[0:01] Good evening everyone. Thank you very much for coming tonight. Uh my name is

[0:05] Eric Thompson. I'm with the regional district of Okonogan Silkamine. I'm with

[0:10] the communications and engagement department. In just a moment, we will

[0:14] hear from Jim Zafino. He is the regional district chief administrative officer.

[0:18] We'll also hear from Matt Taylor, your area Director. Tara Faganello is with

[0:22] us. She's the assistant deputy minister for local government division at the

[0:26] ministry of housing and municipal affairs province of British Columbia of

[0:29] course and also Michelle Dan. Michelle is the executive director governance and

[0:34] structure branch local government division of the Ministry of Housing and

[0:38] Municipal Affairs. So we have our Q&A that'll be coming up and then we'll wrap

[0:42] things up. We'll talk a bit more about next steps which include the election on

[0:46] October 17th of this year. Uh we'll also invite you to monitor the RDOS regional

[0:52] connections web page. There is a project page on there for the district of

[0:56] Okonogan Falls, your new newly named community. And uh that's where any

[1:01] information that is new will be posted. If you have questions that you'd like

[1:05] answered, what we'll do is we'll take those questions there, we'll post them,

[1:08] and we'll post the answer on that project page. So if you're all okay with

[1:12] the uh website, with the internet. Now, of course, if you if that doesn't work

[1:16] for you, you can always call the RDS directly. So, with that, I'm going to

[1:20] open up the floor to your area Director, Matt Taylor.

[1:24] » Thanks very much for coming. I really want to say um thank you. Um it's been

[1:30] quite a process, uh five or six years. Um people have put in a lot of time, a

[1:36] lot of effort, and um I'm just saying thank you. Uh that's to you as

[1:43] residents. But I also want to say thank you to um members of the board at the

[1:48] RDOS and some of our lead staff. Jim Zafino at the end, our chief admin

[1:53] officer, Eric who just spoke with you a moment ago as our uh comm's manager.

[1:59] These are people that have put in a lot of time. Um we have provincial staff. Uh

[2:05] the assistant deputy minister and executive director

[2:11] working But we've been working with it with them

[2:16] uh through three projects now over the last

[2:21] seven years and it's uh strictly this and then there's the elected people the

[2:27] minister uh our MLA have all done their bit and um honestly I want to say thank

[2:34] you to the Soy use Indian band for uh the effort and time that they've put to

[2:42] uh their responses in the consultation that's been ongoing for the last year.

[2:48] [clears throat] So having said that um we we are

[2:54] essentially incorporated now um and that's kind of

[2:59] the end of this process or or the start of another one. Um some highlights.

[3:06] Uh the name uh so we are incorporated as the district of Okonogan Falls and that

[3:15] comes with a mayor and four counselors and there will be staff uh minimal staff

[3:22] but staff and collectively their objective is to serve the best interests

[3:28] of Okonogan Falls and its residents. So that's you know somewhat different

[3:33] scenario than uh working under the regional district

[3:37] which has a much broader um interest base that they have to to satisfy. As I

[3:44] said it's been a 15-month process. Um managed and legislated by the province.

[3:51] Um, so that's a process that we've just worked our way through and we've just

[3:57] been one player at the table in a in a process that is managed by the province.

[4:05] So what we know now um the name district of Okonogan Falls the boundary

[4:13] um is not identical to what was in the ref

[4:19] and there are reasons for differences. Um

[4:25] the the one big thing from our residents perspective, the parks are included in

[4:32] the district of Okonogan Falls. They're not left out with the regional district.

[4:38] Um there are some bits of crown land along the boundary that are

[4:45] still within the regional district and that's government policy now is to leave

[4:52] crown land outside the municipality where possible.

[5:00] Then the third area wanted to highlight um is just in the area of governance.

[5:05] So, as I've said, starting with an election in October,

[5:11] October 17th, I believe it is by a mayor and four counselors and carried out by

[5:19] staff that are employed by the district of Okonogan Falls. We are going to have

[5:25] three advisory committees. Advisory committees are used by

[5:31] municipalities all across the province. Pentictton has several advisory

[5:36] committees. The province is starting us out with three advisory committees.

[5:43] One for water services, one for transportation

[5:48] and one for reconciliation. Those are you know those are set in our

[5:57] letters patent at the outset. They do have a sunset clause and they

[6:02] have a defined purpose. They have a sunset clause at the end of that time

[6:07] frame. The mun the council may choose to extend

[6:13] those same committees or they may choose to let that committee die and strike up

[6:18] a different one on dog rules or um whether there should be an off leash dog

[6:24] park or what have you. I I don't know. Um

[6:29] but those are the three that we're going to start with. Um those three committees

[6:34] are advisory. That means they recommend to council. They don't they're not a

[6:39] decision-making body themselves. As I said, each of them has a sunset

[6:45] clause. So they all expire sometime between 29

[6:51] 2029 and 2032. Um, as I said, they could be extended or

[6:58] or not by council. And last, they have OIB representation on them.

[7:06] That's probably different than it might have been 20 years ago. But if you look

[7:12] at municipalities across this province now,

[7:17] including the city of Pentictton, many of the advisory committees that

[7:22] they have have a statement in there that there will be an OIB representative to

[7:27] this committee. So that's the way we've been started off by the province.

[7:35] And again, as I say, those committees are uh advisory in nature. Lastly, we

[7:42] have set out in the letters patent um a reconciliation collaboration agreement.

[7:50] Again, this is got a triplebarreled name, but we used to have uh a protocol

[7:58] agreement between the regional district of Okonogan Silkamine

[8:02] and all of the OA nations. This is similar to that. it govern. It's

[8:10] intended to set out this is the topics that the first nation wants to be aware

[8:18] of and this is the kind of information they want to be

[8:24] made aware of the time frames in which you know we

[8:30] might put it to them in order that they can comment back just the same way we do

[8:37] when we're doing a development. We've got a big 4x8 sheet of plywood that

[8:42] says, you know, there's going to be a development here. It's a very similar

[8:46] kind of thing, only this is specific to OIB.

[8:53] So, at the end of the day, my

[8:59] we wanted to incorporate Okonogan Falls. We've got that name. We

[9:06] wanted a boundary that was set out as per the referendum that's very close to

[9:13] what we have now. And we've been given three advisory

[9:18] committees which are advisory in nature and are not totally dissimilar to what

[9:25] you might find in another city. We're getting given some starting a foundation

[9:30] to work with. So, um

[9:36] I'm relatively happy. This is me happily. Okay. Um I'm I'm cautiously

[9:44] optimistic that we've got the things we need

[9:49] and we haven't been given things that are going to be insurmountable

[9:53] difficulties. Um, I had wanted to have this meeting so

[9:59] that you could ask uh questions or state your concerns

[10:06] um whether to myself, whether to staff at the regional district or staff from

[10:14] the province. I wanted to give you that opportunity

[10:18] and I learned my lesson from last year and I made sure else is going to beating

[10:24] the meeting because I don't want to be trying to do all that at the same time.

[10:29] So having said that I'm going to turn it over for some comments from our

[10:33] assistant deputy minister um Miss Tara Faganello who we've been working with

[10:38] for the last several years and uh after that you'll have time for your

[10:44] questions.

[10:47] Good evening. Uh it's lovely to be back here in uh the now district of Okonogan

[10:54] Falls. Um I'm Tara Faganello. Got introduced earlier. I was here in April

[11:00] uh for the open house that we held then and we heard your feedback loud and

[11:05] clear and we took that back to Victoria to decision makers and you now have now

[11:12] have your letters patent uh for the new

[11:19] years. So um you're famous for that uh as well. Um, yeah, please. You deserve

[11:28] it.

[11:32] So, uh, as director Taylor reviewed with us, the letters patent set out key

[11:37] elements of the new municipality, including your name, your boundary, size

[11:42] of council, and how services will transition from the regional district of

[11:47] Okonogan Smokamine and the province. Uh so you are on track for the election

[11:54] on October 17th and then uh incorporation is effective November 6th

[12:01] of this year. Uh we have worked closely with the Soyuse Indian Band throughout

[12:07] the process to establish a successful foundation for BC's newest municipality.

[12:15] Uh once incorporation is complete, residents and families can benefit from

[12:20] local decisionmaking. So as director Taylor pointed out,

[12:25] council will be making decisions in your boundary.

[12:30] Uh the new municipality will have all the same powers and authorities of all

[12:35] other municipalities in the province through the local government legislation

[12:39] that exists. and um we staff in the Ministry of

[12:44] Housing and Municipal Affairs and elected officials uh will continue to be

[12:49] here to support the new municipality as you work through your startup uh the

[12:54] various uh aspects of the letters patent that director Taylor pointed to

[12:59] including the agreement and the advisory bodies. So we are not far away and uh

[13:04] Michelle and I are happy to be here and take your questions. So with that I will

[13:08] conclude and hand it back to Eric. Thank you.

[13:11] » Thank you very much. And I wanted to remind anyone who is watching online

[13:15] live on July the 15th that if you are tuned into WebEx, if you want to ask a

[13:23] question, you press three. That will raise your hand and then press three

[13:27] again to lower your hand. If you're watching this on YouTube, it's not live

[13:32] and you'll have to just listen and that's all you'll be able to do. So, I

[13:37] just wanted to remind you about that. And uh with that, we are going to get to

[13:40] questions and answers and comments in just a moment, but right now I'm going

[13:43] to invite Jim Zafino to step up to the microphone. Jim is the chief

[13:47] administrative officer with the regional district of Okonogan Silkamine.

[13:52] » Thank you, Eric. So, one of the things that we were tasked is to determine how

[13:56] many services that uh the new municipality will take over 100%. It

[14:00] turns out to be 16 and 13 of those that we have until December 31st, 2027 to

[14:08] actually make the transition. Ultimately, we'll negotiate with the

[14:12] mayor and council and the staff to see when they can actually take it over

[14:16] because there's going to be a lot of work to begin with. The other three are

[14:21] the one sewer and two water. So, the new municipality will have three years to

[14:27] make sure that they have the order and then they could take it over. There's

[14:31] going to be some continuity with that. We're also looking to be fair in looking

[14:35] at the reserves that area D put into the system. So, right now, area D was this

[14:42] big. Now, area D is this big. So, we have to determine how many of the

[14:45] reserves stay with D and how many reserves go over to the the new

[14:50] municipality. And we're in the process of doing that. and we're going to be

[14:54] making sure that it's fair. So we we will be taking a formula or have taken a

[14:58] formula to the board on how we can do this and essentially the reserves were

[15:03] increased using assessment. So we're going to use the same formula to bring

[15:07] the reserves and put them back into the the what to put them back with Okonogan

[15:13] Falls. So any if you have any questions I could

[15:18] come back and answer them. Essentially that's about it. We pledge that we're

[15:22] going to make it fair and we're going to work and help the new municipality

[15:25] succeed. >> Thank you, Jim. Now, we get into our Oh,

[15:30] go ahead. >> There's a question.

[15:32] » Okay. I don't know. I'm going to step on a ledge here. Does anybody here old

[15:36] enough to remember Phil Donahghue? So, what I think I'll do is I'll come to you

[15:39] with the microphone to make you feel comfortable and then I'll come back and

[15:42] check the WebEx comments. I don't see any right now, but I I understand we

[15:46] have one question so far. Where would that be? All right. I'll fill Donahghue

[15:49] my way over there. I will hold the microphone for you and invite you to

[15:53] share your thoughts with us. I'll get you to stand up if you don't mind just

[15:55] so people can see you. >> My question is for you Jim. So when the

[16:01] incorporation study committee looked at services, there were 42 services that

[16:06] Okonogan Falls was receiving at that time. And so I'm a little confused as to

[16:12] you said there were we were only taking over 16 of these services. Can you

[16:16] clarify that please? >> Yes. the the remainder of the services

[16:21] are regional services. So I I'll give you an example for Pentictton for

[16:26] instance. Pentictton has probably about 20 25 services that the regional

[16:32] district does on their behalf. So there's some services that stay with the

[16:36] regional district, but the the 16 will be moving over. So you're correct. what

[16:41] the numbers that you stated are correct, but not all of them move over because

[16:45] there's some some requirements that they are regional services.

[16:52] » Did you want to follow up on that? No. And I'm going to go to the next person

[16:55] over here, but Jim, the new mayor and council will have uh quite a say in what

[17:01] the future looks like as far as when the RDOS continues, whether they continue

[17:05] with some of those services. >> Not on the regional ones. So one of the

[17:10] things that uh the new municipality has is where we have a restriction. I'll

[17:15] give you an example for the recreation. All reserves all monies that are

[17:21] collected for the recreation as far as a regional district's concerned stays with

[17:25] the reg stays with the recreation. That means we can't move it to any other

[17:29] service. Once we transfer the reserves over to the new municipality that can go

[17:34] to general fund and the restrictions aren't the same.

[17:38] All right, we have a question over here. >> Um, excuse me. I was just wondering, um,

[17:43] Okanogen Falls used to have their own, uh, water irrigation system and then at,

[17:49] uh, sometime along the way the regional district took it over. Um, we all had an

[17:55] increase of $542 quarterly for the water which we paid

[18:01] the regional district. Um, are we going to be getting our water back? And if so,

[18:08] are we having control over that again? And if we're not getting it back, what

[18:12] happens to all the monies that were paid to the regional district district by

[18:17] this community? Do we have to pay more to our new municipality or does the

[18:22] regional district give us back that monies that we've already put in?

[18:27] Because it's been transferred twice now. The first time they took all the monies

[18:31] when they took over and now we've paid them again. So I was cons curious as to

[18:37] how that would work. >> It will be transferred back to the

[18:41] Okonogan Falls. The mayor council will take control of it. They will control

[18:45] the fees and all of the any reserves that go with that comes also to the new

[18:51] municipality.

[18:55] » All right, just checking to see if we have any questions online. No, none yet.

[18:59] Uh do we have another question or comment from the audience?

[19:03] Oh, there is one. I'm not seeing that one.

[19:09] Let's just see. Oh, there we go. Uh,

[19:14] where is Oh. Uh, will there be a local bylaw officer and or police officer?

[19:22] That's our question online. Will there be a local bylaw officer or a local

[19:26] police officer? We'll let Jim take that one.

[19:36] One of the transfers of uh staff will be someone that will be able to do bylaw.

[19:41] Yes. Now, because you're a smaller

[19:46] municipality, it may be a shared position up to the mayor and council.

[19:50] So, they may decide that the bylaw officer may be a bylaw officer and

[19:54] something else that we can't control. But you are you will be receiving an

[20:00] individual that can be a bylaw. >> All right. And we've uh got another

[20:05] question over here. Hello. Go ahead, please.

[20:10] » I just didn't understand your third point about the boundary changes perhaps

[20:14] and being fair and part of area D may be incorporated into the city.

[20:20] » Part of area D will not be in the city. D is it is on its own. And uh while

[20:25] we're waiting for another question, I just wanted to mention I I feel uh bad

[20:28] that I didn't mention our other three panelists up there. They're the

[20:31] technical crew, Lewis, Adam, and Mark. Uh Mark is with Scaha Sound. Um and

[20:36] Lewis work with the RDOS, and they are the ones that make these meetings

[20:39] possible because sometimes it's kind of like relaunch

[20:43] to be able to have a live meeting online as well. All right, any other questions?

[20:49] Go over here. Phil did really good job, didn't he? He used to run. I I I'm not

[20:54] going to run today. Here you go. Go ahead, please.

[20:57] » Um, in regards to the advisory committee committees, who is going to be invited

[21:04] to sit on those committees? It's

[21:07] » an important question. And who would like to talk about that?

[21:13] Area Director Matt Taylor.

[21:18] Each of the committees has got a uh at least the way it's set up now in the

[21:24] letters patent each of those three committees has stated membership and you

[21:30] can look online and see what the membership is at the moment and I'm

[21:35] being totally upfront with you like uh OIB has a representative one

[21:40] representative or will be invited to appoint one representative to two of

[21:46] those committees. and they'll be invited to appoint two

[21:50] people or an equal number to what the district

[21:56] has appointed to the third one which is the reconciliation group

[22:03] and I yeah oh we got a followup quick follow

[22:11] » over there please >> so when you say appointed are you going

[22:15] to be inviting members of the community to participate on these advisories.

[22:21] » Okay. Again, that's not going to be me, but the mayor and council will set out

[22:27] parameters for people to apply to sit on those committees.

[22:32] » Okay. >> Yeah.

[22:33] » So, and it's volunteer based, so people can put their names forward and and um

[22:37] and then it's up to mayor and counsel. And before we get to another question on

[22:41] that note, um I don't know if you wanted to give us a date after the October 17th

[22:46] election when a new mayor and four counselors are chosen. The first local

[22:51] council meeting will be when? Is it? November 6th.

[22:53] » November the 6th is the first council meeting

[22:56] » and that will be open to the public. >> Well, I think all meetings technically

[23:00] are going to be open to the public. >> Just a matter of where and how that

[23:03] works out. >> Where?

[23:04] » Excellent. Yeah. >> All right. Any other questions? We have

[23:07] one over here. Yeah.

[23:12] » So, you did answer the question about the bylaw officer, but there was no

[23:16] answer on police.

[23:21] Policing is the question. Will there be a local officer assigned to the district

[23:26] of Okonogan Falls? Okay. Tricky. Policing is

[23:36] a service that we're paying for, but it's delivered by the RCMP.

[23:41] We're not getting a separate detachment in Okonogan Falls. Our police service

[23:47] will continue to be delivered in much the same fashion as it is now. Although

[23:53] I would expect that like Oliver, a Soyuse and Summerland,

[24:01] um the RCMP actually comes in and briefs council

[24:07] every quarter. We don't get that.

[24:12] We we get something similar. They come to the regional district and they brief,

[24:19] but it's for the whole region. I would expect that once you have a

[24:25] mayor and council, the RCMP will come in and give you a briefing every quarter on

[24:32] just Okonogan Falls. And that's an opportunity for mayor and council to

[24:37] interact directly with them at that point.

[24:39] » And and I believe you might not be able to comment on this, but the threshold is

[24:43] approximately 5,000 residents where you cross that line where now you get to pay

[24:48] extra. >> You Yes. For this you get that benefit.

[24:51] » Yeah. >> Yeah. So that

[24:54] » we're a ways off here in the district of local.

[24:56] » My wicked sense of humor uh under wraps. >> Okay. All right. We're doing well. We

[25:03] got more questions. Followup. >> Oh, okay. Sorry

[25:09] to wave. Hi. I'm

[25:13] » Where does the money come from for the regional services?

[25:18] » Money for regional services. I'll come back over to you for your follow-up in a

[25:21] sec. So the question is where does the money

[25:26] come from for regional services? So in your new tax notice for the municipality

[25:33] you'll have one tax notice but it's going to have municipal taxes and then

[25:37] regional district taxes. Same as pentictton all over summerland they but

[25:42] you it will be identified. you will know that the difference with an extra one

[25:48] with the right now as a rural tax area you also have leasing and road etc that

[25:56] that will be gone because the province has promised 5year pause on the road

[26:02] maintenance which is awesome. Did you want to call out with

[26:09] that? The district of Okonaga Falls will be in charge of local roads.

[26:14] » No. Well, for five years. After 5 years. >> After 5 years.

[26:19] » You don't want it sooner because that means you're paying for it.

[26:22] » What does that mean for snow removal? Then

[26:26] » regional districts don't have any don't have any control of roads as it is. It's

[26:31] always been uh the the provincial government that does the roads or

[26:35] regional districts. >> So that's a good point then. So that

[26:38] means that that stack the same for five years.

[26:41] » Yes. >> Okay. And then so snow removal that type

[26:45] of thing is the same as is it as it is now then where it's AIM

[26:49] » takes care of it in the ministry. >> That's a benefit for incorporation.

[26:55] » Okay. Um sorry we did have a followup over here. And if you do have a

[26:58] question, if you can wave your hand really high, just like a good uh

[27:00] auction, that would be great. I'll be right over there, sir. You had a

[27:03] follow-up. >> Are we keeping our fire department? I'm

[27:07] hoping so. >> And and this gentleman asked, is it

[27:11] still going to be volunteer keeping the fire department and will it still be

[27:14] volunteer? The fire department is one of the 13

[27:17] that's stay coming over to to the new municipality and it'll be up to the new

[27:23] mayor and council to determine if it's volunteer or full-time, not not the

[27:28] regional district.

[27:32] » Will there be a vote on that for the community?

[27:34] » I can't speak for the mayor and council. So, there you go. They they'll be able

[27:38] to decide. Uh, this gentleman here had a question. Go ahead, sir.

[27:42] I was just wondering how many staff members would they need to hire

[27:51] in our review right now with the the billing and the taxation that the

[27:56] regional district's billing area D. We we did a lot of work and took out the

[28:02] area D that's still going to be D and looked at how many uh support workers

[28:08] and it would be five support workers and 10 field workers of the 10. Three would

[28:15] be sewer, two would be water and then the rest would be parks and whatever

[28:20] else is uh needed. and it the transfer would be over one from us to the new

[28:27] municipality as the council asks for it. >> How was that decision made Jim? Is some

[28:33] of that mandated by the province or through legislation?

[28:37] » No, we a little well the sorry the corporate

[28:42] officer is the only one that there's an interim corporate officer that was

[28:47] hired. That's the first position. The the rest of it and the CFO. I think

[28:52] » the CFO. Okay. I'm telling I'm I'm Wow. The CFO also.

[28:58] Okay. So, the the C I'm recommending something different though corporate.

[29:03] I'm recommending CEO CFO be one position. So, I'm I'm recommending to

[29:07] the new I can't speak for them, but I do recommend the CEO is also the CFO. It

[29:13] saves money and the CEO has direct control of the of the money to help keep

[29:19] keep taxes down. So that's chief administrative officer, the chief

[29:23] financial officer. If those two roles are rolled into one, I'm going to guess

[29:27] here there's a cost savings which is important.

[29:30] » Yes, that's why I recommend that. >> Okay. I believe you had a question sir.

[29:34] Um so as a business owner uh are there any things which we need to get

[29:39] ourselves prepared for the change? uh like do we have to do any kind of

[29:45] paperwork or something would be different or and also for the residents

[29:50] what would be before and after like the changes?

[29:54] » So any changes for business owners? >> So I would say for the foreseeable

[30:01] future no difference. The new municipality

[30:07] will have the capacity to require business licenses,

[30:12] but when and how quickly they decide to act on that and and who is required to

[30:20] have a business license, that's mayor and council decision. And I'm not

[30:27] sure they've got an awful lot of things like

[30:31] bylaws, etc., budgets that they have to get in place at the start. I don't see

[30:36] that being right at the top of their list of priorities. So, I I would say

[30:44] a business operator is not going to see a difference on October 17th or November

[30:49] 6th. >> All right, we've got a question up

[30:52] front. >> Yeah, my question is for the assistant

[30:55] uh deputy minister. um and developing the terms for letters patent. Can you

[30:59] describe uh the process or any consultation uh that took place in in

[31:05] that regard? >> Consultation with the community

[31:09] » um well consultation with yeah I guess with the community or with the

[31:13] representatives that uh uh for the community or and also with the SU band.

[31:19] » Great question. Thank you. Um yeah, there was extensive consultation by the

[31:25] province on the letters patent with um the community. We post the incorporation

[31:31] vote. Um we had an engagement uh survey. We had an engagement website. We came

[31:39] and did the open house in April. Uh heard a lot of uh feedback from the

[31:44] community from that. We also, as I mentioned, have the legislated duty to

[31:50] consult with the First Nations in the area. And so we undertook extensive

[31:55] consultation with the Soyuse Indian ban prior to cabinet uh deciding on the

[32:01] letters patent. And um we consulted with some of our other ministry colleagues uh

[32:08] in particular ministry of transportation um ministry of waterlands natural

[32:14] resource and of course ministry of indigenous relations and reconciliation

[32:19] um a lot of consultation with RDOS obviously um they were instrumental in

[32:25] in helping us uh leading up to letters patent. So I think I think I've got a

[32:30] full full list there. Anybody else I missed? No, I think that's Yeah. Does

[32:36] that help? >> Could I follow up on that? I'll ask over

[32:41] here if you don't mind. I'm just wondering so much was learned during

[32:44] this process. Will there be uh not a guide book, but but uh something put

[32:49] together that would help inform future incorporations because it seems like a

[32:53] lot of work was done that hadn't been done before because it's all new.

[32:56] » Oh. Oh, great question, Phil. I mean, Eric. [laughter] Um, yes, absolutely.

[33:02] Uh, this, as I said, was the first incorporation in 16 years and it was the

[33:07] first incorporation under DRIPA and, um, we do have a lot of lessons learned and

[33:13] I think your community has helped us with uh, some of those. So we will be

[33:17] undertaking some lessons learned work and uh look to what if any changes we

[33:22] need to make in our incorporation uh processes maybe information. Not sure

[33:28] if we need any legislative changes yet but uh yes we will be doing that work.

[33:33] » Thank you. I saw a hand go up here and then I'll head over there to you John.

[33:37] Actually sorry I'll go this lady. She hasn't spoken yet. We're trying to get

[33:39] as many voices in as we can. Go ahead please. I was just wondering if out of

[33:43] town owners are going to be able to vote.

[33:48] » Good question. U there are there is legislation um that's set in place.

[33:54] Director Taylor, if you'd like to talk a bit more about that on who can vote in

[33:58] local elections. really tricky question and there's a lot of um details there,

[34:06] but the short answer is it's going to be the same as

[34:12] it has been. If you could vote before for your area director,

[34:19] then you're going to be able to vote for a mayor and council.

[34:24] » And the election for the regional district of Okonogan Simil electoral

[34:27] areas and the mun the new district will be handled separately. They're two

[34:31] separate elections on the same day, the 17th of October.

[34:35] » Correct. Um, and I guess the other point I'd just

[34:39] like to make those rules on who can vote where,

[34:46] again, not pinning it on anybody, but those are provincial rules and they

[34:51] apply across the province for every municipality.

[34:56] » And that information is all available online. And if you can't find it, if you

[34:59] contact the RDS directly, we'll be able to provide the information for you to

[35:03] the links where you can find it. Yeah. And Eric has actually gotten set up

[35:10] already. In the past, you've used RDOS regional

[35:14] connections. There was a project page for the previous projects on boundary or

[35:21] on the cost benefit. There was a separate page for Okonogan Falls.

[35:27] There's now a new separate page for the district of Okonogan Falls

[35:34] and that's where you can find questions and answers and there'll be initial

[35:40] information about elections, dates, who can run, and where you can go for more

[35:47] detailed information from that. Yeah, >> I I don't want to

[35:53] put anybody on the spot here, but this kind of stuff is typically overseen by a

[35:59] corporate officer. And you can quickly stand up because we

[36:06] now have an interim corporate officer who has been hired under contract from

[36:12] the province. And that individual selected again

[36:18] through a very collaborative process administered by the RDOS working for uh

[36:25] the province. And last just on all that kind of crap

[36:30] um we a website okonoganfalls.ca

[36:38] and that will be the municipality's website. And I want to put a shout out

[36:43] to the Okonogan Falls Business and Community Association because that was

[36:48] their website and um I only had to break three arms

[36:55] for them to give it to us uh for the for the new municipality. And I I really do

[37:02] appreciate that. I think it it's super that the community can have a website

[37:07] that actually says what it is. and your new interm corporate officer will have

[37:12] to make decisions on what happens with that website, who populates it. But in

[37:15] the short term, the RDS regional connections page, project page for the

[37:19] district of Okonogan Falls will have information about the local community.

[37:23] » Yeah, John has a question. Hello, John. Long time no see.

[37:27] » Thanks, Eric. Just a couple comments and then one question for the uh ADM. The

[37:33] comments are regarding the policing service and the highways. So I can I can

[37:38] speak from experience with the policing service. Um the police will uh the

[37:44] powers that be with the police department will meet with council.

[37:47] Usually it's in camera uh because they get specific in terms of properties and

[37:53] crimes and who's doing what and they hear from council as to what the

[37:56] concerns are directly as this house is a problem, that house is a problem, this

[38:01] road is uh dangerous cuz people are speeding. So the the council will really

[38:07] have a lot of input to the police. And in terms of highways, we don't have

[38:10] highways for 5 years here, but your CEO or CFO uh or council can contact um the

[38:18] leadership in highways and say we really need a crosswalk here or we need

[38:23] something done with this the speed uh or something with the road condition and

[38:28] actually get more um direct attention. And also there's there's funding

[38:33] opportunities with ICBC for speed readers and things like that. But for

[38:37] the ADM is with the Soyus Indian ban just recently announcing or being

[38:42] announced um that they're going to do reconciliation a reconciliation

[38:46] agreement with the province. Will that run separately from the reconciliation

[38:50] committee at the District of Okonogan Falls or will those sort of

[38:54] crosspollinate or are they two separate uh processes that won't really get in

[38:58] each other's lane? Yeah, great question. Um, they are

[39:03] separate processes. Um, [clears throat] in the letters patent,

[39:08] uh, as director Taylor mentioned earlier, those are online. You can see

[39:11] them. It's all public. Um, with the reconciliation agreement and the

[39:16] reconciliation advisory body, there are certain um topics uh sub subject matter

[39:23] of interest uh that was included. And so those are the kinds of uh topics that

[39:29] the OIB and the advisory bodies will be working on together for the community.

[39:37] » All right. Well, we've got two more. I saw you had your hand up first and then

[39:40] we'll get over to you there. Go ahead, please.

[39:43] » Um Matt, you partially answered my question, but not not as fully. What

[39:48] activities are going to take place between now and October 17th and then

[39:53] November 6th and who will be undertaking them and how will they be communicated

[40:00] to the community? >> All right. So what type of activities

[40:06] governance-wise the interimm corp what will happen between now and the

[40:10] election and then the November 6th meeting? What will be going on? our

[40:15] interimm corporate officer, your interimm corporate officer will be

[40:18] working on some of that. I don't know if she wants to talk. Probably not.

[40:22] [laughter] We'll ask Michelle Dan from the province

[40:26] of DC. So, great question. Um, one of the

[40:32] things is doing right now with RDOS is

[40:37] developing a manual for the interimm corporate officer which will lay out a

[40:42] number of the activities that we anticipate the corporate officer will be

[40:47] doing. things like getting um inaugural meetings ready, figuring out meeting

[40:53] places um starting to connect with other ministries um so that there's uh some of

[41:00] the work that a new municipality is going to need to do will have already

[41:06] had some legs. Um so those are a few of the things. Um, I think right now what

[41:12] is probably going to be um front and center for a lot of folks as we've

[41:17] talked about already is the election of mayor and council. So um a lot of

[41:23] municipalities across the province and uh the regional districts are getting

[41:27] ready for that election. So I think that will take a lot of focus in the in the

[41:31] community. And director Taylor,

[41:38] if >> I could add, there's other stuff though

[41:41] that is going on behind the scenes which RDOS staff for the most part are leading

[41:48] on and that is development of a budget for instance. So your mayor and council

[41:54] are going to come in on November the 6th.

[41:58] I I don't know who they will be, but they need to have a budget in place for

[42:04] the next fiscal year. Um, RDOS has already got a draft budget prepared for

[42:12] us as a starting point. Um, there's it again, sorry, information technology.

[42:20] Um, again, RDOS has already gotten going on that um getting the domain name

[42:27] organized, getting uh not just the budget but the accounting process

[42:34] working, etc. So, those are just some of the things that have to go on.

[42:44] » Great. I saw a hand up and I know there's uh you at the back.

[42:50] I said I over here next and then I'll head over there. Go ahead please.

[42:54] » Curious as to I know there's going to be consultation with the different bands in

[42:59] the area but um as a community household owner member of this community we never

[43:06] see any representation from them or hear anything from them. We just hear it from

[43:12] the people that are all sitting up there. I would like to hear what they

[43:17] actually really have to say instead of going through this government, this

[43:21] government, this government, this government. I mean, we've worked very

[43:24] well in this community for over hundred years together with the cattlemen and

[43:29] the ranchers and everybody in this community got along with each other and

[43:34] they talked to each other. Now all of a sudden it's just certain people saying

[43:39] certain things, but I still don't see representation from other people that

[43:44] are going to be involved in this community. And it's not for a lack of

[43:49] wanting to be involved. It's just I don't see the ministries or anybody else

[43:57] showing this community that here this is what these people have to say and and

[44:03] and we want to be honest about this and this and that because there's so many

[44:07] rumors going around that it's causing a division within this community and

[44:12] that's not this community. That's not how we operate.

[44:17] » Yeah.

[44:22] Okay. I believe you had a question, sir. Somebody I saw a hand up over here. Oh,

[44:26] this gentleman. Sorry. There you go. >> Okay. Thank you. I'll take it.

[44:31] » I'll hold the mic. >> This is like a UFC. They usually I don't

[44:33] know if you noticed the host usually holds the mic.

[44:35] » You've been vaccinated or are you okay? So anyway, all right. Um, I have been

[44:42] following this incorporation since day one and way back then we were sold and

[44:48] part of the reason that we voted for it was some of the financial statements

[44:52] that were made way back then. Now, how my my question really is uh how

[45:01] far away are we from those original estimates?

[45:07] and I call them estimates. I also have seen this place uh flesh I'm

[45:14] like pleased to see it flesh out and and and actually come to life and I

[45:18] appreciate all the support that we're getting from all your people. But uh the

[45:23] my question was and I remember the number that I was told my taxes would

[45:28] rise. >> So taxes are based on assessment and I

[45:33] can say >> assessment not we got before.

[45:36] So, I'm the one that did did the budget. I'm recommending I would recommend to

[45:43] the mayor and council that they adopt it to third reading and and they take a

[45:47] look at it in the budget that was created. And I I had the deputy CFO do a

[45:54] separate one all of their own and we were within $30,000 of each other. So,

[46:00] one of the thing it's from what I saw from what it's probably the same report

[46:04] you did, it's fairly close. However, the mayor and council can change it. They it

[46:10] can go up or down. One of the things that I do and I believe strongly in it

[46:15] is I did not use any reserves, did not use any grant money to lower the taxes.

[46:22] Your may council may want to do that. I wouldn't recommend it. It's it's either

[46:27] pay now or pay later. But from what I saw, what you were originally told, and

[46:32] I didn't have anything to do with that, and what myself and the deputy did is

[46:37] fairly close. >> Oh, I do want to add one more thing is

[46:43] we are very precise on the number of hours and FTEEs that we have for every

[46:48] one of our projects. We have over 160 projects that we do and we allocated

[46:53] 4,000 FTE hours, regional district hours for the conversion and we are are on

[47:01] track right now to we're going to reach that 4,000 hours by the time everything

[47:06] is said and done. [snorts] >> FTE is a full-time equivalent.

[47:09] » Yes, >> Director Taylor.

[47:13] » Yeah. Yeah, I just wanted to say that um this community has had

[47:18] two sort of financial analyses through the last project um administered by Alan

[47:25] Nielsen and I think many of you will have come and sat through some of his

[47:29] sessions but you know they did analysis and they determined I think the average

[47:35] household was going to spend $250 per year more for the average house. Um

[47:44] so that was that was their analysis. um our CEO who used to be the CFO for

[47:51] the region um with his staff has done their own

[47:57] analysis and they've come at it from a different perspective but they've come

[48:01] up with a very similar number and so I think we're really benefiting there that

[48:08] that is uh a close budget but it will depend on what the mayor and council

[48:14] decide what they want to do with it afterwards.

[48:17] Okay, we're trying to get as many questions in as we can. It's about 7:20

[48:21] right now. Yeah, this gentleman over here had his hand up and we've already

[48:24] talked to you, so I'll come back to you. Uh, we're going to wrap it up at 8, but

[48:27] we still have lots of time, but we want to get as many voices in as we can. Go

[48:30] ahead, sir. >> Eric, thank you. Um, just a question and

[48:34] and this goes back to uh an earlier question about the irrigation district

[48:39] and the additional $500 uh a quarter, but the waste management and the

[48:46] wastewater treatment and the water treatment right now are wrapped up in

[48:51] one. And those there's some contracts in

[48:55] there with waste uh management. Jim, will those contracts move at fair market

[49:00] value or how is that going to happen uh in the new community? And then Matt, I

[49:08] know there's a regional uh water treatment initiative possibly going to

[49:13] happen. And is Okonogan Falls sort of in the back of someone's mind when you're

[49:20] looking at a regional water treatment facility?

[49:26] So I'll start with the contracts. All contracts that the regional district

[49:29] signs actually come over to the to the new municipality. And as far as uh I

[49:36] don't water and sewer are separate and all any monies that collected like I

[49:42] stated earlier will be transferred back to the district of Okanogan Falls. I

[49:48] don't know if that answers your question. take uh contract values that

[49:52] you negotiated do we the contract values that you negotiated with with U waste

[49:58] management um we're obligated to that contract for

[50:04] how long >> until the well it depends on the

[50:06] contract it's until it expires one of the things that Okonogan Falls is going

[50:11] to have take is um the curbside so the curbside contract is signed until 2032

[50:19] that after 2032, your your mayor and council can decide to stay with the

[50:24] regional district or go on its own with its own contract.

[50:28] » Stay with stay with wastewater or uh waste management or Yeah. Okay. Good.

[50:34] » Okay. And then a question for director Taylor in there as well.

[50:37] » Yeah. >> So the question was about uh water.

[50:42] » Yeah. >> And water treatment system. the reg the

[50:45] regional water treatment system and that's being considered for Heritage

[50:48] Hills and Scaha estates. >> So

[50:53] going back a year or two um the regional have water system on Skya Lake.

[51:03] Then um Lakeshore Waterworks came on and Skya

[51:10] Estates came on and became um administered by the regional district

[51:15] and both of them take water from Skaha Lake.

[51:21] So, at the same time, we've got Okonogan Falls looking for additional

[51:26] sources, whether it's a new well or what for the for town water.

[51:34] It's more cost effective.

[51:39] Both Lakeshore and Scaha states are going to be required to have their own

[51:44] water treatment facility. It makes them to have a separate one. Dollars

[51:51] [clears throat] to donuts. They will have one water treatment facility

[51:55] serving both systems. And it also makes sense if you can

[52:03] to to spread this that overhead over a larger number of accounts such as

[52:08] Okonogan Falls. So yeah, it makes a lot of sense to have one water treatment

[52:14] facility serving Heritage Hills, Sky States Estates, and Okonogan Falls.

[52:21] That's the cheapest way of getting a water treatment facility. And

[52:26] conceivably conceivably at their call, uh, Kheden might want to participate in

[52:32] that as well. >> Okay, let's get back to some questions.

[52:36] I just want to check and see if there's anybody who hasn't asked a question yet.

[52:39] If there's uh I want to try and get as many voices in as we can again. So,

[52:43] we'll head over there in one sec. This gentleman here was quick with his hand.

[52:46] » I'm just wondering on 7th Avenue back in September of 2025, it was approved to

[52:52] put the water line down and then apparently Clarence Louie stopped that.

[52:56] And I'm wondering the new increase in cost for that. Now, is the provincial

[53:00] government going to be paying for that? Because it appears that's where we're uh

[53:05] the decision was made and can maybe the

[53:09] minister, assistant minister can let me know or answer that question.

[53:18] Um, so I believe I don't know all the facts to this uh situation on 7th

[53:25] Avenue, but if it's a uh Heritage Conservation Act and Archaeology

[53:31] Assessment issue that would be handled, pardon me, uh, with our Ministry of

[53:37] Waterlands and Natural Resource Stewardship.

[53:40] That's what it is. Yeah. Okay. So, I can't speak to it. Sorry. Uh it's not my

[53:45] it's not my area of expertise. Um but we can take that one away and see what

[53:52] information we can provide back through director Taylor and Jim Zapino.

[53:57] » And those types of questions that we can't answer right here, we'll certainly

[54:00] uh put them on the regional page, RDS regional connections. So we'll make a

[54:04] note of that when we get some details back and then we'll have the answer. I

[54:07] have a question right over here. Go ahead please.

[54:11] » Hi Tara, bear with me here. you keep um commenting on legislative duty to

[54:15] consult, legis legislative duty to consult, legislative duty to consult

[54:19] because of DRIPA and like this lady said, there's a lot of frustration

[54:23] because so much of the um consultation

[54:28] went on with people completely separately. A lot of comments behind

[54:33] closed doors, non-transparent people had no idea what you were or were

[54:38] not consulting about. Yet it would directly impact us if the NDP loses the

[54:45] next provincial election if the Conservatives repeal, resend or vastly

[54:49] change legislation so that the current DRIP is not in effect. And yet that was

[54:54] what you were basing a lot of your decision-m for the letters patent. What

[54:59] is the recourse for us dealing with the letters patent package that you have

[55:04] handed us if we wanted to make changes like would we have to go through the

[55:09] courts? Would the province be able to do it? How would that work? You say we're

[55:12] the first ones since DRIPA. So I'm asking how we would changes if DRIPA

[55:18] changes. Secondly, related to this, EB said he would never do anything that

[55:23] impacted private property. The OIB says they want to be part of infrastructure

[55:27] and development have all kinds of say within OK Falls. The property

[55:31] immediately south of us is private property. my grandparents, merchants,

[55:36] banges, now Clarence, Lou, and the OIB. You kept those properties out of the

[55:41] municipal boundary, so we won't receive taxes for them. Um, who's supplying the

[55:47] water? Who's supplying the power from the town grid to them? Who is supplying

[55:53] uh fire services? They're not part of the district of Okonogan Falls. We're

[55:58] not going to get any tax revenue for it. I'm assuming they requested to not be

[56:02] included with OK Falls, but they wanted all kinds of say. So, I'm just curious

[56:07] how we deal with all these things after the fact when we have a mayor and

[56:10] council and if DRIPA changes significantly in BC.

[56:16] » Okay, we'll give the uh floor to the assistant deputy minister uh keeping in

[56:20] mind that it's difficult to uh guess what might or might not happen in

[56:25] provincial election. >> Yeah, thank thanks Mel. Nice to nice to

[56:30] see you again, Mel. Thanks for your question. Um, yeah. So, I can't

[56:35] foreshadow. I I don't know what's happening in the future there with the

[56:38] legislation. What I can say, and we were pretty o open with this at the open

[56:43] house, was that our duty to consult uh with the OIB on the letters patent also

[56:49] uh refers to the um uh constitution act of 1982. So uh there was also the

[56:56] requirement to uh consult in from that legislation as well. Um as far as the

[57:03] properties that are not in the municipal boundary, they will continue to be

[57:07] serviced by the regional district of Okonogan's milky.

[57:11] » Okay, we've had this gentleman waiting here for a bit up front. Thanks for your

[57:14] patience and then we'll get to some other questions. I heard some reference

[57:17] earlier to the corporate officer and I may have missed something, but um if uh

[57:22] if they're here tonight, I'm wondering if somebody' be kind enough to introduce

[57:25] them. >> So, we have the new interimm corporate

[57:28] officer. Um and director Taylor, if you'd like to uh be honored.

[57:35] » So, I I thought we'd I if I didn't introduce her properly, I I really

[57:40] apologize. uh interim corporate officer lore

[57:46] and contracted uh to the province um and selected with input from RDOS and the

[57:54] province. So, and

[58:02] I'd like to go back on one of the things. Um,

[58:08] it's a small valley. I I can't see the person who was

[58:13] speaking earlier about OIB and First Nations.

[58:18] It's but it is a small valley and relations have worked, I would say,

[58:25] reasonably well and improving over the last 10 or 20 years.

[58:32] Terara will acknowledge that I've said this multiple times in our meetings with

[58:37] the province that the province will not be here

[58:42] very shortly from now on and it'll be up to us and OIB to work out how we're

[58:49] going to work together and we need to work together

[58:54] and we're both going to be better off if we work together and there's real

[58:58] opportunities that they can give us and that we can give them if we're

[59:04] working together. So, I'm just putting that out there.

[59:09] That's it's it's a small valley. We're going to have to get along and we're

[59:13] going to have to do more than just getting along.

[59:18] » And uh Director Taylor, you did mention the hiring process for your new interimm

[59:23] corporate officer and the Soyuse Indian Band was also involved uh in that

[59:27] decision as well. We've got a question over here. Go ahead, please.

[59:30] » Hi. Yes. I'm just curious to know the this lady over there did ask where is

[59:37] the OIB? Why aren't they here to help consult with all this when we hear that

[59:45] they're part of this? Why aren't they here?

[59:48] » Yes, >> they should be here for this meeting is

[59:52] in my opinion they should be here. >> I'll let Director Taylor uh address

[59:58] that. Um well you may be able to blame that

[1:00:03] one on me. Um we'll make a best efforts to have OIB present in future.

[1:00:10] Okay. say if I may that as a community

[1:00:14] meeting, this community meeting is open to everyone as far as participating and

[1:00:19] uh attending and um absolutely anyone from OIB if they were available would

[1:00:23] have attended and uh are more than welcome of course

[1:00:26] » and I believe there were OIB uh representatives who came to the open

[1:00:31] house that was held April 23rd I believe. So

[1:00:36] » all right and one more question over here.

[1:00:38] » We've we haven't done everything right. Okay, we're trying uh we're learning

[1:00:43] lots of other ways to to do better as as we go forward and yeah there I mean this

[1:00:49] is an open meeting so there's nothing to stop OIB from having been here um

[1:00:55] observing in the audience and yeah I think probably a great point if you want

[1:00:59] to have OIB invited to a Q&A affair like this um

[1:01:06] yeah sure let's let's go for it. I just heard someone say, "Why didn't we?" I I

[1:01:11] I think u I'm going to jump on a ledge here. This meeting really is we're

[1:01:16] talking about the area director for the uh the region. We're talking about the

[1:01:22] regional district, Okonogans, Milkcom, and the province who are directly

[1:01:24] involved in the incorporation. Now, OIB, I would say, is a partner, an important

[1:01:30] partner in all of that, but they're not directly impact. They're not the ones

[1:01:33] that are going to be setting the budget and that type of thing. Key partners.

[1:01:36] But anyway, you had a question. Go ahead, please. Hi, I'm um I'm a little

[1:01:40] confused about this water treatment thing, plan, whatever it is. Um

[1:01:49] now there's going to have Heritage Hills, Sca Estates, probably Kedon. Um

[1:01:56] who's who's paying for this? Uh what what what areas are contributing? Is it

[1:02:01] going to be, you know, partly paid by the RDOS, partly paid by District of

[1:02:07] Okonogan Falls? Um, yeah, that that seems a little

[1:02:12] strange to me because when we voted, only the town proper size got to vote on

[1:02:20] whether we were going to be incorporated. Um, leaving out all the

[1:02:25] outlying uh areas, all the heritage families, all the ranches, all the

[1:02:29] agriculture. Um but yet now all of these outlying

[1:02:34] areas that weren't allowed to vote are now being in.

[1:02:40] » So could you clarify that for me? >> Okay.

[1:02:44] » So

[1:02:49] great questions are sometimes to answer in a short time frame. Um,

[1:02:55] Heritage Hills or Lakeshore Highlands and SCA states are two separate water

[1:03:02] systems on the lake and they've got private or improvement district water

[1:03:09] systems. They've been taken over by the district

[1:03:15] and engineering studies have been done on them and Interior Health

[1:03:21] set out whatations are and they're required to have a water

[1:03:28] treatment facility. In both cases, you're looking at 5 million bucks.

[1:03:34] A single water treatment to serve both of them might cost 6 million bucks.

[1:03:39] Okay? because it's only 350 people in two different communities.

[1:03:44] Um, at the same time, Okonogan Falls is

[1:03:49] looking for additional sources for its water.

[1:03:55] So, do we new well and possibly put at risk some of the aquifers that are

[1:04:01] nearby here? That's a concern to those other people that are on that aquifer.

[1:04:06] or do we look at going into the same water treatment system that the regional

[1:04:12] district is proposing for those two commun

[1:04:17] if we were to do it all by ourselves it would cost us I don't know six or

[1:04:23] seven million bucks if we were to do it in partnership with the regional

[1:04:28] district and those two water systems now we have

[1:04:34] close to 2,000 homes incurring the cost at you're spreading

[1:04:40] the cost of that water treatment facility over 2,000 homes instead of 300

[1:04:45] or homes. It's just you're spreading your overhead over more people. It's

[1:04:51] going to be more cost effective. >> It's economies of scale really. The

[1:04:55] intent is not to cost the district of Okonogan Falls residents extra money.

[1:05:00] The idea is to save everybody money. It'll it would be cheaper than for

[1:05:05] Okonogan Falls to put in a water treatment facility all by itself.

[1:05:10] » Yeah. You may have Mayor Council. >> Yeah. And and I'm reminded

[1:05:16] that decision is going to be made by the mayor and council. Like we're a long way

[1:05:22] off of that yet, but it is something that the engineers are looking at.

[1:05:27] » He's answering your question. Okay. Going to go to this gentleman. and I'll

[1:05:31] come right back to you, Mel. Just stand by for just a moment.

[1:05:35] All right. And I'll just remind you of our time. We are out at 8:00. Right now

[1:05:38] it's 7:38. Still lots of time for some great questions and comments. I'm going

[1:05:42] to bite. Um, two questions. One, I've been

[1:05:48] searching all over the RDOS website for an interm budget for the district of

[1:05:53] Okonogan Falls. Can't find it. So, when will that be posted is question number

[1:05:59] one. And the second question is is the capacity of the Okonogan Falls water

[1:06:06] treatment facilities currently

[1:06:10] works. So is the RDOS looking at this grand scale to bring Heritage Hills

[1:06:16] Ceden SC states because I've heard about the

[1:06:20] sewer treatment and we're going to get a pipe from all of those areas to our

[1:06:24] sewage treatment and that's fallen off the wayside 10 times since I've lived

[1:06:28] here. I'm just wondering if this is the same kind of thing where

[1:06:34] we Yes, I understand economies of scale. I'm I'm fully aware of that. I'm fully

[1:06:38] aware that 10,000 or $10 million over 20,000 homes is is I fully understand

[1:06:45] that. If it's effective now, why are we looking at adding

[1:06:52] that?

[1:06:56] I'll answer the question on the budget first. The budget's not official until

[1:07:00] the mayor and council adopts it and that will be November 6th. Correct. Yes. So,

[1:07:06] at that point, they can change it. They can say, "I was out to lunch." And as

[1:07:10] far as we talking about the the utility, it it's in the study stages. First of

[1:07:16] all, not only would this new mayor and council have to agree to study and it

[1:07:21] comes back to the public, also the regional district board would have to

[1:07:24] look at it. So, it's too early to say if it's gonna happen or not.

[1:07:30] » Good. >> Well, I'm good. Thank you. All right. I

[1:07:34] Mel, you have a question. [laughter]

[1:07:37] You're usually so quiet. >> I know. I'm trying to be concise, so I

[1:07:42] waited and wrote it out. Okay, Terara. So, the duty to consult and the

[1:07:46] Constitution Act of 1982 were both uh major

[1:07:51] factors in your letters patent. My question was

[1:07:57] specifically with especially with regard to DRIPA and the impacts that it had in

[1:08:02] what you decided for the letters patent package. Who knows what's happening in

[1:08:07] the next election. I agree. But if DRIP maybe this government would decide, oh,

[1:08:12] we made some fairly major mistakes here as far as people's rights. If DRIPA

[1:08:16] changed,

[1:08:19] are we able to change the letters patent package after the fact when it was based

[1:08:25] on DRIPA? I don't know how to say it more concisely, maybe you don't know,

[1:08:29] but if DRIPA is a major factor in the letters patent process we got and DRIPA

[1:08:34] changes, can we change the letters patent process we got? And secondly, if

[1:08:40] the RDS is going to continue supplying all of the water in particular to the

[1:08:46] property south of us because they're not within the Okonogan Falls uh district,

[1:08:50] but right now they get their water from an Okonogan Falls well. Is the RDS

[1:08:54] drilling a new well for them? Okay, two questions there.

[1:09:00] Uh just to remind you in case you're not aware, DRIPA is the Declaration on the

[1:09:04] Rights of Indigenous People's Act uh passed by the province in 2019.

[1:09:10] » So on the the water question, there would be an MOU between the new Miss Pal

[1:09:16] and the regional district for them to charge uh the property owner so that

[1:09:22] they you ultimately [clears throat] the utility would get some funds. It may be

[1:09:26] through us or or direct depending on what theou is memorandum of

[1:09:31] understanding this.

[1:09:34] » All right. And then the second question >> don't go ahead.

[1:09:37] » Director has something else. >> Well, don't go away because you can

[1:09:41] answer the next one. But I mean a number of our services

[1:09:47] have a bigger footprint than the municipality of Okonogan Falls. We're

[1:09:52] already going to be delivering fire service outside of the municipality to

[1:09:59] parts of area D. So, we're going to be delivering water

[1:10:05] outside to a couple of places as well. >> And and they pay

[1:10:17] the rate that they set. will have to recover whatever maintenance, operating

[1:10:24] costs and capital investment is required.

[1:10:32] » Okay, back to DRPA. Um, so Mel, the letters patent or the letters patent the

[1:10:40] DRPA related to the process that government used to develop the letters

[1:10:47] patent. So, it's a process situation. Um, we were pretty transparent that we

[1:10:54] were going to consult with OIB to co-develop the letters patent. Um, and

[1:10:59] you have letters patent now uh completed through that process. So, I'm not sure

[1:11:05] what you'd need to change in the actual letters patent themselves. And if uh a

[1:11:12] local government ever did have um and we can't think of an immediate example uh

[1:11:19] but to change your letters patent that would be um again a process I guess with

[1:11:25] the municipality and the ministry and we would take it through to cabinet but

[1:11:31] again I can't think of you know what you'd need to change in your letters

[1:11:35] patent when we have boundary adjustments from time to time uh for local

[1:11:40] governments around the province. Uh we have a established process for that too.

[1:11:45] Uh which requires approval by the local government, approvals of the property

[1:11:49] owners and if cabinet approves an OIC, then you know a boundary adjustment may

[1:11:55] change. But hope that helps. >> And it's important to remind you as

[1:11:59] again, and I know we've said this a couple of times, but the new mayor and

[1:12:02] council really will be answering a lot of these questions for you. I'm sure

[1:12:05] there will be many community meetings for the new mayor and counsel. Some of

[1:12:07] you may be on that council. We don't know. uh they'll be holding uh community

[1:12:11] meetings to talk about many of these issues. So, we've got about 20 minutes

[1:12:15] left or so uh before we have oh 15 minutes left before we have to start

[1:12:20] playing pickle ball or something else. Uh looks like we got a couple of

[1:12:23] questions over here. I'm going to go over to the gentleman with the lovely

[1:12:29] green sunglasses. >> Yeah, you guys keep dancing around the

[1:12:33] issue of what tax increase is going to be. I really want to know whether I'm

[1:12:38] paying a lot more taxes or not. And in five years, you say we're taking over a

[1:12:44] whole pile more stuff from the RDOS, which would probably increase our taxes

[1:12:48] even more. We should, if we're going to vote in a council, have some idea what

[1:12:54] we're voting for. You guys are giving us nothing as far as answers are concerned.

[1:12:59] You've got a preliminary budget. We should know it.

[1:13:05] » Jim Zafino is the CEO with the RDS, chief administrative officer and

[1:13:09] formerly the chief financial officer. I should also mention Jim was part of the

[1:13:14] uh incorporation of West Colona and has quite a bit of background in this and

[1:13:17] has done a lot of work to try and make this situation work to set this

[1:13:21] community up for success. >> So, wow. Thank you. So,

[1:13:26] » so French. So, well, first of all, I I just want to say the importance of

[1:13:31] having the very first taxation for a brand new municipality because usually

[1:13:36] when when you're an established municipality,

[1:13:39] if you you say you got a 3% 4% whatever tax increase and you actually basically

[1:13:44] see the increase, you know it's right. In this case here, you have nothing to

[1:13:48] base it on. So, you're looking at experience. I went through the regional

[1:13:53] district budgets. I got help from the province and thank you very much

[1:13:56] especially from Patrick and Simon just thank for me that I have no idea about

[1:14:01] the RCMP costs I had no idea about the road cost yes you're getting the road

[1:14:05] cost free for 5 years but in my world I would tax you as if you weren't free so

[1:14:13] that at the year six you wouldn't have to all of a sudden have to a big

[1:14:19] increase but tax wouldn't be 100% it'd be slowly rising

[1:14:24] And in Eric just said I was in West Colona. That's what I did. By the time

[1:14:29] West Colona was fully independent, they had a lot of money ready to pay off all

[1:14:35] these extra costs. You're asking if you how the actual budgets reflects what you

[1:14:42] were told. It's very close to what the incorporation study said. That's what

[1:14:47] we're saying. But I cannot share something that has not been authorized

[1:14:52] by a mayor and council. They could change it. If if they're not happy with

[1:14:56] it and they if they do reduce it, I have no choice and I I may not agree to it,

[1:15:03] but that's their choice. And I I say keep the reserves in reserve until at

[1:15:09] least year six. And at at that point, you as a municipal are going to need it

[1:15:13] to slowly draw from it to help fund some of these services that you no longer get

[1:15:19] free. So that's the I know you're saying you're not getting an answer. The answer

[1:15:23] is it's not ours to share yet. And and well, during the incorporation

[1:15:31] study, there there were some numbers that were were set out, if I'm not

[1:15:34] mistaken, that uh were all estimates based on the available information. Is

[1:15:38] that right? >> That that's correct. And what we're

[1:15:40] saying I'm saying again it's very close to what you were told.

[1:15:45] » All right. Um I thought I saw a hand over here this gentleman here and we'll

[1:15:51] go for another question from you sir. >> So what's the process of the election of

[1:15:56] the mayor and council? >> The process for uh election will be

[1:16:00] similar to the other municipalities. The RDS uh and the city of Pentictton and

[1:16:05] the other municipalities will be publishing information about that. Um,

[1:16:08] but this particular election, uh, I would recommend that you check the

[1:16:12] regional district page, the rdos regionalconnections.ca.

[1:16:16] That's the actual URL, and you'll find information there. And Michelle Dan with

[1:16:20] the province of BC can shed some more accurate light on that.

[1:16:24] » No, you you did a great job, Eric. Um what I was going to mention um is

[1:16:30] that if you are interested in running for council um there are some materials

[1:16:37] on um the municip on our website and I I'm happy to share that information. Uh

[1:16:43] there's a brochure about what to expect when you're running uh what what it what

[1:16:48] it's like to be uh a mayor and council or a mayor or counselor. Um, and there's

[1:16:54] also some information around um, finance, campaign finance um, rules that

[1:17:01] you have to uh, abide by um, if you're going to be a candidate and that those

[1:17:06] are on the elections uh, BC website. So happy to sort of share that information.

[1:17:12] Um, we are lucky that um, RDOS has um, um, helpfully found a a a chief election

[1:17:23] officer to help run your election. And so they will be um, sort of

[1:17:30] administering all of that information, where your voting locations are going to

[1:17:34] be, and I'm sure there'll be lots of information shared by your chief

[1:17:38] election officer over the coming months around what that looks like.

[1:17:42] elections.bc.ca. That's the website, elections.bc.ca,

[1:17:47] which is standard for the province. >> That's the campaign finance component.

[1:17:51] And then if you're looking for more general information, um you can come to

[1:17:55] the ministry website and that will provide you information about what it's

[1:17:59] like to be a candidate. >> Ministry of Housing and Municipal

[1:18:02] Affairs. >> Yes.

[1:18:03] » All right. And Google it. John, you're back.

[1:18:07] Go ahead. Just not a question, just a follow up on

[1:18:10] what Jim said. Um, after the draft budget gets say first and second reading

[1:18:15] by the new council, uh, under the legislation, the council has to go out

[1:18:20] to the public for community consultation. So, there'll be an

[1:18:24] opportunity for the public to give feedback on the budget before uh before

[1:18:29] it comes back for third reading and adoption. and the council can take what

[1:18:33] the public tells them into account as Jim said and change uh or keep things

[1:18:38] the same. >> Good point. Sound like

[1:18:42] » can't say anything different. Thank you. >> All right. Oh, gentleman over here.

[1:18:49] I think this is going fairly well so far.

[1:18:52] » Understand? Uh all these other areas weren't part of our incorporation. Now

[1:18:57] all of a sudden they're all part of our incorporation. Why aren't they part of

[1:19:01] our corporation? There was they were all separate. There was we were all Okonogan

[1:19:06] Falls was a separate part. Now it's not we got to give them the the water

[1:19:11] things. Now you're doing all this stuff is being joined together. Why don't they

[1:19:14] be become part of our corporation? >> So the incorporation study defined the

[1:19:19] boundary for the area based on a number of factors. But also when we're talking

[1:19:24] about them being part of it, we're talking about regional services if I'm

[1:19:27] not mistaken. Right. When when you're saying part of it when you

[1:19:31] » part of all >> they were a separate we were a separate

[1:19:34] entity and now they're a part of us want to do the water part together

[1:19:40] » there. No I know what you're saying. I'm going to let Jim talk about that but I I

[1:19:44] I have some thoughts on it but I'm not qualified to talk about that

[1:19:47] specifically. >> Not sure I understand the question. The

[1:19:50] water system will stay with the Okonogona Falls sewer will stay and the

[1:19:56] the other 13 services will stay. what you voted for is what's happening.

[1:20:02] » Why weren't they involved in in becoming part of our incorporation

[1:20:08] » now? Why why weren't they part of our corporation?

[1:20:13] » But it was all separate before. Now we're

[1:20:16] all joining together now. >> They originally were regional.

[1:20:21] » Yeah.

[1:20:36] sense across >> I no can we let can we let uh can we let

[1:20:41] Jim talk so >> there's I'll use area D so right now I'm

[1:20:47] using the words that calls Okanagan Falls proper because area D it was this

[1:20:52] big and it was all always called Okanagan

[1:20:55] not Heritage Hills, but the part of area D that's close to you that's not in

[1:20:59] there. They pay their own way and Okanagan Falls pays their own way. It's

[1:21:05] separate. If there is a service that Okanagan Falls are going to do for

[1:21:10] supply for the regional district, we will pay for it. The the staff will bill

[1:21:16] us in the budget. Uh there is a fee for instance for fire protection. the fire

[1:21:21] department. It's going to be run by the new mayor and council, but because the

[1:21:25] fire protection area goes outside the area and it's outside the the boundaries

[1:21:31] of where the people voted in, that is a fee and that it's about keeps your taxes

[1:21:37] down because you're not paying 100% of the fire department. Same thing goes

[1:21:41] with water. If there's a water service outside the service, they pay. And in

[1:21:46] every case there will be a a memorandum of understanding on what that ch cost is

[1:21:52] and it will be something that is negotiated with ultimately the mayor and

[1:21:57] council and the board that ultimately will have to agree for that cost. Every

[1:22:02] penny that uh is goes to the new municipality will stay with the

[1:22:06] municipality. Jim, would you say it's safe to say that

[1:22:09] emergency services are a good example of a shared regional service where it makes

[1:22:13] more sense to bring everyone into it and that's what the discussion is about?

[1:22:17] » 911 cost for instance, that's everyone pays for that. You you're in the

[1:22:22] regional taxation, you pay for the regional library. Well, you're still

[1:22:27] going to be in the regional library, but that's not controlled by the mayor and

[1:22:31] council. That's controlled. It's an Okonaganwide and it's a central Okonogan

[1:22:36] and North Okanagan. So you're still paying that under the regional district

[1:22:40] taxes. And there's other services like that. The SIR for the that is also paid.

[1:22:46] There's quite a few services that the your council has no choice. They they

[1:22:52] they're told this is what it is and you just say thank you very much and here's

[1:22:55] the here's the check. and like the library for instance.

[1:22:59] » Uh SIR is >> sterile insect

[1:23:04] whatever. Thank you. Just one sec. I've seen a

[1:23:08] bunch of hands. Have you asked a question yet? Real quick since I'm here,

[1:23:13] » just for clarity, is the reason it's called the district of Okonogan Falls

[1:23:18] because people that are in Scaha states and Heritage Hills, they will continue

[1:23:23] to live in Okonogan Falls. Why is it the district of Is that like

[1:23:28] the district of Summerland? I think technically they're called. Why isn't

[1:23:32] Why aren't they called the city of Okonogan Falls?

[1:23:36] » Keep referring to the municipality of Okonogan Falls.

[1:23:39] » Yeah, that's part of the letters patent that is becomes a district.

[1:23:42] » There's about four different classes of local government. Okay. Um city, town,

[1:23:49] hamlet, district,

[1:23:51] » village, >> village. All right. Fine. There's five

[1:23:54] or six. There's actually seven or eight, but the minimum requirement

[1:24:01] um if we were going to have our boundaries

[1:24:05] where we've got them, our density,

[1:24:10] people per square mile or per hectare was too low for a a town or that kind.

[1:24:17] So, it had to be a district. There's no real difference between a

[1:24:23] district and a town. There's a slight difference in terms of how many

[1:24:27] counselors you might have. In theory, as a district, we're entitled

[1:24:33] to six counselors. The recommendation out of the study was

[1:24:39] we didn't need six. I don't know that we'd be able to find six.

[1:24:46] Four would be enough. uh which is similar I think to uh town or hamlet and

[1:24:53] so that's where we where we went. So short answer we didn't meet the our our

[1:25:00] density was such that we fitted into the district classification as opposed to a

[1:25:06] town or hamlet. >> All right, we've got time for one more

[1:25:09] question and I'll remind you that rdsreionalconnections.ca

[1:25:12] CA is the project page where you can send in your questions and the answers

[1:25:16] will be posted there. If I'm not mistaken, Greenwood is a city which I

[1:25:19] believe is the smallest city in British Columbia.

[1:25:22] Quick question. Oh, I think they call it a city. I'm not sure. I could be wrong.

[1:25:26] » Thanks, Eric. Uh, just a quick question. Uh, it's in regards to the transitional

[1:25:30] funds that the province is actually providing to the district. Can you

[1:25:33] outline those, please? >> Thank you.

[1:25:38] transitional funds for our closing two minutes before we go to our commercial

[1:25:43] break. >> Getting into the details here, so just

[1:25:48] give me a second while I find this for you. So,

[1:25:54] uh, yes, the Ministry of M housing and Municipal Affairs, we've committed

[1:25:58] approximately 1.8 8 million in funding to support the incorporation.

[1:26:04] Um, including funding to establish the new municipalities administration,

[1:26:09] inaugural election costs, service transition support, and other funding to

[1:26:15] help the new municipality get started. And as we've already canvased, the

[1:26:20] Ministry of Trans Transportation and Transit is providing inind support for

[1:26:24] road maintenance for the first five years following incorporation. I don't

[1:26:29] have the total on that, but I can guarantee you it's probably a lot.

[1:26:33] » So, we are out of time. Uh before we wrap up, I wanted to take a moment to

[1:26:37] thank all of our panelists who are with us. Jim Zafino, uh Matt Taylor, Michelle

[1:26:42] Dan, and Tara Faganello, our technical crew, and of course, thank you for

[1:26:47] spending your evening with us instead of doing something else outside. And I'm

[1:26:51] going to ask uh any one of you if you want some closing comments. I know

[1:26:54] Director Taylor would probably like to say a few things to thank everyone, but

[1:26:57] uh with that, thank you very much again for all of your time and your great

[1:27:00] questions and comments. >> Yeah, I just again I'd like to thank you

[1:27:04] for um supporting this process throughout the five or six years. Again,

[1:27:10] I'd like to thank the provincial staff and our staff at RDOS, but also the

[1:27:14] board at RDOS, in particular, the chair and the vice chair have been

[1:27:21] unbelievably huge assets to our efforts to present oursel to the province. Um,

[1:27:29] one comment I would like to make, we try and answer your questions as

[1:27:34] quickly as we can and as clearly as we can. It's not easy. If I hope we got

[1:27:40] most of your questions answered reasonably. If we didn't, you've got our

[1:27:45] email. I can steer them on to the province very easily. Um, if you've got

[1:27:52] questions that are more suitable for the province, but if if you want more detail

[1:27:57] or you've got a question that you don't feel was adequately answered, please uh

[1:28:03] send us an email and we'll work on getting you an answer. We'll try and

[1:28:07] post them on regional connections because you're not the only one that's

[1:28:11] probably asking it. Okay. And uh yeah, I look forward to October 17th and seeing

[1:28:19] this community uh elect a marin council. And I can tell you that if you read

[1:28:26] whatever the newspaper was back in the 70s, uh Sheila Daly has shared me copies

[1:28:33] and people were talking about this and passing votes at the Chamber of Commerce

[1:28:39] in support of incorporation and it's 54 years later and it appears to be just

[1:28:46] about done. So bit of a justation period there. Anyway, um safe travels home

[1:28:52] tonight. Thank you very much for coming out. Really appreciate your time.

District of Okanagan Falls information session

Transcript