[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.