[9:25] Oh, you changed the format.

[9:33] [snorts]

[9:38] » [laughter]

[9:42] » There she is.

[9:44] » It is me.

[10:06] Please turn your ringers off. [laughter]

[10:11] [snorts]

[10:12] » I did that the other day.

[10:13] » Has he finally learned?

[10:14] » Never turned my ringer on and I had to

[10:16] turn it on because I was expecting a

[10:17] phone call and I was away from my phone

[10:18] and I forgot to turn it off and I was in

[10:20] a meeting and I'm like, who is that? I'm

[10:22] like, [laughter] that's me.

[10:29] » [laughter]

[10:30] » Why is this happening?

[10:51] » I [clears throat] want to call the

[10:52] meeting to order. I want to acknowledge

[10:53] the Smoking Valley in which we learn,

[10:55] work, and organize is the ancestral

[10:57] traditional unseated territory of the

[10:58] Smoking people, home of the upper

[10:59] Smokeoky Indivan. Can I get a motion to

[11:02] adopt the agenda as presented?

[11:03] » So move.

[11:04] » Thank you. Councelor Willis, Councelor

[11:07] Mlan. All in favor? Carried. Go down to

[11:11] 3.1 adoption of the minutes from August

[11:14] 19th regular meeting of council.

[11:17] » Thank you, Councelor Elliot. Councelor

[11:19] Gould. Any errors or emissions? I will

[11:22] call the question. All in favor? That is

[11:24] carried. Thank you. Uh we have no

[11:27] petitions or delegations which will take

[11:28] us down to staff report 6.1

[11:32] which is the town of Princon tax sales.

[11:34] James.

[11:35] » Thank you Mr. Mayor. So, uh, for

[11:38] council's consideration,

[11:40] uh, a simple resolution, uh, every year

[11:43] we, uh, ask council to approve Lyall

[11:46] Thomas, the CEO,

[11:48] um, to authorized to bid at the tax

[11:50] sale, uh, when we have, uh, um, an live

[11:55] auction, uh, if, uh, he deems it in the

[11:57] best interest of the municipality. Uh,

[12:00] just a little bit of background, our

[12:01] municipal tax sale is set by the

[12:03] community charter. Uh it'll be held

[12:05] September 28th in this room at 10 a.m.

[12:08] Uh right now we have 12 uh properties

[12:11] and three mobile homes uh with

[12:13] delinquent taxes on them. Uh we're

[12:15] working with homeowners directly uh

[12:18] sending them letters and having them

[12:19] actively come in and uh pay off those

[12:22] delinquents. Um we're pretty much uh on

[12:26] pace with uh the average of how it's

[12:28] worked in previous years. So, uh, ask

[12:31] councel to approve this resolution and,

[12:33] uh, I'll be available for questions.

[12:37] » Thank you. Moved by councelor Mlan.

[12:39] » Second,

[12:40] » Gould. Any questions?

[12:42] » I do have a question. Um, I just wanted

[12:45] to make sure I looked on the town

[12:47] website and I don't see anything on

[12:49] there. There's there's some old

[12:50] information on there. Can we just make

[12:52] sure that we also

[12:53] » Yeah, it'll be it'll be uh it'll be

[12:55] published for the next list.

[12:56] » Okay. Thank you. And [snorts] I noticed

[12:57] they were already advertised in the

[12:59] local paper, too.

[13:01] » Any other questions? Call the question.

[13:03] All in favor? That is carried.

[13:07] Okay.

[13:09] So, the next one is number seven under

[13:12] council reports. But before we do our

[13:13] council reports today, I just want to

[13:16] make a little presentation to uh

[13:20] somebody who's in the crowd today.

[13:22] [laughter]

[13:24] So, I would like to make a presentation.

[13:26] Come on up, Jen. [laughter]

[13:30] [snorts]

[13:31] » Dude, [laughter]

[13:33] » Might want to just go around tripping on

[13:35] wires.

[13:40] » Who [clears throat] would ever trip on

[13:42] wires?

[13:43] [laughter]

[13:46] » Oh, yeah.

[13:51] came over.

[13:56] Um, this is a certificate of recognition

[13:59] for all your years of dedication and

[14:02] volunteerism and service to our

[14:04] community on behalf of council. Thank

[14:06] you for everything. [laughter]

[14:09] » Thank you so much. Thank you.

[14:13] » Thank you.

[14:17] » Smile. [laughter] Beautiful.

[14:20] » Thank you very much.

[14:22] » It's I'll keep going as long as this

[14:24] will let me.

[14:28] » Thank you very much.

[14:39] [clears throat]

[14:42] » Okay. The next thing is uh council

[14:43] reports and I will start with councelor

[14:45] Willis. I don't have much to report, Mr.

[14:48] Mayor. Um, other than the ICE is back in

[14:52] and, uh, POSI starts this weekend.

[14:54] » Excellent. Councelor Gold.

[14:56] » Um, just community forest meetings and I

[14:59] was just wondering if I could ask if

[15:00] there's been an update on that, if we

[15:02] have a follow-up meeting yet.

[15:05] » That's it. Nothing else.

[15:07] » Uh, Councelor

[15:09] Elliot,

[15:10] » Uh, museum society meeting is the only,

[15:14] uh, meeting I've been to in the last

[15:16] week. Not a lot to report. Uh summer

[15:20] students have uh their hours have come

[15:23] to an end and things are starting to

[15:25] wind down for the typical offse season.

[15:32] » And you did attend something else.

[15:34] » Oh yes, thank you. Yes, I did uh support

[15:37] the Christian Arts Council by attending

[15:41] one of the evening concerts of the

[15:44] Copper Valley Music

[15:47] Festival. That was great. Uh sat there

[15:49] in the rain with you and a couple other

[15:52] people and yeah, actually it was it was

[15:54] a great concert. I have to say I really

[15:56] enjoyed it.

[15:57] » Great venue, too.

[15:59] » Yeah, that is a really great venue.

[16:01] Council ML

[16:03] uh 37 prospective players in town.

[16:10] Hopefully we can try and do just that a

[16:14] little bit better than we did last year.

[16:17] But uh the other thing I can't get over

[16:19] is as a driver on the work going on in

[16:22] terms of the community services or the

[16:26] public court in the police station and

[16:31] it just seems like things are going like

[16:33] it's it's just nice to and then you know

[16:37] doesn't hurt business that bad to have a

[16:39] lot of workers having pain. So

[16:42] » Anyway

[16:44] just in my mind it's just a nice

[16:46] Randy and George.

[16:48] » Okay. Thank you.

[16:50] I hear your mic's not on. [laughter]

[16:53] » It's right on top.

[16:55] » Correct. It's not on.

[16:56] » Oh, there we go.

[16:58] » So, okay. Can you do that? [laughter]

[17:05] » Yeah. Um,

[17:07] okay. I'll uh go back to the last

[17:10] meeting here.

[17:12] Um, yeah. The weekend of the 21st uh to

[17:15] 23rd was crazy busy in town. Um attended

[17:20] the pickle ball tournament, the barrel

[17:23] racing, uh multiple different times. I

[17:26] was at the uh the music festival. Uh

[17:29] rolling barrage came through town. Got

[17:31] to wave at them as they went through. Um

[17:35] apparently there was a golf tournament

[17:36] at the same time. I don't know where

[17:38] everybody stayed, but there was like

[17:40] hundreds of people in town. There was I

[17:42] think almost 200 participants for the uh

[17:45] for [clears throat] the pickle ball

[17:46] tournament alone. Um and then there was

[17:50] I think or over around a hundred just

[17:52] over 100 participants at the barrel

[17:54] racing. So super busy weekend. Um

[17:57] amazing weekend had us hopping all over

[18:00] the place. Um that was also the same

[18:03] weekend we had that massive 12-hour long

[18:05] thunder storm and uh I see Ed in the

[18:09] back of the room. I just want to say

[18:10] thanks to Ed and the team from Princeton

[18:13] uh with Princeton Fire Department that

[18:15] went out with the Headley Fire

[18:16] Department with uh the BC Wildfire and

[18:19] walked their way into one of the fires

[18:21] and and uh helped contain that. So,

[18:24] thank you for that because there was I

[18:26] think six or seven fire starts that

[18:27] night and then more popped up the next

[18:29] day and and had everybody jumping. So,

[18:32] uh Tulleain Fire Department was out

[18:34] working, everybody was out working. It

[18:35] was a it was a great team effort by

[18:38] everybody. So, um, super busy weekend

[18:41] that weekend. Um,

[18:43] and then, uh, what else did we do here?

[18:46] Um,

[18:48] just trying to find the date. Um,

[18:52] yeah. Oh, also on uh the Friday the

[18:55] 21st, uh, we had a a Forest Corporation

[18:58] meeting and then earlier in the day, I

[18:59] also had a meeting with Tota BC about uh

[19:03] funding for SVPS.

[19:06] Um, I took some time off last week for

[19:09] first time. We went up to Manning Park

[19:12] um for a family family weekend. Uh, it

[19:16] was awesome. If you ever get a chance to

[19:18] stay up there, one of their cabins are

[19:20] they're pretty awesome. Um, then we

[19:24] while I was there, we also had a uh

[19:26] update on the fire from the regional

[19:28] district and camera. Um

[19:32] and then uh yeah, last weekend was

[19:35] somewhat quiet and uh yeah, we're here

[19:39] today. So earlier today I uh just before

[19:41] this meeting, I met with the uh team

[19:44] that's working on the flood plan or not

[19:47] flood plan but the flood advocacy for

[19:50] Merritt, Princeton,

[19:52] Hope, Chillowak, and Abbottzford through

[19:55] the corridor uh group that we're working

[19:57] on. Um we did finally get a response

[19:59] from the prime minister's office which

[20:01] is positive um stating which minister is

[20:05] um been tasked with uh kind of taking

[20:08] the lead on the infrastructure

[20:10] resiliency plan. So um we're working on

[20:13] a a followup and and how to to work with

[20:16] them on that. Uh we will be speaking at

[20:19] UBCM. uh Mayor Gats and I will be

[20:22] speaking at UBCM talking about the uh

[20:26] the the advocacy work and the need to um

[20:32] I guess just the work we're doing on

[20:35] trying to get Ottawa's attention on it

[20:38] being not just a you know not just

[20:40] needing dikes but protection of the

[20:42] economic corridors that are Highway

[20:44] Three and and the Cocaala and and uh the

[20:47] how they converge and hope and and move

[20:49] through the coast. And without without

[20:52] [clears throat] our communities, there

[20:53] is no there is no economics in British

[20:56] Columbia. So um that's starting to gain

[20:58] traction. Uh last week uh while I was

[21:02] away, Lyle went to my place and they

[21:04] went to um and talked to the Suriri

[21:07] Board of Trade. um as a group we were

[21:09] invited down there with uh along with

[21:11] Minister Kelly Green of Emergency

[21:14] Management BC and and uh kind of gave

[21:16] our pitch to the uh the Siri board of

[21:19] trade which you know is one of the

[21:20] biggest in the in the province. So, we

[21:23] are getting traction and people are

[21:24] starting to pay attention and I think

[21:26] that is going to hopefully move the

[21:29] needle a little bit on on the need for

[21:31] uh flood mitigation funding because as

[21:34] we know it's been

[21:37] not well supported by Ottawa at this

[21:38] point. So, still working on that. So,

[21:41] that's my report.

[21:43] » Yeah.

[21:43] » Do you know if we have a meeting with

[21:46] Minister of Ed in in UBCM?

[21:49] » No. No. We so we met with I um Jared and

[21:52] I met and Sean and uh Smoking Valley. We

[21:56] met with um water land natural resource

[22:00] minister. We had about an hour and a

[22:02] half long lunch with her. Um pled our

[22:05] case about permitting and and work on

[22:07] the river. And then was it two weeks

[22:10] before that we met with uh our emergency

[22:14] management team and Jared and I met with

[22:17] uh Minister Kelly Green here in town. We

[22:19] took her down to the river. We showed

[22:21] her some stuff. And that the province is

[22:23] 100% behind the need to do the work that

[22:27] we're doing. It's they need that federal

[22:30] funding to to push it forward. And um so

[22:33] that's where we're kind of focusing our

[22:35] our attention right now is on Ottawa to

[22:37] get Ottawa to finally chip in and

[22:39] support the province because the

[22:41] province is behind all of us. um they

[22:43] just don't have the funds to

[22:44] » What I'm getting at is the

[22:47] information we keep receiving terms of

[22:50] our school

[22:51] » Oh that one yeah

[22:52] » Problems and that sort of thing and just

[22:54] it would have been nice to be able to

[22:57] reiterate what we're always saying that

[22:59] we want to be realigned in terms of our

[23:02] our school district

[23:05] » And we can we can write a letter to the

[23:07] minister separate from that with those

[23:09] letters that are going to coming to us

[23:12] if we want and uh send those out. So,

[23:14] » Perfect.

[23:16] » If there's nothing else, I'll move on to

[23:19] section 8 correspondence receive and

[23:21] file. We have three letters there. 8.1,

[23:23] 8.2, and 8.3. Um 8.2 is a lot. There's a

[23:27] bunch of letters that uh Sila has sent

[23:30] out on behalf of the organization. The

[23:32] changes this year with SIGA was due to

[23:36] the changes within the way UBCM is doing

[23:39] resolutions

[23:41] that put more onus on uh SILA to do more

[23:45] advocacy work and uh those letters are

[23:48] are part of that. So

[23:50] » And those meetings as well.

[23:51] » Those are some of those meetings. Yeah.

[23:55] » Okay. So that can I get a motion to

[23:58] receive and file 8.1.

[24:00] » So move.

[24:00] » Thank you.

[24:03] Willis, any questions? All in favor?

[24:06] Carried.

[24:08] The next one is a correspondence action

[24:11] requested and it's a letter from

[24:13] Princeton family services um

[24:17] for a services society emergency weather

[24:20] response shelter for 2026 2027.

[24:24] So this is something that has been in

[24:26] the works for

[24:28] how many years Ed?

[24:30] three, four at least. Um, I'd say

[24:34] probably since right after the flood.

[24:37] Um, we've had numerous meetings over the

[24:40] years with uh, um, BC Housing and and

[24:44] the provincial agencies that are

[24:46] responsible. Princeton family services

[24:49] and Princeton uh, community services are

[24:51] working together and uh, they've they've

[24:55] kind of found a location. So,

[24:59] » Possible location. Um, it's still up to

[25:02] BC Housing whether or not they will work

[25:04] with them on it. So, so there's there's

[25:06] a letter that's attached and uh

[25:10] yeah, so if you Ed's here to support as

[25:15] much as he can on this. Um, if you have

[25:17] any questions about it, uh,

[25:21] I talked to Chelsea yesterday and, uh,

[25:25] um, family or community too many

[25:28] services. Community services has an

[25:30] empty, uh, temporary unit up at the

[25:33] industrial park that, uh, they are

[25:36] looking at possibly using as a temporary

[25:39] shelter. So it would be out of the

[25:41] downtown core in that neighborhood and

[25:44] moved up to another location so that it

[25:46] doesn't interfere with existing

[25:48] programming.

[25:50] » I was just going to ask though because

[25:52] in the letter they were asking for

[25:53] suggestions on a location.

[25:56] » Yeah. So

[25:57] » And in the last couple years we've

[25:59] suggested numerous different locations.

[26:01] Um and every time BC Housing when we met

[26:03] with them and I'm going to throw BC

[26:05] Housing under the bus a little bit.

[26:06] Every time we've met with them they said

[26:08] don't [clears throat] worry about it.

[26:09] we'll we'll reno it, we'll do this,

[26:10] we'll do that. And then every single

[26:12] time we think it's a done deal, they've

[26:14] come back and said no. And uh this time

[26:17] around, hope we're we're more hopeful

[26:19] that this will work. It would um um if

[26:22] this location is accepted by BC Housing,

[26:25] it would, like I said, it would move it

[26:26] out of the family services um building

[26:29] and away from their programming that

[26:30] they're currently utilizing. And

[26:33] hopefully that would mean they could uh

[26:34] give up some space that's extremely

[26:37] expensive up at Riverside and move it

[26:39] back into their location.

[26:41] » Okay.

[26:42] » They want a building, right? Not just a

[26:44] lot.

[26:45] » Yeah, just a Yeah, they would. BC

[26:47] Housing would Well, they're already

[26:48] leasing the building, so it should be a

[26:50] pretty straightforward thing if BC

[26:53] Housing wants to go for it. So, they're

[26:55] just looking for support from council

[26:57] right now to

[26:59] » To move forward and um show BC housing

[27:03] that uh we're we're all on the same page

[27:06] here.

[27:06] » I read the letter as being they will

[27:08] take up the program on still continue

[27:10] with it, but that they just were looking

[27:12] for suggestions and

[27:14] » On location. Yeah.

[27:16] » Mainly and I didn't know of any

[27:17] locations we had that would be

[27:18] available.

[27:19] » Yeah. So, I mean, we can just um the

[27:22] motion could simply be for staff to

[27:23] continue to work with BC or with

[27:26] Princeton Family Services uh on this.

[27:29] » Yeah, I would make that motion.

[27:32] » And then, um I'd probably also include

[27:35] that we would write a if any letter

[27:37] needs to be written in support, then

[27:39] » Of course, mayor CEO is authorized to do

[27:41] so.

[27:42] » For sure.

[27:44] » You got that, Mark?

[27:47] George Elliot is moving it, seconded by

[27:50] councelor Gold. Questions?

[27:53] Okay, no questions. I'll call the

[27:55] question all in favor. That is carried.

[27:57] Thank you.

[28:00] Um,

[28:01] so there's no new business. That would

[28:04] take us down to 12.1. Motion to close

[28:07] the meeting uh be closed for the public

[28:09] or for the purpose of considering the

[28:11] following. 90.1E the acquisition

[28:13] disposition or expropriaration of land

[28:16] or improvements if the council considers

[28:17] that disclosure could reasonably be

[28:19] accepted to harm the interest of the

[28:20] municipality.

[28:23] » Thank you by Mlan Willis. All in favor

[28:28] carried. Thank you. With that we will go

[28:30] into closed. James

[43:19] smoking.

[43:21] Uh,

Regular Agenda - 02 Sep 2026

Transcript