20,000 --> 01:21:24,000
Concerns about limited egress during emergencies was raised.

764
01:21:24,000 --> 01:21:32,000
The RDCO is currently undergoing evacuation route planning with the use of a grant that should help to ease these issues.

765
01:21:32,000 --> 01:21:39,000
Water safety was also raised asking about the plans to improve the water safety after the study that was done several years ago.

766
01:21:39,000 --> 01:21:48,000
The project plan for this was presented the regional board in 2024 and the costs are included in the 25 to 29 financial plan.

767
01:21:48,000 --> 01:21:51,000
And the last one was year on regional park access.

768
01:21:51,000 --> 01:21:56,000
Some considered this a want not a need and suggested see seeing the transition.

769
01:21:56,000 --> 01:22:01,000
Again, this would result if the option B reductions are implemented.

770
01:22:01,000 --> 01:22:14,000
So at this point, the approval of the financial plan today is today and so we would either that's going to be the draft version with the amendments identified for the smart fire smart projects.

771
01:22:14,000 --> 01:22:24,000
It can be the draft version with the amendments identified and the option A reductions or it could be the draft version with the amendments option A and option B reductions.

772
01:22:24,000 --> 01:22:37,000
The next step will be adoption of the financial plan bylock the next regular board meeting to be held on March 19th and that will ensure that the regional district needs the legislative requirement of adoption by March 31.

773
01:22:37,000 --> 01:22:40,000
That is the end of my presentation.

774
01:22:40,000 --> 01:22:42,000
Thanks, Tanya.

775
01:22:42,000 --> 01:22:45,000
Any questions of board members?

776
01:22:45,000 --> 01:22:47,000
Dr. Carson.

777
01:22:47,000 --> 01:22:51,000
And I do see you there, Dr. Nelson as well.

778
01:22:51,000 --> 01:22:53,000
You're talking about the first smart grant.

779
01:22:53,000 --> 01:22:56,000
Is there still money for the coordinator there?

780
01:22:56,000 --> 01:23:01,000
Through the chair, that is our understanding, yes, but it will be remained to be seen.

781
01:23:01,000 --> 01:23:03,000
The grant has been applied for.

782
01:23:03,000 --> 01:23:07,000
Okay, because apparently there's 15 million dollars in the budget.

783
01:23:07,000 --> 01:23:11,000
Is that equivalent to what was there before?

784
01:23:11,000 --> 01:23:13,000
Have they reduced that or?

785
01:23:13,000 --> 01:23:16,000
15 million on the in the provincial budget.

786
01:23:16,000 --> 01:23:18,000
Yes, my understanding.

787
01:23:18,000 --> 01:23:25,000
I've got the same information that you would have and that is that they are reducing the funding available for that program.

788
01:23:25,000 --> 01:23:29,000
Okay, and you were talking about.

789
01:23:29,000 --> 01:23:35,000
While far mitigation and regional parks is that gone, or is there still a program there for that?

790
01:23:35,000 --> 01:23:40,000
At this point in response to the budget that was presented by the provincial government.

791
01:23:40,000 --> 01:23:43,000
We have removed that project from the plan.

792
01:23:43,000 --> 01:23:49,000
If we are subsequently successful in getting some of that grant money, then it could potentially return.

793
01:23:49,000 --> 01:23:54,000
Okay, and I noticed that on your charts and your tables.

794
01:23:54,000 --> 01:24:00,000
It's as excludes local service areas via protection community centers.

795
01:24:00,000 --> 01:24:10,000
Is there any way we would be able to to get some kind of an indication as to what impact that has on the areas that are service with?

796
01:24:10,000 --> 01:24:13,000
That like killing each has got both the community and the fire.

797
01:24:13,000 --> 01:24:15,000
Wilson's landing just got the fire.

798
01:24:15,000 --> 01:24:18,000
You know, just don't have either of those services.

799
01:24:18,000 --> 01:24:19,000
So it's just one enough.

800
01:24:19,000 --> 01:24:25,000
It was possible to get something a little bit more accurate for those specific targeted areas.

801
01:24:25,000 --> 01:24:37,000
Through the chair, the expected taxes for those local service local area services would still be consistent with what's in was in the draft financial plan presented to you in January.

802
01:24:37,000 --> 01:24:39,000
So those numbers haven't changed at this point.

803
01:24:40,000 --> 01:24:45,000
Okay, and the north west side fire and Wilson's landing fire.

804
01:24:45,000 --> 01:24:52,000
Did they see significant increases this year in their budgets or.

805
01:24:52,000 --> 01:24:54,000
My apologies, I have to go back and look at that.

806
01:24:54,000 --> 01:25:02,000
I just wanted about the impact for the specific areas.

807
01:25:02,000 --> 01:25:14,000
The ability to remember numbers comes in handy.

808
01:25:14,000 --> 01:25:16,000
Actually, my apologies.

809
01:25:16,000 --> 01:25:18,000
I think there's an easier way to find this number.

810
01:25:18,000 --> 01:25:21,000
I'll be up here.

811
01:25:21,000 --> 01:25:31,000
So for electoral area west, the Wilson's landing actually will see a reduction for the fire services and that's because of the gross in the assessment base.

812
01:25:31,000 --> 01:25:35,000
So there was a significant increase in the number of homes that were rebuilt.

813
01:25:35,000 --> 01:25:37,000
And so that's recovery from fire.

814
01:25:37,000 --> 01:25:38,000
Yes, okay.

815
01:25:38,000 --> 01:25:40,000
That is now impacting it.

816
01:25:40,000 --> 01:25:46,000
And so for Wilson's landing, the average home will see about a $30 a year decrease in the fire suppression cost.

817
01:25:46,000 --> 01:25:47,000
Oh, that's good.

818
01:25:47,000 --> 01:25:49,000
It is a good news story.

819
01:25:49,000 --> 01:25:53,000
And north west side north west side, not unfortunately the same story.

820
01:25:53,000 --> 01:25:54,000
They're going to see an increase.

821
01:25:54,000 --> 01:25:56,000
How much is the increase there?

822
01:25:56,000 --> 01:25:58,000
$52 on the average home.

823
01:25:59,000 --> 01:26:01,000
$52 per home for the whole year.

824
01:26:01,000 --> 01:26:02,000
Yes.

825
01:26:02,000 --> 01:26:04,000
That's fairly significant increase.

826
01:26:04,000 --> 01:26:05,000
What caused that?

827
01:26:05,000 --> 01:26:06,000
Through the chair.

828
01:26:06,000 --> 01:26:09,000
I would have presented that to the east at the time.

829
01:26:09,000 --> 01:26:11,000
I just don't remember the way.

830
01:26:11,000 --> 01:26:12,000
Yeah.

831
01:26:12,000 --> 01:26:13,000
Took it up that.

832
01:26:13,000 --> 01:26:15,000
Sometimes I remember all the details.

833
01:26:15,000 --> 01:26:16,000
Sometimes I don't.

834
01:26:16,000 --> 01:26:18,000
We've got some inflationary wage adjustments.

835
01:26:18,000 --> 01:26:21,000
There's some new software licensing costs for the new software.

836
01:26:21,000 --> 01:26:27,000
We've increased the equipment budget and the insurance budget had to go up.

837
01:26:27,000 --> 01:26:29,000
Because of the cost and insurance.

838
01:26:29,000 --> 01:26:32,000
And then increasing an increase in the transfer to reserves as well.

839
01:26:32,000 --> 01:26:33,000
But that's not the huge amount.

840
01:26:33,000 --> 01:26:36,000
So these are impacts that Wilson's landing didn't see.

841
01:26:36,000 --> 01:26:37,000
No.

842
01:26:37,000 --> 01:26:38,000
Well, they did.

843
01:26:38,000 --> 01:26:41,000
But they would have been offset by the assessment base grew.

844
01:26:41,000 --> 01:26:43,000
And the tax rate went down because of that.

845
01:26:43,000 --> 01:26:44,000
All right.

846
01:26:44,000 --> 01:26:45,000
Thank you.

847
01:26:45,000 --> 01:26:46,000
Welcome.

848
01:26:46,000 --> 01:26:47,000
Thank you.

849
01:26:47,000 --> 01:26:48,000
Dr. Nelson.

850
01:26:48,000 --> 01:26:49,000
Yes.

851
01:26:49,000 --> 01:26:50,000
Thanks Mr. Chair.

852
01:26:50,000 --> 01:26:51,000
Thank you.

853
01:26:51,000 --> 01:26:53,000
Ms. McKay for your presentation.

854
01:26:53,000 --> 01:26:55,000
And thank you very much.

855
01:26:56,000 --> 01:27:05,000
To you and your team and the department heads for the time and work involved and investigated these expense reduction opportunities.

856
01:27:05,000 --> 01:27:07,000
Much appreciated.

857
01:27:07,000 --> 01:27:10,000
I was wondering just just.

858
01:27:10,000 --> 01:27:12,000
I was trying to get a.

859
01:27:12,000 --> 01:27:14,000
I guess I greater.

860
01:27:14,000 --> 01:27:17,000
Understanding the impact of the.

861
01:27:17,000 --> 01:27:22,000
The six opportunities that were identified under option A and I.

862
01:27:23,000 --> 01:27:26,000
My apologies. I probably should have sent a note here earlier on.

863
01:27:26,000 --> 01:27:41,000
But are are you able to provide us with sort of the the numbers associated with like the amount of money that were identified in the 2000 and say 25 but compared to 26 budget.

864
01:27:41,000 --> 01:27:44,000
And and the revised.

865
01:27:44,000 --> 01:27:51,000
20 26 budget for for these areas is that that's something you can provide us with or is that asking too much at this state.

866
01:27:51,000 --> 01:27:54,000
I'm sure she's probably asking too much at this stage.

867
01:27:54,000 --> 01:27:57,000
I'm sure she's probably asking too much at this stage.

868
01:27:57,000 --> 01:28:01,000
What I can say is that the reductions I've provided were by.

869
01:28:01,000 --> 01:28:08,000
Cost type or expenditure type rather than by service because that was that's how the impact is assessed.

870
01:28:08,000 --> 01:28:15,000
So it is it is a reductions across a number of the regional services predominantly.

871
01:28:15,000 --> 01:28:20,000
Is it with those reductions with a what they being bring the.

872
01:28:20,000 --> 01:28:28,000
The expenditures of those costs closer to what they were in 2025 versus what were in the draft.

873
01:28:28,000 --> 01:28:30,000
2026 plan.

874
01:28:30,000 --> 01:28:42,000
Through the chair yes effectively the reduction resulted in us not using an inflationary increase of 5% and only using inflationary increase of 2% instead over last year's budget.

875
01:28:42,000 --> 01:28:47,000
Okay that that okay that answers thank you very much that I think that answers my question.

876
01:28:47,000 --> 01:28:48,000
Thank you.

877
01:28:48,000 --> 01:28:49,000
Thank you.

878
01:28:49,000 --> 01:28:51,000
Thank you Dr. Cannon.

879
01:28:51,000 --> 01:28:54,000
I think thanks for the updated budget.

880
01:28:54,000 --> 01:29:00,000
I just want to you mentioned you used CPI proposed budgeting and what percentage rate was that.

881
01:29:00,000 --> 01:29:02,000
2% to percent.

882
01:29:02,000 --> 01:29:07,000
Okay and you have a five year financial plan in place which is obviously good governance planning and what.

883
01:29:07,000 --> 01:29:11,000
Is your performer based on the percentage increase.

884
01:29:11,000 --> 01:29:23,000
And we talked about initial of the discussion budget was concerned about the compounding.

885
01:29:23,000 --> 01:29:28,000
Over the last four years is that it's approximately 27% increase operating expenses.

886
01:29:28,000 --> 01:29:30,000
And it's over the last four years.

887
01:29:30,000 --> 01:29:34,000
Sorry to the chair I don't actually can't tell you the increase over the last four years.

888
01:29:34,000 --> 01:29:41,000
What I can't say is that a lot of the increases result of either transferring spending from our capital budget into our operating budget.

889
01:29:41,000 --> 01:29:44,000
We did a major shift about last year.

890
01:29:44,000 --> 01:29:50,000
And it also can result in the fact that we've had service level changes and stopping increases and response to that.

891
01:29:50,000 --> 01:29:54,000
That's another increase and then obviously the collective agreement.

892
01:29:54,000 --> 01:29:58,000
There was a catchup done for that a couple years ago where there was an 8% increase.

893
01:29:58,000 --> 01:30:00,000
So that did have a significant.

894
01:30:00,000 --> 01:30:12,360
About 27% compounded things. Any other questions? Looking online, seeing not. We do have a resolution

895
01:30:12,360 --> 01:30:21,400
recommended by staff, which is to approve option A. So I would look for a mover of the resolution

896
01:30:21,400 --> 01:30:25,600
that's before us here, which is option A. I have Dr. Weber moving that to have a second

897
01:30:25,600 --> 01:30:29,400
there to get on the floor and move by Dr. Melson. And then I'll just look to the

898
01:30:29,400 --> 01:30:36,340
movers and seconders to see if they want to speak first. Dr. Melson, would you like to

899
01:30:36,340 --> 01:30:40,600
go? Any other comments?

900
01:30:40,600 --> 01:30:49,120
The only, no, I'm in support of an option A. I'm not, certainly, the reason I was

901
01:30:49,120 --> 01:30:55,000
supporting that option A and on option B. I just don't, you know, option B to go too far

902
01:30:55,000 --> 01:31:02,680
as far as we do seeing a potential transfers to reserves and on paper of that. But I just, I do

903
01:31:02,680 --> 01:31:04,120
support option A. Thank you.

904
01:31:04,120 --> 01:31:05,120
Thank you.

905
01:31:05,120 --> 01:31:09,960
Any other questions before I call it quite or any other comments?

906
01:31:09,960 --> 01:31:10,960
Dr. Cannon.

907
01:31:10,960 --> 01:31:18,800
Thanks, Senator Chairman. I appreciate the fact that we have some pressures that we're put

908
01:31:18,800 --> 01:31:25,920
in place in previous agreements, et cetera, how we're going forward. We can't continue this,

909
01:31:25,920 --> 01:31:33,960
as I said, it's 27% increase compound just in our four years. And it's essentially faster than

910
01:31:33,960 --> 01:31:43,040
the rate of inflation. And we can't, you know, at our own personal budgets operate this way.

911
01:31:43,040 --> 01:31:48,240
So I don't think the regional district should function beyond the cost of living and what

912
01:31:48,240 --> 01:31:55,440
not support this increase for those reasons. I think we go back to looking at additional

913
01:31:55,440 --> 01:31:59,920
operational efficiencies. I appreciate the fact that you're going to have an audit committee looking

914
01:31:59,920 --> 01:32:06,640
for some value for money. I think that's a great initiative as well. But the fact that we have

915
01:32:06,640 --> 01:32:15,200
continually growing government beyond the level of maintaining core services is a real concern.

916
01:32:15,200 --> 01:32:18,400
I can't support that. Thank you.

917
01:32:18,400 --> 01:32:23,440
Any other comments? See now, I'll call the question. All in favor.

918
01:32:23,440 --> 01:32:32,560
Opposed. I have Dr. Glazeman, Dr. Cannon, Dr. Craft, and Director Carson, opposed and the motion

919
01:32:32,560 --> 01:32:37,600
carries. Thank you, Tonya. And thank you again for all the hard work that went on behind the scenes

920
01:32:37,600 --> 01:32:43,360
to bring this forward. And also thank you for the boards feedback, especially separating out the

921
01:32:43,360 --> 01:32:50,240
MFA funding. That was a really good discussion to guide future budgets. So that staff can be

922
01:32:50,240 --> 01:32:54,480
really clear on how we communicate that moving forward. So thank you to the board for direction.

923
01:32:55,680 --> 01:33:02,640
See you. Item 6.2 is the security issuing bylaws city of Kelona, municipal finance authority spring

924
01:33:02,640 --> 01:33:08,880
2026 issue. This is an all-directors-weighted corporate vote. To consider approval of security issuing

925
01:33:08,880 --> 01:33:13,760
bylaws for the regional district of the central Kenokan on behalf of the city of Kelona again presented by

926
01:33:13,760 --> 01:33:21,520
Tonya McKay. Over to you. Hello again. So this is a relatively straight board housekeeping item.

927
01:33:22,160 --> 01:33:29,600
Effectively the loan authorization bylaws done by the municipality. They do a security issuing resolution

928
01:33:29,600 --> 01:33:35,120
actually and then they send it over to the regional district where we are required to issue a security

929
01:33:35,120 --> 01:33:40,400
issuing bylaw and then that goes on to the municipal finance authority who then issues the

930
01:33:40,400 --> 01:33:47,920
debentures. So this is a new borrowing for the city of Kelona, $48 million for the Kelona

931
01:33:47,920 --> 01:33:53,680
international airport terminal building expansion. And then there's also $60 million. So this is an

932
01:33:53,680 --> 01:34:01,120
initial borrowing. The actual full secure loan authorization bylaw for the recreation and activity

933
01:34:01,120 --> 01:34:08,720
centers in Kelona is $241 million and at this issue they're requesting $16 million. So that is a total

934
01:34:08,720 --> 01:34:16,160
of $18 million. Obviously the debt service in cost for this will appear in next year's financial plan.

935
01:34:19,040 --> 01:34:26,320
Any questions on this? Pretty straightforward and housekeeping. So I do need a mover.

936
01:34:26,320 --> 01:34:32,400
Moved by Director Dias second by Director to heart. On favor. Opposed.

937
01:34:34,240 --> 01:34:35,840
Care unanimously. Thank you.

938
01:34:39,360 --> 01:34:46,800
Moving on to parks. Item 7.1 is the Glen Canyon Regional Park Joint Management and Regulation Agreement

939
01:34:46,800 --> 01:34:51,920
Renewal. This is an all-director's weighted vote. This is to seek approval from the regional board

940
01:34:51,920 --> 01:34:56,240
to renew the Glen Canyon Regional Park Joint Management and Regulation Agreement with the city

941
01:34:56,240 --> 01:35:01,520
of West Kelona presented by our newly minted director of parks. Tracy Draper.

942
01:35:02,320 --> 01:35:07,520
Tracy is this your first presentation to the board. Okay. Well welcome officially. I know you have

943
01:35:07,520 --> 01:35:13,200
sat in the back for it. Watching the board meetings for quite a few now. And so pleasure to have you

944
01:35:13,200 --> 01:35:19,920
present to us today. So I'll turn it over to you. So good morning board. Today I'm here to talk about

945
01:35:20,800 --> 01:35:24,800
the recommendation before the board to renew the agreement between the RDCO and the city of

946
01:35:24,800 --> 01:35:31,760
West Kelona for the continued use of 42.58 Glatt's vote owned by the city of West Kelona. This property

947
01:35:31,760 --> 01:35:37,360
acts as the main trailhead and parking area for Glen Canyon Regional Park and through this agreement the

948
01:35:37,360 --> 01:35:43,520
land allows for improved park access which was previously street parking corrects previous trust past issues

949
01:35:43,520 --> 01:35:49,440
and allows for better alignment of the trail and infrastructure in this area of Glen Canyon. Public ownership

950
01:35:49,440 --> 01:35:55,120
of this land also provides protection of the Rumpherian area in precarion ecosystems in the area.

951
01:35:57,920 --> 01:36:03,440
This agreement began with the city of West Kelona in 2015 and the recommended renewed agreement

952
01:36:03,440 --> 01:36:08,800
is for a five-year term plus two optional five-year renewals. The only update to the recommended

953
01:36:08,800 --> 01:36:13,600
agreement is the insurance terminology to align with our current and insurance provider,

954
01:36:13,600 --> 01:36:20,160
MI ABC as we are previously with a private insurer. RDCO legal counsel has reviewed and confirmed

955
01:36:20,160 --> 01:36:25,760
no other changes are necessary. This agreement is an example of how the RDCO works with our municipal

956
01:36:25,760 --> 01:36:30,720
partners to deliver services to the community and how across jurisdictions we can use staff resources

957
01:36:30,720 --> 01:36:37,600
efficiently in providing those services. This city of West Kelona's council did approve the renewal of

958
01:36:37,600 --> 01:36:44,880
this agreement at the council meeting on January 15th, 2026 and this concludes staff's presentation.

959
01:36:44,880 --> 01:36:53,040
Thank you. Any questions this time? Seeing not, Dr. Glaesman is prepared to move this. I have a

960
01:36:53,040 --> 01:36:56,800
seconder and director of Nelson. Dr. Nelson, do you also comment on this one?

961
01:36:57,840 --> 01:37:02,240
Yes, I'd like to comment. Thank you very much. Thanks for the presentation.

962
01:37:02,720 --> 01:37:09,600
And the city of West Kelona were very pleased with the collaboration with the regional district

963
01:37:09,600 --> 01:37:17,280
with the guards to the care and the services provided within this park. I just want to say that

964
01:37:17,280 --> 01:37:23,680
we're really pleased to renew the agreement. Thanks to everyone involved with this. Thank you.

965
01:37:24,000 --> 01:37:31,840
Thank you. And with that, all in favor. A post, carried unanimously.

966
01:37:32,640 --> 01:37:33,760
Adam, may point one, please.

967
01:37:34,640 --> 01:37:40,240
A point one is the hazard risk vulnerability assessment, regional climate resiliency strategy.

968
01:37:40,240 --> 01:37:45,520
This is an all-director's unweighted corporate vote. This is to provide the regional board with an update

969
01:37:45,520 --> 01:37:50,400
on the development of the regional district of Central Lcanagan comprehensive hazard risk and

970
01:37:50,400 --> 01:37:55,440
vulnerability assessment, and the corresponding regional climate resiliency strategy.

971
01:37:56,960 --> 01:38:01,760
Mike Wawroth, director of protective services, and he will introduce the consultant from Stanteck.

972
01:38:01,760 --> 01:38:08,400
Perfect. Good morning. Chair and directors. Today's item is an update and

973
01:38:09,040 --> 01:38:14,400
information on the regional districts integrated work to develop a comprehensive hazard

974
01:38:14,400 --> 01:38:20,960
risk involved vulnerability assessment, which will be referred to as nature VA, and a complementary

975
01:38:21,520 --> 01:38:27,440
companion to that is the regional climate resiliency strategy. The intent is straightforward to strengthen

976
01:38:27,440 --> 01:38:32,320
our understanding of current future natural hazard risk, including flooding, drought, extreme heat,

977
01:38:32,320 --> 01:38:38,800
geohazards, and seismic events. So we can better anticipate impacts to residents, critical infrastructure,

978
01:38:38,800 --> 01:38:43,840
services and ecosystems, and translate that understanding into a practical regional adaptation actions.

979
01:38:44,560 --> 01:38:49,040
This work also helps meet our legislative responsibilities under the emergency and disaster

980
01:38:49,040 --> 01:38:53,280
management act, and aligns with broader regional climate and planning obligations.

981
01:38:55,280 --> 01:39:02,400
We're supported by Daniel Hague and Shane O'Hadlan, who are the project leaders for Stanteck

982
01:39:02,400 --> 01:39:09,200
Consulting, and they are both bringing senior expertise in hazard climate risk and resilience planning,

983
01:39:09,520 --> 01:39:13,360
and all now invite Daniel from Stanteck to walk the board through the approach.

984
01:39:14,400 --> 01:39:22,240
And what's coming next? Awesome. Thank you, Mike. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for allowing

985
01:39:22,240 --> 01:39:29,200
me to join you today. I'm phoning in from a balmy minus I think 26 still here in Calgary, Alberta.

986
01:39:31,520 --> 01:39:36,720
So wanted to quickly touch base and bring everyone up to speed around this, you know, really an

987
01:39:36,720 --> 01:39:42,800
integrated climate and hazard planning initiative that the regional district has got underway.

988
01:39:43,760 --> 01:39:49,840
Ultimately, what Mike was saying, this initiative is bringing together hazard, hazard risk,

989
01:39:49,840 --> 01:39:56,800
climate risk, greenhouse gas forecasting, and resilience planning into one sort of coordinated process.

990
01:39:56,800 --> 01:40:03,600
Process. So we avoid sort of fragmented planning, rather than looking at emergency management,

991
01:40:03,600 --> 01:40:08,160
climate adaptation, and emissions reduction, sort of separate streams of work,

992
01:40:08,160 --> 01:40:13,920
we're bringing them together. So when we start to bring forward actions for the regional district to

993
01:40:13,920 --> 01:40:18,880
consider, they are based on sort of a shared understanding of vulnerability, exposure, and risk,

994
01:40:19,760 --> 01:40:24,640
as well as long-term direction. So for today, I'm going to go through the context of the work,

995
01:40:24,640 --> 01:40:31,120
our key components, a high-level overview of our work plan, who we're planning to engage in how

996
01:40:32,000 --> 01:40:37,040
and just a quick sort of wrap up with where we're at in the process. If you can jump the next slide, Mike.

997
01:40:39,120 --> 01:40:44,880
I always like to pause and just take a moment to talk about just the context. We have sort of practical

998
01:40:44,880 --> 01:40:51,040
drivers behind this initiative, which is, you know, increasingly changing hazards and risks.

999
01:40:51,680 --> 01:40:59,120
We have complex climate related pressures, and we also have the legislative drivers behind it. So in

1000
01:40:59,120 --> 01:41:03,920
terms of climate and hazards, our wildfire seasons are growing longer, more severe.

1001
01:41:04,960 --> 01:41:10,880
We're experiencing more wildfire smoke, not even from regional fires, but fires potentially in the

1002
01:41:10,880 --> 01:41:18,000
US and other places. We're seeing more concerns about drought, water security, flooding, and then we also

1003
01:41:18,000 --> 01:41:24,800
have these sort of other sort of hazards and risks in the background. Ultimately, all these pressures are

1004
01:41:24,880 --> 01:41:33,440
impacting infrastructure, public safety, service delivery, and as they, if not addressed,

1005
01:41:33,440 --> 01:41:39,520
can impact the long-term financial planning and success in growth in our cities, communities,

1006
01:41:39,520 --> 01:41:47,680
and regional districts. On the legislative side of things, we have the emergency and disaster management

1007
01:41:47,680 --> 01:41:53,920
act that requires regional and local governments to complete what we call a hazard risk and vulnerability

1008
01:41:54,080 --> 01:42:00,000
assessment. We also have the Local Government Act, which requires local governments and regional

1009
01:42:00,000 --> 01:42:04,960
governments to understand the greenhouse gas emissions trajectories, and to set targets, and to

1010
01:42:04,960 --> 01:42:13,920
build plans to reduce those emissions. The regional district is also received funding under the UDCM

1011
01:42:15,120 --> 01:42:20,640
community emergency preparedness fund and disaster risk reduction fund, which requires this completion

1012
01:42:20,640 --> 01:42:26,320
of the climate risk and vulnerability assessment and the development that resilience plans. We have

1013
01:42:26,320 --> 01:42:29,600
these drivers going in the background. If you can talk in the next slide, Mike.

1014
01:42:31,680 --> 01:42:37,760
So ultimately, we have several connected drivers or deliverables. We have the hazard risk and

1015
01:42:37,760 --> 01:42:44,400
vulnerability assessment. That's really going to be focused on the regional district electoral areas,

1016
01:42:45,360 --> 01:42:51,200
infrastructure and services to live to the electoral areas. It will include regional parks,

1017
01:42:51,200 --> 01:42:55,760
because that's within the regional district's purviews. That's very focused on

1018
01:42:57,440 --> 01:43:03,040
identifying sort of party hazards, potential sort of critical infrastructure risks and response gaps.

1019
01:43:04,080 --> 01:43:10,720
The climate risk and vulnerability assessment takes a step back. We're not looking at the EAs.

1020
01:43:10,720 --> 01:43:17,600
We're looking at the entire region. So we're looking at how is climate today going to change

1021
01:43:17,600 --> 01:43:24,480
in the next 20, 30, 50, 80 years. And how is that going to impact or interact with our infrastructure,

1022
01:43:25,120 --> 01:43:31,680
our people, our communities, our ecosystems, and our priority or more vulnerable populations?

1023
01:43:33,120 --> 01:43:38,800
Our greenhouse gas emissions forecast and targets is also regional level. We're going to estimate greenhouse

1024
01:43:38,880 --> 01:43:45,680
gas emissions from our buildings, transportation, our waste systems, as well as our land basis or

1025
01:43:45,680 --> 01:43:51,680
forests to understand where our emissions are at today and how they're going to change in the future

1026
01:43:51,680 --> 01:43:58,240
as it relates to increasing population, housing, changes in how people drive and transport themselves.

1027
01:43:58,240 --> 01:44:02,400
Through that, we're going to set greenhouse gas reduction targets that make sense for the regional

1028
01:44:02,400 --> 01:44:09,040
district. Those three pieces, we're going to bring together into this climate resilient strategy.

1029
01:44:09,840 --> 01:44:14,640
It's going to identify at the end of the day, the resilient strategy is going to identify

1030
01:44:14,640 --> 01:44:22,560
sort of key actions, implementation, timeframes and sort of, you know, departments responsible.

1031
01:44:23,200 --> 01:44:29,520
So it is, for my perspective, I always want to make this sort of clear and about boundaries and

1032
01:44:29,520 --> 01:44:36,640
expectations with this strategy. The strategy is not going to redo or place any existing

1033
01:44:36,640 --> 01:44:42,080
hazard vulnerability and risk assessments. Emergency plans are any local adaptations strategies

1034
01:44:42,080 --> 01:44:47,280
that are being to have been developed or are being developed by their local governments. We're not looking

1035
01:44:47,280 --> 01:44:54,480
to create any sort of new regulatory authority or allocating specific tasks, projects or allocating

1036
01:44:54,480 --> 01:44:59,680
funding to any sort of member municipalities. Ultimately, these actions that

1037
01:45:00,000 --> 01:45:10,000
In this plan, we'll be within the regional district's authority and a legal ability to implement.

1038
01:45:10,000 --> 01:45:19,000
As part, you know, when we're also thinking about long-term, this regional climate resolution strategy will also help support the regional growth strategy,

1039
01:45:19,000 --> 01:45:29,000
and then a lot of the findings and actions can then be used to inform the regional district's emergency management plans, as well as their asset management plans.

1040
01:45:30,000 --> 01:45:32,000
Next slide, Mike.

1041
01:45:32,000 --> 01:45:38,000
In terms of timing, we got our work is organized in the four phases.

1042
01:45:38,000 --> 01:45:45,000
Because of the grant, the grants that have been received by the regional district, we have a very tight timeline.

1043
01:45:45,000 --> 01:45:49,000
June 30 is our deadline to get all of this work done.

1044
01:45:49,000 --> 01:45:51,000
So we've kicked off the project.

1045
01:45:51,000 --> 01:45:54,000
We're in our phase one project management engagement plan.

1046
01:45:54,000 --> 01:45:56,000
We've kicked it off.

1047
01:45:56,000 --> 01:46:01,000
We've engaged with our kicked off of the project with the project team.

1048
01:46:01,000 --> 01:46:08,000
We've had a webinar for all of the different audiences that we want to engage with to explain what the project is.

1049
01:46:08,000 --> 01:46:09,000
We're going to do it.

1050
01:46:09,000 --> 01:46:13,000
We're engaging with you folks to bring you along in terms of this process.

1051
01:46:13,000 --> 01:46:23,000
Our phase two is us really taking gathering information and data and processing it to understand how hazards are going to potentially, you know,

1052
01:46:23,000 --> 01:46:33,000
how hazards can potentially be going to show up in the region or the electoral areas, how they're going to interact with infrastructure and different components and communities.

1053
01:46:33,000 --> 01:46:41,000
Phase three is where we're really spending our time with our different audiences around completing the hazard and climate vulnerability and risk assessments.

1054
01:46:41,000 --> 01:46:44,000
And then phase four is obviously that planning piece.

1055
01:46:44,000 --> 01:46:46,000
And these are sort of linear phases.

1056
01:46:46,000 --> 01:46:50,000
They are happening sort of all at once because of that collapsed time frame.

1057
01:46:50,000 --> 01:46:59,000
Also just note that the greenhouse gas emissions assessment work and forecast piece is also sort of running parallel into all of that.

1058
01:46:59,000 --> 01:47:01,000
Next slide, Mike.

1059
01:47:01,000 --> 01:47:07,000
So engagement is really a big and important part of our process here.

1060
01:47:08,000 --> 01:47:16,000
You know, and in our phase phase two where we're doing the spatial exposure analysis, like we we're going to do mapping projections and modeling.

1061
01:47:16,000 --> 01:47:20,000
And we can do a whole and entire risk assessment without it speaking to anyone.

1062
01:47:20,000 --> 01:47:30,000
But our projects and these and the value of this work really improves when we start to engage with with our different audiences.

1063
01:47:30,000 --> 01:47:35,000
So each component obviously has sort of a different audience that we want to engage with.

1064
01:47:35,000 --> 01:47:38,000
So the hazard risk and vulnerability assessment.

1065
01:47:38,000 --> 01:47:44,000
It's really focused on regional district and will electoral areas and infrastructure and services.

1066
01:47:44,000 --> 01:47:48,000
So we're keeping our audience and we're engaging quite small.

1067
01:47:48,000 --> 01:47:51,000
So it's our RDOCO staff and our first nations.

1068
01:47:51,000 --> 01:47:56,000
With the climate risk and vulnerability assessment, because we're spending extending back up to the region.

1069
01:47:56,000 --> 01:47:58,000
We have a wider audience.

1070
01:47:58,000 --> 01:48:04,000
Different audiences we want to engage with from RDC's all staff member municipalities for nations.

1071
01:48:04,000 --> 01:48:07,000
Community organizations and general public.

1072
01:48:07,000 --> 01:48:19,000
For the greenhouse gas emissions forecasting and target setting where we're developing re-commissions forecasting targets because it's we're really looking at what's within the region's regional districts fear of influence.

1073
01:48:19,000 --> 01:48:23,000
We're bringing that audience back to the RDC of staff.

1074
01:48:23,000 --> 01:48:27,000
And then for the climate resilience strategy it's sort of back out.

1075
01:48:27,000 --> 01:48:31,000
So you can see this sort of flux between these different groups.

1076
01:48:31,000 --> 01:48:38,000
You will note that I've sort of purposely skipped over this sort of regional climate working group which I'm going to speak to.

1077
01:48:38,000 --> 01:48:46,000
As part of this work, the regional district is creating a temporary regional climate working group.

1078
01:48:46,000 --> 01:48:57,000
We're looking to have one to two sort of voluntary represents representatives from RDCO member municipalities, first nations and community organizations.

1079
01:48:57,000 --> 01:49:02,000
The group will be disbanded once the final plan is delivered.

1080
01:49:02,000 --> 01:49:09,000
And ultimately the role of this group is to when we get to that sort of graph planning stage we want to take that plan.

1081
01:49:09,000 --> 01:49:22,000
We want to take this strategy to this regional climate working group and have them step back and go answer answer the question is is the strategy meeting the set objectives of this project.

1082
01:49:22,000 --> 01:49:27,000
And are the actions not over stepping beyond the regional districts authority.

1083
01:49:27,000 --> 01:49:33,000
So it's a sort of litmus or smell test and that's purpose of the group.

1084
01:49:33,000 --> 01:49:36,000
Next slide, Mike.

1085
01:49:36,000 --> 01:49:43,000
This slide lays up our detailed engagement program across the different phases of the project and phase one.

1086
01:49:43,000 --> 01:49:48,000
We really are focuses on project initiation and early inputs.

1087
01:49:48,000 --> 01:49:51,000
So we've had our kick off with the project team.

1088
01:49:51,000 --> 01:49:53,000
We're presenting to you folks.

1089
01:49:53,000 --> 01:49:59,000
We've had our project initiation webinar with our different audiences.

1090
01:49:59,000 --> 01:50:12,000
On Monday, we are releasing, we are opening up the engagement web page and you'll have the community public survey for our general public to complete.

1091
01:50:12,000 --> 01:50:16,000
Well, some social media presence around that and we're implementing.

1092
01:50:16,000 --> 01:50:25,000
We're going ahead with some virtual interviews with our staff, member municipalities and first nations to really start gathering information.

1093
01:50:25,000 --> 01:50:37,000
As you can see, phase two doesn't talk about engagement because that's really us and the project team doing that detailed hazard analysis of different temporal periods as well as spatial periods.

1094
01:50:37,000 --> 01:50:44,000
Once we've done that analysis, we're coming back to our different audiences for in-person workshops.

1095
01:50:45,000 --> 01:50:48,000
We're going to bring our preliminary assessment.

1096
01:50:48,000 --> 01:50:49,000
We're going to help.

1097
01:50:49,000 --> 01:50:56,000
We're going to spend a lot of time talking about exposure, vulnerability, what's in place and where there are gaps.

1098
01:50:56,000 --> 01:50:59,000
And then we're going to take that information away.

1099
01:50:59,000 --> 01:51:05,000
Use that to finalize our risk assessments and then in another round of in-person workshops.

1100
01:51:05,000 --> 01:51:10,000
We're going to then come back to talk about here's our priority hazards.

1101
01:51:10,000 --> 01:51:14,000
Our priorities sort of vulnerabilities, our systemic issues or gaps.

1102
01:51:14,000 --> 01:51:18,000
And we're going to spend our work, you know, in-person working days.

1103
01:51:18,000 --> 01:51:24,000
The determining how our what actions can be brought forward that the regional district can implement.

1104
01:51:24,000 --> 01:51:25,000
That's where it went.

1105
01:51:25,000 --> 01:51:34,000
Ultimately, from those two in-person workshops days, we're going to have a lot of realist of potential resilience or hazard mitigation actions.

1106
01:51:34,000 --> 01:51:36,000
We're going to process that.

1107
01:51:36,000 --> 01:51:42,000
And then we're coming back to our different audiences, again, to help us sort of go through a prioritization exercise.

1108
01:51:42,000 --> 01:51:48,000
We don't want to come to the regional district with a strategy that has 50 actions.

1109
01:51:48,000 --> 01:51:54,000
We want to come back with a short list of actions with a strategic sort of implementation timeframe.

1110
01:51:54,000 --> 01:51:57,000
So that's the objective there.

1111
01:51:57,000 --> 01:52:03,000
As I know, mentioned once we get to the draft arts regional plan, regional strategy development.

1112
01:52:03,000 --> 01:52:07,000
It's going through that regional climate working group, about that missed test.

1113
01:52:07,000 --> 01:52:13,000
We're taking their information and feedback in updating our regional, the regional strategy.

1114
01:52:13,000 --> 01:52:16,000
And then we're releasing it to the public for input.

1115
01:52:16,000 --> 01:52:25,000
We'll then come back to you folks, near in the end of June with that final strategy for the presentation.

1116
01:52:25,000 --> 01:52:28,000
Dr. Next slide, Mike.

1117
01:52:29,000 --> 01:52:35,000
So today, we've formally initiated the project with the kickoff team.

1118
01:52:35,000 --> 01:52:38,000
We have our engagement and communications page.

1119
01:52:38,000 --> 01:52:42,000
We've had our women are collecting information and data.

1120
01:52:42,000 --> 01:52:48,000
Our next step is our targeted interviews with RDCO staff member municipalities and personations.

1121
01:52:48,000 --> 01:52:53,000
As I mentioned, we're launching the webpage and public survey on Monday.

1122
01:52:53,000 --> 01:52:57,000
And we're hosting our in-person workshops.

1123
01:52:57,000 --> 01:53:03,000
Not on February 26th and 27th, but actually March 9th and 10th now.

1124
01:53:03,000 --> 01:53:08,000
And that's it for me. So I don't know if there's questions.

1125
01:53:08,000 --> 01:53:11,000
And if not, I'll just pass it back to Mike.

1126
01:53:11,000 --> 01:53:17,000
Thank you very much. Mike, do you have closing comments before I go to the board for questions?

1127
01:53:17,000 --> 01:53:25,000
I know just briefly, you know, purposes presentation was obviously just to, you know, give the board some information around the project.

1128
01:53:25,000 --> 01:53:37,000
As well as provide a notification of the public engagement as well as engagement with, you know, municipal staff first nations, as well as we're also engaging provincial partners and interior health as well.

1129
01:53:37,000 --> 01:53:39,000
So yeah, I'd like you for the presentation, Daniel.

1130
01:53:39,000 --> 01:53:41,000
Thank you, Dr. Cannon.

1131
01:53:41,000 --> 01:53:43,000
Just a quick question. Thanks for the presentation.

1132
01:53:43,000 --> 01:53:48,000
Just wanted to know about the working group, somebody from the community wanted to be part of that.

1133
01:53:48,000 --> 01:53:55,000
You're looking for some, I think he mentioned a couple of people from the public would be part of that working group.

1134
01:53:55,000 --> 01:53:59,000
What's the process to be engaged or how do you, who do you consult with?

1135
01:53:59,000 --> 01:54:04,000
Through the chair, that will be staff only from municipal partners.

1136
01:54:04,000 --> 01:54:14,000
It will not be the community.

1137
01:54:14,000 --> 01:54:26,000
I think there is some community engagement in the list. Maybe Mr. Hagg, if you'd be able to speak to the community touch points of community groups or people.

1138
01:54:26,000 --> 01:54:38,000
We're looking at engaging with particular community organizations such as Interior Health and those that can represent or those that serve vulnerable populations.

1139
01:54:38,000 --> 01:54:47,000
To get a better understanding in terms of sort of the public engagement piece, it will just be more information out around this is the project.

1140
01:54:47,000 --> 01:54:49,000
This is what it's doing.

1141
01:54:49,000 --> 01:55:07,000
We have that survey together input on how different hazards are affecting them and what they'll need and what they're trying to do at their homes and businesses and what they're potentially, you know, thinking about looking for from the regional provincial governments in terms of support.

1142
01:55:08,000 --> 01:55:14,000
Dr. Carson, did you see you there, Director Nelson as well?

1143
01:55:14,000 --> 01:55:33,000
Yeah, in the executive summary, what worries me is you've list understanding natural hazard risks and not only is wildfire not first on that list, it's not on the list.

1144
01:55:34,000 --> 01:55:37,000
It is. Who wants information is this?

1145
01:55:37,000 --> 01:55:45,000
So through the chair, this project is being funded under DREF through EMCR.

1146
01:55:45,000 --> 01:55:54,000
It's being funded through UBCMCEPF funds. Both of those grants specifically state we cannot cover wildfire.

1147
01:55:54,000 --> 01:56:02,000
However, every community within the region, including the regional district, is developing a community wildfire resiliency plan.

1148
01:56:02,000 --> 01:56:09,000
Will inform our HRBAs, which are living documents that are reviewed and updated on a regular basis.

1149
01:56:09,000 --> 01:56:12,000
So it was left off intentionally.

1150
01:56:12,000 --> 01:56:16,000
Through the chair, it was left off to meet the intent of the grant funding.

1151
01:56:16,000 --> 01:56:25,000
However, staff time and or additional grant funding will cover off wildfires, which we fully understand is our number one risk at this point in time.

1152
01:56:25,000 --> 01:56:28,000
So it's being done separately because of that.

1153
01:56:28,000 --> 01:56:29,000
Okay, thank you.

1154
01:56:29,000 --> 01:56:31,000
Thank you, Director Nelson.

1155
01:56:31,000 --> 01:56:33,000
Yeah, thanks, Mr. Chair.

1156
01:56:33,000 --> 01:56:43,000
Yeah, when there was a mention of greenhouse gas gas emissions and I was just wondering.

1157
01:56:43,000 --> 01:56:51,000
But the decision to move the regional transportation services to the under the umbrella of the regional district.

1158
01:56:51,000 --> 01:57:04,000
Does this short timeframe of this analysis with of this work will will the regional district staff that are responsible for regional transportation services be able to.

1159
01:57:04,000 --> 01:57:12,000
Provide some you know some feedback or some some input as to the had just related to vehicle emissions.

1160
01:57:12,000 --> 01:57:16,000
I know that you said be part of the analysis that we're done under step go.

1161
01:57:16,000 --> 01:57:23,000
So I just want where where do we stand with that will they be able to participate or is this another issue altogether not considered a national.

1162
01:57:23,000 --> 01:57:33,000
As or even though in my mind is still at risk as far as air quality to the you know greenhouse gas emissions through vehicles traffic.

1163
01:57:33,000 --> 01:57:51,000
Through the chair so although this is being presented by protective services this is a joint initiative between protective services and planning and development and so planning and development will be informing those pieces of the plan working with stand tech.

1164
01:57:51,000 --> 01:57:53,000
Okay, thank you.

1165
01:57:53,000 --> 01:57:56,000
Any other questions.

1166
01:57:56,000 --> 01:57:58,000
Just just one from myself.

1167
01:57:58,000 --> 01:58:02,000
I don't know who wants to take this just building off of director cannons query.

1168
01:58:02,000 --> 01:58:06,000
When we look at qualitative analysis of affected people.

1169
01:58:06,000 --> 01:58:19,000
You know the public isn't included in the engagement and I'm just I'm wondering why that is if it's just organizations like obviously the consultant probably has a reason for that but the most affected people with perceived risk.

1170
01:58:19,000 --> 01:58:25,000
Generally would be consulted so I'm just wondering why that would not be the case in this engagement.

1171
01:58:25,000 --> 01:58:34,000
So through the chair the survey that will come out has some very pointed questions around vulnerability.

1172
01:58:34,000 --> 01:58:41,000
Not just around hazards but also you know with climate implications etc you know what's going forward.

1173
01:58:41,000 --> 01:58:54,000
As well we are engaging with community groups that represent the vulnerable populations to ensure that the plan is informed including through social groups that will be engaged.

1174
01:58:54,000 --> 01:58:57,000
Okay, okay, so not just interior health.

1175
01:58:57,000 --> 01:58:58,000
Okay.

1176
01:58:58,000 --> 01:58:59,000
Understood.

1177
01:58:59,000 --> 01:59:02,000
So we're just to receive this today for information.

1178
01:59:02,000 --> 01:59:08,000
I have a mover and Dr. Glaeseman second in Dr. Cannon any for the comments on this item.

1179
01:59:08,000 --> 01:59:10,000
Seeing not all in favor.

1180
01:59:10,000 --> 01:59:12,000
Opposed and carried.

1181
01:59:12,000 --> 01:59:14,000
Thank you. Thanks, Mike.

1182
01:59:14,000 --> 01:59:16,000
Thanks, Mr. Heck.

1183
01:59:16,000 --> 01:59:18,000
Thank you.

1184
01:59:18,000 --> 01:59:21,000
Item 9.1, please.

1185
01:59:21,000 --> 01:59:26,000
9.1 is the local government development approval grant program and all directors unweighted corporate vote.

1186
01:59:26,000 --> 01:59:32,000
To seek regional board endorsement for staff to apply for grant under the Union of BC municipalities.

1187
01:59:32,000 --> 01:59:38,000
Local government development approvals program presented by Daniel Noble Grant director of development and engineering services.

1188
01:59:38,000 --> 01:59:40,000
Good morning Daniel.

1189
01:59:40,000 --> 01:59:43,000
I wasn't sure if it was still morning but good morning.

1190
01:59:43,000 --> 01:59:44,000
Good morning chair.

1191
01:59:44,000 --> 01:59:50,000
This next report is seeking regional board endorsement for staff to submit a grant application under the Union of BC

1192
01:59:50,000 --> 01:59:54,000
municipalities local government development approvals program.

1193
01:59:54,000 --> 01:59:59,000
The board endorsement is a mandatory requirement to complete the application package.

1194
01:59:59,000 --> 02:00:00,000
This approval.

1195
02:00:00,000 --> 02:00:06,000
This program is administered by UBCM and funded by the BC Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs.

1196
02:00:06,000 --> 02:00:12,000
The program's intent is to support local governments in implementing best practices and innovative approaches,

1197
02:00:12,000 --> 02:00:18,000
to improving development approval processes, while maintaining both policy and planning objectives.

1198
02:00:18,000 --> 02:00:28,000
In this intake, the province has committed approximately $9 million for the 2026 intake to help local governments modernize their systems.

1199
02:00:28,000 --> 02:00:35,000
The grant can fund up to 100% of eligible costs to a maximum of $200,000 for a single applicant.

1200
02:00:35,000 --> 02:00:40,000
This application has no budget impacts for regional districts staff at this time.

1201
02:00:40,000 --> 02:00:46,000
And in summary, this grant represents a high value opportunity to modernize the regional districts approval systems.

1202
02:00:46,000 --> 02:00:52,000
It builds on work that is already underway, supporting staff capacity and aligning with regional priorities.

1203
02:00:52,000 --> 02:00:58,000
Staff are recommending endorsements so that the regional district can competitively pursue this grant opportunity.

1204
02:00:58,000 --> 02:01:00,000
And that concludes staff remarks.

1205
02:01:00,000 --> 02:01:03,000
Thank you. Any questions?

1206
02:01:03,000 --> 02:01:08,000
Mover and Dr. Cannon, seconded by Dr. Clayson and me for the comments.

1207
02:01:08,000 --> 02:01:10,000
Seeing not all in favor.

1208
02:01:10,000 --> 02:01:13,000
Opposed and carried.

1209
02:01:13,000 --> 02:01:16,000
Item 9.2, please.

1210
02:01:16,000 --> 02:01:20,000
The chief administrative officer performance review process.

1211
02:01:20,000 --> 02:01:28,000
This is an all-director's unweighted corporate vote. This is to provide the board with an overview of the chief administrative officer performance review process.

1212
02:01:28,000 --> 02:01:36,000
As the initial step on the board's assessment of the CAO's performance in 2025 presented by Cory Griffiths corporate officer.

1213
02:01:36,000 --> 02:01:38,000
Morning, Cory.

1214
02:01:38,000 --> 02:01:41,000
Good morning, Chair Rolleridge members of the board.

1215
02:01:41,000 --> 02:01:48,000
As stated by CAO, again, through the purpose of this item before the board is to provide an overview of the CAO performance review process.

1216
02:01:48,000 --> 02:01:59,000
To inform the board of the comprehensive process, which sets the framework for effectively assessing the CAO's performance over the 2025 review period.

1217
02:01:59,000 --> 02:02:04,000
The CAO review process was originally drafted in 2021.

1218
02:02:04,000 --> 02:02:09,000
And, through learning's gain from the CAO recruitment process in 2023,

1219
02:02:09,000 --> 02:02:17,000
a review of evaluation processes used by organizations such as the city of Kelona, West Kelona, Thompson Nicola Regional District,

1220
02:02:17,000 --> 02:02:23,000
as well as resources provided by the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators, also known as Kama.

1221
02:02:23,000 --> 02:02:30,000
The board adopted the CAO Performance Review in Salary Administration Policy in November 2023.

1222
02:02:34,000 --> 02:02:46,000
The board's CAO Performance Review and Salary Administration Policy establishes the CAO as the board's sole employee.

1223
02:02:46,000 --> 02:02:55,000
The policy requires an annual performance review conducted by the board with the CAO setting goals aligned with the regional board strategic priorities.

1224
02:02:56,000 --> 02:03:04,000
The process ensures transparency, objectivity, clear expectations, supporting accountability, and constructive feedback.

1225
02:03:04,000 --> 02:03:15,000
To support this objective, the policy, process, and the accompanying CAO Performance Review package have been developed to foster open communication between the regional board and the CAO.

1226
02:03:15,000 --> 02:03:22,000
To ensure regional board and CAO share a common understanding of the essential components and competencies required of the role.

1227
02:03:23,000 --> 02:03:30,000
Provide the CAO with a structured forum to set annual goals and assess achievements in alignment with the regional board strategic priorities.

1228
02:03:30,000 --> 02:03:36,000
Provide balanced, objective feedback that supports accountability for performance outcomes.

1229
02:03:36,000 --> 02:03:40,000
To recognize leadership strengths, identified development opportunities,

1230
02:03:40,000 --> 02:03:48,000
acknowledge accomplishments, including this reviewing the CAO's compensation package, and making any required adjustments.

1231
02:03:48,000 --> 02:04:04,000
The documents provided to board members, particularly the performance review for support the execution of the annual performance review in accordance with the parameters outlined or determined in the policy.

1232
02:04:04,000 --> 02:04:13,000
It's important to note that performance review evaluations and related conversations are part of an ongoing iterative process and not at one time annual event.

1233
02:04:13,000 --> 02:04:18,000
The performance review begins with expectations and directions set by the board.

1234
02:04:18,000 --> 02:04:29,000
From these priorities, the CAO develops actionable organizational goals, and throughout the year, ongoing feedback is provided by the chair and the regional board to the CAO.

1235
02:04:29,000 --> 02:04:36,000
At the end of the evaluation period, the formal annual performance evaluation and compensation review takes place.

1236
02:04:36,000 --> 02:04:45,000
This ensures accountability of the CAO and gives the board the opportunity to formally recognize and acknowledge the CAO for their accomplishments.

1237
02:04:45,000 --> 02:04:57,000
As a review for the board, the timeline is before you, the CAO evaluation and performance form that will be provided to you guides the formal annual assessment.

1238
02:04:57,000 --> 02:05:14,000
Beginning in late January, after a full year of goal setting, regular check-ins, reporting out on strategic priorities and ongoing feedback, the CAO completes the self-assessment of the performance review, assessing their progress against the goals established by the board.

1239
02:05:14,000 --> 02:05:18,000
In February, the board provides individual feedback.

1240
02:05:18,000 --> 02:05:26,000
This in conjunction with SLT feedback, senior leadership team, is embedded into the draft performance review package that will be presented to the board.

1241
02:05:27,000 --> 02:05:39,000
In March, the performance review and compensation recommendation will be considered by the regional board, and the chair will then present the findings of this review and compensation to the CAO.

1242
02:05:39,000 --> 02:05:44,000
So following today's overview of the process, meaning what's next for you, board.

1243
02:05:44,000 --> 02:05:48,000
A chart will send their performance review.

1244
02:05:48,000 --> 02:05:57,000
I don't want to call it a survey. It's more than a survey that the package, the form, complete seeking your performance ratings and comments on the CAO's performance.

1245
02:05:57,000 --> 02:06:07,000
Human resources will then support the chair and bringing the performance review findings and compensation recommendations to the board for their consideration.

1246
02:06:08,000 --> 02:06:19,000
This concludes staff's presentation of the CAO performance review, as requested by the chair, and the recommendations before the board to receive the report from the corporate officer dated February 19th for information.

1247
02:06:19,000 --> 02:06:23,000
Thanks, Corey, and just so the board's aware, nothing has changed in this process.

1248
02:06:23,000 --> 02:06:28,000
It just happens every single year and just wanted to make sure the board was aware of the process moving forward.

1249
02:06:28,000 --> 02:06:30,000
Do we have any questions on the process at all?

1250
02:06:30,000 --> 02:06:32,000
Let me know in the comment section below.

1251
02:06:32,000 --> 02:06:36,000
If you have any questions, please leave a comment down below.

1252
02:06:36,000 --> 02:06:38,000
Thank you.

1253
02:06:38,000 --> 02:06:40,000
Thanks, Corey.

1254
02:06:40,000 --> 02:06:42,000
Item 9.3.

1255
02:06:42,000 --> 02:06:46,000
9.3 is a delegation request to the city of Kelona, and all directors unweighted corporate vote.

1256
02:06:46,000 --> 02:06:58,000
This is to inform the regional board on the status of a delegation request to the city of Kelona, again presented by the corporate officer.

1257
02:06:59,000 --> 02:07:01,000
Hello, again.

1258
02:07:01,000 --> 02:07:13,000
At the January 22nd, 2026 regional board closed meeting, the board directed staff directed the corporate officer that is to submit a delegation request to the city of Kelona regarding French area planning.

1259
02:07:13,000 --> 02:07:24,000
And that the corporate officer report back to the regional board by today's meeting with the request for delegation decision provided by the city of Kelona and further that the board's direction be released to the public.

1260
02:07:24,000 --> 02:07:37,000
And therefore, here to advise the board that the Kelona city clerk's office has advised that the RECO delegation request has been approved for presentation to the city's audit committee in early 2026.

1261
02:07:37,000 --> 02:07:39,000
And that concludes staff's presentation.

1262
02:07:39,000 --> 02:07:44,000
The recommendation before the board for the consideration is to receive this report for information.

1263
02:07:44,000 --> 02:07:45,000
Thank you.

1264
02:07:45,000 --> 02:07:46,000
Do I have a mover?

1265
02:07:46,000 --> 02:07:51,000
Okay, moved by Vice-Chairlin, seconded by Director DeHeart this time on favor.

1266
02:07:51,000 --> 02:07:53,000
Opposed, carried unanimously.

1267
02:07:53,000 --> 02:07:54,000
Thank you.

1268
02:07:54,000 --> 02:08:03,000
All right, so we have a one piece of committee correspondence to receive, which is item 10.1.

1269
02:08:03,000 --> 02:08:09,000
I just need a mover to receive that moved by Director Glazeman, seconded by Director Weber.

1270
02:08:09,000 --> 02:08:17,000
Director Ireland, did you have anything to speak to on that item at all or.

1271
02:08:17,000 --> 02:08:19,000
And I see Director Cannon as well.

1272
02:08:19,000 --> 02:08:24,000
Yeah, nothing, nothing of standing, it's warmer and there's less snow.

1273
02:08:24,000 --> 02:08:27,000
And I was a re-elected as a chair of the water board.

1274
02:08:27,000 --> 02:08:29,000
Congratulations.

1275
02:08:29,000 --> 02:08:33,000
It's no one on the west side is actually below any recorded.

1276
02:08:33,000 --> 02:08:37,000
The back on the west side print of mine is below any recorded time in history.

1277
02:08:37,000 --> 02:08:43,000
Whereas some star mission creek are just below normal at this point in time.

1278
02:08:43,000 --> 02:08:48,000
But that is an average out and it's an elevation so.

1279
02:08:48,000 --> 02:08:54,000
Our only municipalities know that the middle level elevation of snow are very poor at this point in time.

1280
02:08:54,000 --> 02:08:56,000
Thank you.

1281
02:08:57,000 --> 02:08:58,000
I'm Dr. Cannon.

1282
02:08:58,000 --> 02:09:06,000
I was just going to congratulate Director Ireland for being reclaimed as a chair in mayor homes from summerland as best chair.

1283
02:09:06,000 --> 02:09:07,000
Fantastic.

1284
02:09:07,000 --> 02:09:10,000
Thank you for your service on that board. It's important work.

1285
02:09:10,000 --> 02:09:12,000
So I'll have a favor to receive.

1286
02:09:12,000 --> 02:09:15,000
Opposed and carried.

1287
02:09:15,000 --> 02:09:19,000
And then our last item here is Director items before we have to move in camera quick.

1288
02:09:19,000 --> 02:09:22,000
We need as any directors have any to share.

1289
02:09:22,000 --> 02:09:23,000
Seeing not.

1290
02:09:23,000 --> 02:09:25,000
I will just look for a resolution to close.

1291
02:09:25,000 --> 02:09:30,000
The meeting in relations to labor relations and employee matters.

1292
02:09:30,000 --> 02:09:32,000
Do I have a resolution please?

1293
02:09:32,000 --> 02:09:34,000
No, by Director Blazeman, second by.

1294
02:09:34,000 --> 02:09:36,000
Dr. Dias, on favor.

1295
02:09:36,000 --> 02:09:38,000
Opposed and carried.

1296
02:09:38,000 --> 02:09:41,000
We're going to take two minutes here to clear the room of staff.