[0:01] Good afternoon everyone. Welcome to
council meeting number 23 for Tuesday,
[0:07] August 25, 2026.
Uh before we get down to our official
[0:13] business, uh just want to express
regrets from Councelor Elliot. Uh he's
[0:19] under the weather tonight, so we hope
that he makes a speedy recovery. Um and
[0:26] um there's a couple of changes before I
ask for um a motion to approve the
[0:31] agenda. And that is that given the fact
that um uh councelor Elliot will not be
[0:38] here tonight, report number E1, housing
solutions table report, that will be
[0:44] deferred until the next council meeting.
And also item number G2, which is the um
[0:53] the Cornell minor hockey letter, that's
deferred for staff and minor hockey to
[0:59] work out some details. So that'll be
coming forward at a future meeting. So
[1:04] with those changes, could I have a
motion to adopt the minute or drop the
[1:08] agenda as a as a as amended? Okay,
councelor Rudenberg is moving and I saw
[1:14] councelor Runge is seconding. All in
favor? Opposed? Carried. Uh, now we look
[1:20] for a motion to adopt the regular
minutes of the meeting held July 28,
[1:26] 2026. Moved. Councelor Goule, seconded.
Councelor McCelie. All in favor?
[1:32] Opposed? Carried. Now we move to
presentations and delegations.
[1:38] And uh it's my pleasure to um uh welcome
our Cornell Ambassador Leadership
[1:45] Program outgoing presentation as well as
a welcome to the new incoming um 2026
[1:52] ambassadors. It's my pleasure to welcome
the Cornell Ambassador Leadership
[1:57] Society President Cindy Sherstan and the
2025 outgoing royalty and the new 2026
[2:06] royalty to tonight's council meeting.
After I introduce each outgoing
[2:12] ambassador, please come to the front to
receive your plaque and your rose. and
[2:17] please remain upfront until all
presentations have been made so that we
[2:21] can get a group photograph. Now,
Councelor McKelie has graciously agreed
[2:27] to help me with the with the
presentation. So, I'm going to stay here
[2:31] uh and uh work the microphone and
councelor McKelie is going to do the
[2:36] presentations.
So, first of all, outgoing uh royalty,
[2:43] and if you could come up one at a time
as I call your name for your rose and
[2:47] plaque presentation. Oia Woodruff,
PLEASE.
[2:57] » HELLO.
>> HI.
[3:00] » Thank you for everything you did.
[3:08] that will become a family heirloom. So,
guard it jealously. Okay. And uh and
[3:14] next is um Grace Cassidy. Come on up,
Grace.
[3:22] » Hi, Grace. Thank you for everything.
[3:30] Now I would like to introduce the new
2026 Cornell ambassadors. After I eat
[3:37] after I introduce each ambassador,
please come to the front to receive your
[3:41] rows. Please remain up front until all
presentations have been made so that we
[3:46] can take that uh group photo as well. So
again, one at a time. 2026 Ambassadors
[3:53] incoming royalty Abigail Russell.
[4:03] Congratulations
[4:06] » and Nora Aziz.
[4:16] » Congratulations. Good luck this year.
Now we have one for for Cindy.
[4:23] » Oh, for Cindy. Cindy, come on up.
>> YES.
[4:31] » I finally get to meet the person behind
the computer. Congratulations, Cindy.
[4:37] Thank you. and and thank you to uh to
you and to um all of the uh the other
[4:43] movers and shakers of this because um I
mean this dates back to the Quinnell
[4:49] leadership uh or the Quinnell Miss
Quinnell leadership uh program and
[4:54] leadership certainly is the operative
word because these young people are our
[5:00] future leaders.
Okay. So, time for a group photograph.
[5:04] If uh any family members would like to
come up and and capture this moment,
[5:09] please do that now.
[5:29] Pardon me.
>> The outgoing and incoming.
[5:32] » Oh, separate. Separately. Okay.
So, can you come up and Okay. So, we're
[5:38] going to have the outgoing um first
and then and then the incoming. So, if
[5:45] you could sort of separate just for your
is that what you wanted was uh to have
[5:48] them separated.
>> Oh, I see. Okay, that's fine. Yeah,
[5:52] we'll carry on carrying on here.
We don't have a playbook for this, so
[5:56] we're
[6:00] » maybe separate yourselves a little bit
and then we take separate pictures.
[6:05] » You're going to have a few words. I have
a few words. You're going to have a few
[6:07] words.
[6:28] We should just use the microphone over
there.
[6:31] » That's a good idea.
[6:38] » Both of them like both sets.
>> Okay. So, if if the gonna have a few
[6:42] words
>> I I know. I'm just trying to sort out
[6:45] whether it's the outgoing or the
incoming or both. Uh, we're all going to
[6:49] take turns.
>> Okay.
[6:50] » Okay.
>> Lead on.
[6:52] » I don't know what Okay. I'm Grace
Cassidy. I am one of the 2025 Quinn
[6:56] Ambassadors. I just want to say how
proud I am of Abby and Nora for becoming
[7:01] the 2026 Quinnel Ambassadors and how
proud I am to be best friends with OIa.
[7:06] We celebrated our year together and it
wouldn't be how great it was without the
[7:11] support of our city and the society. So,
thank you everyone who supported us
[7:15] THROUGHOUT OUR REIGN.
[7:27] HI, I'M OSIA WOODRUFF, your 20 2025
Cornell Ambassador. And Nora and
[7:33] Abigail, you guys are so incredible and
I hope you guys have an amazing year
[7:39] during your reign. Grace, I love you so
much and I wouldn't have wanted to reign
[7:45] with anyone else. I want to say thank
you to the society and to the city of
[7:49] Quinnell for everything they've done to
keep this program an awesome and
[7:54] positive experience and I hope you guys
enjoy your reign.
[8:06] » Now, would the incoming like to say a
few words? You're certainly welcome
[8:10] here.
[8:14] » We're starting together.
>> Okay. Starting.
[8:17] » All right.
Good evening everyone. My name is Norah
[8:22] Aziz and I'm one of the new 2026 Cornell
ambassadors.
[8:26] » And I'm Abigail Russell and I am the
other 2026 Quinnell ambassador.
[8:32] We are incredibly honored to be
representing Quinnell over the next
[8:35] year.
There are so many incredible people in
[8:40] Quinnell and we cannot wait to be
serving them by going to all of these
[8:44] events and stuff. We're so excited.
>> We'll miss our former Cornell
[8:50] ambassadors dearly and so we'll do our
best to take up their work.
[9:02] » Okay. So I think that basically
concludes our our uh our presentation
[9:07] event. So uh so thank you ambassadors
whether you're incoming or outgoing
[9:12] you're always ambassadors. So so thank
you for that and and all best wishes.
[9:32] Okay. Thanks again ambassador program.
Okay. Now we're going to go to item two
[9:39] under presentations and delegations.
Cornell Health Services 2020 2026
[9:47] updates from Northern Health Authority.
And we have Daryl Pzul, the senior
[9:52] operating officer for Northern Health
Rural. And also um we have Michelle
[10:00] Lawrence, the special service
specialized services executive director
[10:05] at Northern Health. So I I believe that
you're you're both online. I see you
[10:10] there, Darl. So the floor is yours.
[10:21] I think you may be muted.
[10:51] Please bear with us while we sort out
our technical technological glitches. It
[10:57] happens quite often.
Not not necessarily here, but
[11:01] everywhere.
[11:23] Uh Michelle or Daryl, could one of you
or both of you just say something to do
[11:28] a bit of a sound test?
Okay. So Daryl, you're not coming
[11:33] through
[11:37] and neither are you, Michelle. So we're
we'll keep working on this. We'll we'll
[11:42] get it done.
[12:04] while while we're doing this and we just
of course had had the presentation to
[12:08] the Cornell ambassadors program and just
after I was elected um I had the
[12:14] ambassadors into my mayor's office and
they were each to ask me a question and
[12:20] uh one young lady says what's the most
challenging part of being the mayor and
[12:26] I said technology ology. So here here it
is proving itself out.
[12:45] Darl, can you hear us? Give us a thumbs
up if you can hear us. Okay, so
[13:03] And so Darl, obviously you are not muted
on your end, so perhaps it's originating
[13:09] at our end.
[13:22] Well, we'll give it another couple of
minutes or else um if we can't get it
[13:26] resolved, we're going to have to move
on.
[13:32] » Sure. Yeah.
[13:41] » Moving on.
Let's
[13:56] side of things
[14:04] have to wait
[14:29] Hello.
[14:33] I thought that was an encouraging sound.
[14:41] » Hello. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear
you, Darl.
[14:46] » Okay, I'm gonna just message Michelle to
to join quickly here.
[14:53] » Good job, Laura.
>> Yes, thank you, Laura.
[15:05] » And there's Michelle. And is the audio
still good?
[15:09] » Well, we can hear you, Darl. Maybe
Michelle if you could just
[15:13] » There you are in true flesh and blood
reality. So um the floor is yours.
[15:20] » Excellent. Thank you very much, Mayor
Paul. And good evening everyone.
[15:26] So I have a PowerPoint that I'm going to
present. And as you mentioned, Mayor
[15:33] Paul, uh technology, I'm hoping this
works because I rarely work in Zoom.
[15:38] Usually it's teams. So, I'm going to
going to share my screen now.
[15:56] And now it's not
Michelle, would you be able to try
[16:02] sharing yours and I'll talk?
[16:10] I will pray.
[16:30] Yeah. Uh, councelor Vic has come up with
a suggestion here. We have the
[16:36] PowerPoint here in front of us on hard
copy.
[16:40] So if Oh, I think we're I think we're
looking good here. I I see it on the
[16:44] screen now. So I'll let you carry on.
>> Okay.
[16:48] » Thank you very much. Apologies for the
for the delays. So uh good evening
[16:53] everyone. Uh uh as Mayor Paul mentioned,
my name is Daryl Pzel. I work as the
[16:58] senior operating officer for the rural
region surrounding Prince George. So
[17:04] that would include Burns Lake and area
east to Veil Mountain from McKenzie
[17:10] south to us here in Cornell. Um
uh I live in Cornell with my family. Um
[17:17] myself and that's where I am tonight. Um
and Michelle, if you want and Michelle,
[17:25] why don't you introduce yourself quick
if you don't mind?
[17:28] » Sure. Thanks. Um thanks for having us.
My name is Michelle Lawrence. and the
[17:32] executive director for specialized
services for Northern Health. Um, and
[17:36] I'm calling in from the unseated
traditional territory of the Clayton
[17:38] today and Prince George. Um, and my
areas uh cover uh the whole region uh
[17:44] for specialized services which includes
complex medically frail mental health
[17:48] and substance use, child and youth um
specialized services and some
[17:52] specialized clinics.
>> Thank you, Michelle. If you don't mind
[17:56] going to slide three to start it off.
So, I have quite a lengthy presentation
[18:05] and due to time constraints, I'm really
going to have to go through this quick
[18:09] because I want to hear questions at the
end, which I suspect is probably most
[18:15] important to the folks in the room
tonight. So, I'll start by by setting
[18:20] sort of the stage and the context of
where health care is right now in
[18:24] general. My PowerPoint has a lot of good
news stories and more light-hearted uh
[18:32] content, but make no mistake, uh healthc
care is in a a real tough situation
[18:38] right now across the province and across
the country. Um as you're probably all
[18:44] aware, um when I last came to council to
present, it would have been a little
[18:49] over a year ago. And I would say that
things in Quinnel have improved
[18:54] slightly. there's a long way to go. Um,
but we're sitting we're sitting a little
[19:00] better in in certain circumstances than
than we were uh roughly this time last
[19:05] year. So, not a surprise to anyone, but
we're dealing with a pretty significant
[19:12] workforce shortage. Uh we're dealing
with changes in the workforce in terms
[19:17] of what people want out of their
careers. Uh we're dealing with the
[19:22] oldest population Canada has ever had in
its history. We're dealing with
[19:27] declining significantly declining birth
rates. Um increased complexity with
[19:33] people that are coming to the hospital.
Uh plugged up hospitals, uh not enough
[19:39] long-term care beds or assisted living
beds. Um and a variety increased
[19:45] violence. Uh that's another thing that
uh can't be forgotten about. H we are
[19:50] seeing doesn't matter what hospital
you're working in we're seeing
[19:54] significantly more in uh numbers of
violent incidents and just a less civil
[20:01] society I would say in general.
So we're at a we're at a tough spot
[20:06] right now. So um you know ever since CO
hit six years or so ago it it's it's
[20:14] been a tough go with things. Um it's led
to some changes in the way we deliver
[20:20] health care and some opportunities.
We're really getting into virtual
[20:24] delivery of health care. Uh currently in
our at our UPCC, our urgent primary care
[20:31] center in the hospital, we're using
what's called TEDOC where we have a
[20:36] physician on a video screen who's able
to talk and see patients and even listen
[20:42] to uh through a stethoscope and and
other things like that. So that stuff is
[20:48] really cutting edge and it will always
have a place in health care. I think
[20:53] we're starting to see AI being used in
healthcare. So, a lot of exciting stuff
[20:59] is coming. Um, but we have a uh for sure
have a ways to go. Michelle, if you can
[21:05] go on to the next slide, please.
[21:09] So, this is a very busy slide of I
always get asked about the physician uh
[21:15] shortages in Cornell and this is a busy
and rather confusing slide. It comes
[21:22] from the the physician human resource uh
folks, the ones that deal with
[21:27] recruitment on a full-time basis. Um,
long story short, in terms of
[21:34] comparisons to other many other
communities in Northern BC, Cornell is
[21:38] doing well. We're still short probably a
good six or so family doctors. Um, we've
[21:48] received the number this year. We uh we
have a couple more arriving very shortly
[21:53] and we have at least two confirmed for
next year as well. So our recruitment um
[21:59] efforts are are paying dividends. Now we
again we have a ways to go. Um I know
[22:06] what it's like not to have a family
doctor. I went through quite a time
[22:10] myself with one. Um as did some family
members and it's uh it's a very it's not
[22:16] a good place to be. So
um but we've uh we've got quite a
[22:21] complement of specialists in Cornell.
We've got a couple of general surgeons,
[22:25] ear nose and throat surgeon, uh couple
of internists, uh couple of doctors who
[22:30] specialize just in emergency medicine, a
psychiatrist, and quite a number 20 that
[22:37] 21 is actually a little more than that
now. So quite a number of family
[22:42] doctors. Next slide, Michelle.
[22:48] Um, just something to note and some of
the folks at the city will be aware of
[22:52] this, but we're seeing a real change in
terms of how doctors are practicing. So,
[22:59] gone are the days where doctors would
finish school and then buy a medical
[23:03] practice and want to run that business.
Um, we're not seeing that at all
[23:09] anymore. Um, so what we're doing is
we're contracting with physicians and
[23:14] they're working on a alternative payment
plan basically where they work in a
[23:19] Northern Health run and staffed clinic
like the one on Front Street there. So
[23:24] right now I'm in the middle of uh if
it's not out already, there's going to
[23:29] be one soon. An expression of interest
to the community because we need to
[23:33] acquire more space to to accommodate the
uh the physicians that are coming.
[23:39] Next slide.
[23:44] Uh I'm going to quickly brief uh through
this. So I'll just say in the interest
[23:49] of time that we are constantly training
our nurses in Quinnel in specialty areas
[23:56] like emergency, ICU, maternity, and
other programs. Uh I've already
[24:02] mentioned we have two emergency
physicians that both work full-time in
[24:06] our emergency. Um and that last uh point
is more about uh post-secondary learning
[24:13] and I won't get into that right now. You
can go to the next one.
[24:20] Um more of the same. Uh you know we're
we're we're
[24:25] training uh more o nurses along with the
other specialties. We currently run two
[24:31] operating room room rooms uh
simultaneously in Cornell uh which is
[24:36] good. Um weight lists are not that bad.
If you need surgery and you live in
[24:41] Cornell and it's general surgery or even
ear, nose, and throat uh your weights
[24:46] will not be that long compared to the
rest of the province. The Ministry of
[24:51] Health sets provincial benchmarks that
we must or we should strive to hit in
[24:58] terms of different types of surgeries.
And the vast majority of that time in
[25:02] Cornell, we're meeting those. Uh it's
it's actually impossible to hit them
[25:08] 100% of the time because there's uh
there's a number of factors outside of
[25:12] our control. Next slide.
uh you know we we have very skilled and
[25:20] experienced staff who have retired. So
we we our recruitment not only is about
[25:26] getting students and people from outside
of the region but bringing people back
[25:30] into work who have a wealth of
knowledge. Uh uh we have a new uh family
[25:36] doctor who's starting oncology or cancer
care training this fall. So another
[25:41] person locally physician will be trained
in in oncological medicine. So that's uh
[25:47] very positive for Cornell. Next slide.
[25:52] Uh some ideas uh a little snapshot of
some of the other work going on. Um lot
[25:59] of acronyms in this by the way and my
apologies. I got to remember that people
[26:04] that don't work in healthcare aren't
going to know what all these letters
[26:07] mean. ESN there refers to employed
student nurses. So these are nurses that
[26:13] are in their second year or higher of
training and we can hire them um as paid
[26:20] staff. So they get to learn and uh learn
the people they're working with, learn
[26:26] nursing skills and make a make an
income. So we're doing that constantly.
[26:31] Um, we've got a provincial maternity
project to reduce C-section rates, uh,
[26:38] ongoing right now. And of course, we
opened our maternity clinic last year in
[26:42] March. Next slide.
I've already talked about TEDoc at UPCC.
[26:49] Um, we've, uh, we've been successful in
recruiting new doctors to UPCC uh, over
[26:56] the past eight months or so. So, we've
tripled our our visits. Um
[27:02] last year at this time we were hitting
around 250 individual visits per day um
[27:08] or per per month I mean and uh now we're
well over 600 if not over 700 uh
[27:15] individual visits per month at our UPCC.
And we can go to the next slide.
[27:20] Michelle
[27:25] I've talked about that first point a
little bit. Uh nurse triage system. I
[27:30] won't get into this too much, but it's
regarding UPCC and uh we no longer have
[27:36] to a patient can come in and they no
longer have to see a physician before
[27:40] they leave. Nurses can make a
determination to to book them based on
[27:45] urgency uh the next day or a couple days
from now or hand them off to a social
[27:50] worker or a nurse that's skilled in a
certain uh specialty um just to make it
[27:57] a little more efficient for for the
public. and we're getting some positive
[28:00] comments about that. We're going to roll
that out in it's called clear triage and
[28:05] we're going to roll that out in other
communities in Northern Health. Next
[28:10] slide, Michelle.
I'm not going to get into this. The one
[28:14] thing about this this this shows you
some of the the increase in visits at
[28:19] our UPCC, but you can go to the next
slide. It's a little
[28:24] more useful. So the purpose of our UPCC
is to reduce pressure on an emermergency
[28:32] department and for years it wasn't doing
that. Um but with some of the changes
[28:38] we've made in this year um it's actually
finally started to take the pressure off
[28:43] our emergency department so we can
protect our emergency
[28:48] uh room for people that need truly need
emergency care. So that's actually it's
[28:53] the first time we've shown that uh bias
statistic. So we're going to be keeping
[28:59] an eye on that as we go forward. Next
slide.
[29:05] Okay. Uh hospital auxiliary. So just an
example of some of the equipment the
[29:10] auxiliary has purchased and we're ever
so thankful for our auxiliary who have
[29:15] been around for a long time. Um yeah, I
won't get into the details about this,
[29:22] but we also have some uh televisions
being installed in uh all the inpatient
[29:28] rooms uh thanks to the Cornell Community
Foundation. So those two groups have
[29:33] helped us immensely. Next slide,
Michelle.
[29:37] Little bit more about some of the
equipment. So we constantly are buying
[29:43] equipment. uh stuff gets used 24/7 365
and it end either ends up getting to end
[29:50] of life or not be being able to be
supported from a technological
[29:54] standpoint. So always buying new
equipment and of course the regional
[29:59] hospital district uh funds a significant
amount of this equipment. So here's some
[30:04] examples. Next slide.
More examples uh probably won't make a
[30:12] lot of sense. So uh ECG is kind of heart
monitor system
[30:17] um medical imaging software. So just to
give you an example of the the high cost
[30:23] of anything healthcare related I mean
just the software alone can be upwards
[30:28] of $100,000 and that's for our
ultrasound and MRI units uh in the X-ray
[30:35] department. Couple of other things there
and then an ECT is electrocombulsive
[30:40] therapy. So that's used uh in the O for
people with certain types of mental
[30:46] illness.
Next slide.
[30:56] And a couple more examples of changes.
Dunroen. There's a few things going on
[31:00] there. Um won't get into it too much.
You a couple of examples there. We also
[31:05] have some uh redundant uh generators
being installed and some the nurse call
[31:11] system uh being redone as well. So, next
slide.
[31:17] Okay, getting into this is Michelle's
area and it uh I'm sure it's of uh great
[31:23] interest uh to folks in the room. So,
this is getting into our mental health
[31:27] and addiction stuff. So, just just a
quick brief highle overview. So, we have
[31:32] our assertive community treatment team
um where we have folks out in the
[31:38] streets uh meeting up with people with
with known illness um uh you know being
[31:44] proactive about things. We have our
mobile crisis intervention team. That's
[31:48] where we have our CMP and a nurse. Uh
that's been a very successful program
[31:54] over quite a number of years. Um and
then mobile support team. This is in
[31:59] partnership with First Nations Health
Authority and they provide outreach
[32:03] treatment in our local indigenous
communities.
[32:09] Next slide.
[32:13] And then so some of the other things. So
overdose prevention services or ops,
[32:19] this is what was formerly at Elliot
Street. Um, this is now being performed
[32:26] uh on a as a mobile treatment. So, we
have the team going out in a van with
[32:33] supplies and meeting people where
they're at out and about in the
[32:36] community. Um, or people, patients,
clients can phone a number and uh have
[32:43] the the team come to their place
wherever that may be. So right now it's
[32:48] uh it's being managed uh you know on an
outreach basis. Opioid agonist therapy
[32:54] is what folks think when they or yeah
what you think when you hear methadone
[32:59] program. So there's other treatments
other than methadone but um just think
[33:04] of it like that. Uh so that is currently
happening at the the uh the building I
[33:11] think it's MLAN Street uh by Dr. C's
office there. Um, so that's when people
[33:17] come in, see a uh a specialist
prescriber and get monitored with those
[33:22] medications. We also have our Grace
Young activity center at that building
[33:27] and currently we have around 58 people
belonging to that program and we have
[33:33] psychosocial rehab, vocational rehab and
uh community uh engagement in that
[33:40] program. Next slide.
[33:44] quick. Um I won't because of time I'm
not going to get into this but uh due to
[33:48] a number of recruitment incentives uh
you know it's really helped people in
[33:54] Northern are us in Northern Health
attract and and retain staff. So we're
[33:59] hoping that kind of stuff uh continues
on into the future. Next slide.
[34:06] I will say that us in Northern Health,
Quinnell included, we're at a
[34:11] disadvantage compared to people in the
southern areas of the province because
[34:15] we we struggle to attract people in
general, no matter what industry you're
[34:20] in. Um, and so, yeah, I'm I'm just
really hopeful that some of these
[34:26] recruitment incentives will continue and
we won't know more from the ministry
[34:30] until the fall.
Uh you can see here uh numbers of new
[34:35] grads we've hired across Northern Health
and what these numbers are not
[34:40] completely accurate because they're a
couple months old. So you can assume 15
[34:45] to 20 new grads hired this year. Uh so
that's work in progress all the time.
[34:52] Quinnel has has had for five years one
of the lower vacancy rates in terms of
[34:58] all positions in Northern Health. And I
think that's due to a number of reasons.
[35:03] And it's still quite uh quite nice
compared to to other communities. Um and
[35:09] 26 applicants to date have received the
the recruitment incentives that that are
[35:14] being rolled out. Next slide, please,
Michelle.
[35:18] Uh we're this is big. So we're doing
this around Northern Health. And so
[35:23] we're paying people basically to attend
school. We're paying for the education
[35:29] and giving them a stipen to live on
while they take this training. And
[35:32] there's six different things we're doing
right now. The healthcare assistant
[35:37] program has absolutely saved our bacon
in terms of enabling us to staff
[35:42] long-term care. So, that has been
unbelievably successful. We are now
[35:48] doing practical nursing, the same thing.
We're about to start our second cohort
[35:53] of of students through that program. And
then you can see some other uh
[35:58] professions here. Rehab assistants,
pharmacy techs, mental health support,
[36:02] and x-ray and lab technologists.
Next slide.
[36:08] Couple of uh more examples of equipment.
And I had to include that that middle
[36:14] one, the transport bike bicycle. So
that's at Dunroven. I thought that was
[36:18] really cool. Never seen that before. But
uh so that'll be at Dunroven if it isn't
[36:24] already. and it gets people and a bit a
chance to get outside in some fresh air
[36:29] and go for a go for a little burn
through the neighborhood. The pickline
[36:33] and equipment insertion that's big for
Cornell. Prior to just recently, we had
[36:38] to send all patients to Prince George to
get that inserted and now we can do it
[36:43] in in Cornell. So, won't get into
details. Happy to answer them if there's
[36:48] any questions. Next slide.
And then finishing up. So we're we're
[36:55] always in contact with post-secary
institutions and high schools. So this
[37:00] is some pictures from Coraloo um where
the staff the team local team took over
[37:06] some equipment and did some scenarios
with the uh with the high school
[37:10] students. So trying to encourage folks
to go into health care and uh hopefully
[37:16] were successful. But they do this every
year.
[37:19] So sorry to whip through that so
quickly. Um but uh there was a lot to
[37:25] get through and I'm I I think people
will be more excited or interested in
[37:30] asking questions. So over to uh to the
room.
[37:36] » Okay. Thank you um Daryl and Michelle
for that. Um yes, I'm going to open up
[37:41] the floor to questions. So I'll start
over on this side. Anyone?
[37:46] Go ahead. Councelor Vic.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Hey, Daryl. How
[37:50] you doing?
Nice to see you.
[37:54] » I just got a couple of questions, Darl,
and I and I understand if it's too early
[37:58] to give some answers on a couple of my
questions, but I'm just curious and I
[38:02] maybe the community is. Um, as you know,
we have the major development occurring
[38:07] at Caribou Field from Providence Living.
It's going to add a lot of uh capacity
[38:12] to our system for uh long-term care. How
how do you see that uh interacting with
[38:19] what's available at Dun Roven? What's
Dun Roven's role going to be in the
[38:22] future?
>> So, Dun Roven is not
[38:27] Yeah. So, I'm glad you brought that up.
I had that on my notes to talk about and
[38:31] I I missed that uh being in a rush, but
So, that project is absolutely going
[38:37] ahead as you know. Um it's expected to
be open in 2030. So, construction
[38:44] supposed to start in the new year. Um,
Dun Roven, the new part of Dun Roven
[38:51] will remain as is. Uh, so that new
expansion that came about in 2008, that
[38:58] will carry on as a long-term care home.
The old part of Dun Roven,
[39:03] the the decision hasn't been made yet as
to what that's going to be. And just for
[39:10] folks awareness,
the reason that they're building this
[39:14] new one is a because we definitely need
more beds. There is absolutely no doubt
[39:19] about it. And that facility will bring
200 net new beds um to Cornell. Uh 144
[39:29] are uh are long-term care and 144 are
assisted living. And once you factor out
[39:35] the old part of Dunroin that will close,
we'll end up with 200 net new beds. Um,
[39:41] so Mitch, that uh the decision has not
been made. I have absolutely nothing to
[39:48] unfortunately say about that. It is a
number of years out. The reason it's uh
[39:54] going to stop being used as a as a care
facility is because when we get into the
[40:00] I mean that's a 50 something year old
building and it becomes very very
[40:05] difficult and very very expensive to to
keep running at the the standards uh we
[40:12] need it to run at. Um, and it's, you
know, it doesn't it doesn't meet a lot
[40:18] of needs, uh, in terms of what
expectations are nowadays for long-term
[40:24] care. I mean, it's better than nothing,
but uh, I'm just quite thankful we're
[40:29] getting this new build. I We need it so
bad.
[40:32] » Thank you, Darl. I really appreciate
that. And then the
[40:35] » I will say, Mitch,
>> sorry. I I will say that when I do hear
[40:40] about what the plans are for that part
of the field facility, I I will
[40:45] absolutely
let the city know. Um yeah, but nothing
[40:50] yet.
>> Perfect. That's great. Thanks for that.
[40:53] And then the second question, if you'll
permit me, Mr. Mayor, I I understand uh
[40:58] we've got uh a renewal of the clean team
coordinator position, which is not I
[41:04] know that's a slightly different
relationship we have with you on what
[41:07] the role of that coordinator is, and we
certainly appreciate that. I'm wondering
[41:11] if you could speak to long-term
sustainability of that coordinator
[41:15] position.
>> Yeah, that's uh that's come up a number
[41:20] of times uh for a few reasons. one
because I from what I hear of that
[41:26] position, it's very much very very much
appreciated by the community of Cornell
[41:32] for a number of reasons. Um that of
course uh is ministry funding that we
[41:38] contract out with the with the city and
we Michelle may have the most upto-date
[41:44] information on this as it falls a little
bit more to to her. All I know is that
[41:50] 2627
was a go. I have not heard that uh there
[41:55] will be funding pulled beyond that and I
will turn it over to Michelle if you
[42:01] have anything else to add.
Thanks. This is a direct funding
[42:05] initiative through the Ministry of
Health. Um and so it is year to year at
[42:10] this time but we've been advocating for
the funding to be sustained and
[42:14] specifically um for this particular
contract because we've seen such great
[42:18] success. So, it is covered for this year
and we are working towards stabilizing
[42:22] and ongoing funding.
>> Thanks for your help with that. Really
[42:25] appreciate it.
>> Okay. Thank you. Anyone else at this
[42:30] point? Go ahead, Councelor Rudenberg.
>> Thank you. And good evening you guys.
[42:35] Appreciate the uh update. Um I'm just
going to tag off of um the counselor
[42:42] here who just spoke about the clean team
funding. So, thank you for that. We know
[42:46] that you know this is a good program in
Cornell and we appreciate how you can
[42:50] advocate for us outside of the
advocating that we do as a council. So,
[42:53] thank you very much for that. Um, so you
talked a little bit about the incentive
[42:59] that you provide to applicants in
Quinnell around the rural and remote
[43:04] recruitment incentive. Is that the um
30,000 that you're talking about?
[43:09] Okay. So that's um you know that's uh
you asked them to stay for 24 months. Uh
[43:16] you've said you've had 26 new applicants
that um have been uh able to get the
[43:21] incentive dollars. Have we managed to
keep them after the 24 months or is this
[43:27] they are still in that 24-month period?
>> Yeah. So, I mean that's a good question
[43:33] and this if I had more time I wanted to
get into this a little bit but we are
[43:38] seeing and I might be kind of long-
winded with this but across the board
[43:44] whether it's physicians, nurses,
technologists, whatever the workforce
[43:49] has changed what the workforce wants in
their jobs and how they practice has
[43:54] changed. Um almost all of our physicians
are now international physicians. Um and
[44:02] same with nursing by the way we are
recruiting an awful lot of international
[44:07] nurses right now particularly via the
US. So to answer your question are we
[44:13] retaining folks? I can unequivocally say
yes we are um both physicians and
[44:21] nursing and other staff. However, it is
absolutely not 100% either. Uh, off the
[44:28] top of my head, I I I can't give you a
figure, but that's why it's so important
[44:34] and the local team knows this. It is so
important to make the community and the
[44:41] work with the with the city recruiter
for example the welcoming the the the
[44:46] wraparound welcome to the community the
help the the attention to their spouses
[44:52] partners children all of the make them
welcome all of that helps no matter what
[44:58] and yes we do keep a lot um a little bit
less so with physicians in general but
[45:05] certainly staff best.
>> Well, thank you. That's appreciative.
[45:10] It's better than zero, right? And I
think that anytime we can keep them here
[45:14] longer than their two years, um, Quinnel
starts to grow on you and they want to
[45:18] stay here. So, um, I appreciate the fact
that you actually offered them
[45:22] incentives because I know years ago when
this healthc care crisis was starting, I
[45:27] can remember Fort St. John offering an
incredible amount of money to keep
[45:31] physicians in their communities for up
to two years. and then those guys took
[45:34] their 100,000 or whatever it was because
it was the city and they just left. So,
[45:39] it's good to hear that we're managing to
keep some of them. So, thanks a lot,
[45:42] Darl.
>> Okay. Thank you, councelor Roenberg.
[45:46] Councelor Runge.
>> Yeah, thanks Darl and Michelle for the
[45:48] presentation. It's uh it's actually
really nice and positive for in a lot of
[45:53] things. uh with regards to I'm just
tagging on to our the last counselor's
[45:57] uh question here. Did do you ever hear
about any additional supports that our
[46:03] community
uh you know engagement team could do?
[46:07] Like I mean that's what we as a council
you know if there's something else that
[46:10] we're missing. I'd love that you share
that with our staff so that we it comes
[46:14] out so we can find a way to keep you
know keep that support going.
[46:20] So that's
>> yeah that
[46:23] thank you for the question and I I think
that's a great question for the the
[46:29] local team including our chief of staff
and I am happy to to set up a meeting
[46:36] with Karen Keys as administrator and Dr.
Nicole Robbins who have the finger on
[46:41] the pulse about what is happening in our
hospital because that to answer that
[46:47] question we have to hear directly from
the folks that are arriving here and
[46:52] that have been here for a little while
to see if we're missing anything or we
[46:56] could do something differently. So
I all I've heard to be frank is that
[47:02] position and the the work with the city
has been very very much appreciated and
[47:08] I've heard it myself from physicians in
particular. They feel welcome in
[47:13] Cornell. Um and I I can't recall to be
honest a a a single concern beyond
[47:20] housing. Now that brings me to my my
next point is one of the things that
[47:27] comes up repeatedly and it's actually
come up very recently with a physician
[47:32] is lack of of housing
[47:38] and I know that I'm preaching to the
choir and I've sat on many in a a
[47:43] meeting with uh with folks in the city
about this issue but uh yeah it's still
[47:48] it still comes up as a as an issue.
Thank you. And I hope some of these new
[47:53] buildings that are being built are going
to help out there. Uh my f other
[47:57] question if I if I can with regards to
the u earn and learn programs uh for for
[48:03] me uh because I was actually very
involved with that school program. Uh
[48:07] you know it was it came out of actually
our accessibility committee meeting and
[48:11] then from there it went to the school
this year. I sometimes feel that we are
[48:16] missing the link in between the city,
the school board and the high school to
[48:22] let the students know that these things
are available going forward, you know,
[48:27] so that our grade 11 and 12 students can
actually start planning for that. So,
[48:32] you know, I
I'm no longer in that role in career
[48:35] programs, uh, but, you know, Cheryl
McFarland has taken over that role for
[48:39] me at at the school district. And I I
really think it's really extremely
[48:43] important. And if there's anything else
that I can do to help with that, just
[48:46] let me know and I'll push some buttons
at the school board or or wherever
[48:50] because for me that's the step that I
feel we're kind of missing for our local
[48:55] students so that they know that there's
a a path for them into what a lot of
[49:01] kids do like to do. And that was just I
guess a kind of a statement. Thank you.
[49:07] » Uh excellent excellent point. Um it it
I I need to ask Karen Keys if if when
[49:16] they are going to the schools if they
are exploring these earn and learn
[49:20] programs with students. I I'm not sure
if they are. So I will absolutely take
[49:25] that away and uh see what we're doing.
But I completely agree with you if we
[49:30] aren't doing that is it is a real missed
opportunity. So I'll get on that and
[49:35] find out. And just sorry just one quick
add- on to that just because they work
[49:40] on a semester program uh when they had
this we had this in December last year
[49:45] beginning of December so we hit the
first semester students it was fabulous
[49:48] uh but we missed the second semester
students that you know some of the
[49:51] students in the science classes so just
that you keep that in the back of your
[49:54] head that there's also there's two
semesters in the high school there so if
[49:58] we can hit them twice I think that's
going to be really beneficial thank you
[50:02] » okay thank you councelor Range I'm now
going to go to councelor McKelie
[50:07] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Hi, Darl and
Michelle. Thank you for this incredible
[50:12] presentation. It's always nice to get
this one. I know I certainly look
[50:15] forward to it, and I'm sure the public
does, too. It's nice to see that we're
[50:19] getting a lot of new equipment in the
hospital. That's positive. Um, I want to
[50:24] draw your attention to the UPCC,
the urgent primary care graph that goes
[50:32] from December of 25 to January. and it
jumped from uh UPCC visits from 700 up
[50:42] to,00 in January. What do you attribute
that to? That is a is quite a jump. I'm
[50:49] just wondering if you you can uh tell us
why you there's such a an increase in
[50:55] visits.
>> Oh, I see which one. I see which one
[51:01] you're looking.
>> Yeah. Thank you.
[51:04] What happened uh around that time last
year was we recruited uh a couple of
[51:10] international medical graduates. So
these are foreign trained physicians
[51:15] that have their licenses that come to
Canada. Um and we they have to be
[51:20] supervised for a couple of years uh
before they get full Canadian lensure.
[51:25] Um so we managed to recruit two uh to
Quinnell, not full-time but but a good
[51:32] chunk of the time. So the visits just
skyrocketed.
[51:35] Um
yeah, so and that's still in effect. One
[51:40] of them is on a leave right now. I I
can't remember uh what type of leave,
[51:45] but one of them is on a leave. Um but we
have backfilled some of that with that
[51:50] TEDoc that I talked about, that virtual
physician service.
[51:57] » Thank you very much and keep up the
great work.
[52:00] » Okay. Thank you, Councelor McKelby. Any
go ahead, councelor Goule.
[52:06] » Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thanks, Darl and
Michelle. Uh, great information in here.
[52:10] Just want to tag on to the last one with
the with the Coraloo Senior Secondary. I
[52:15] just want to make mention of the Rotary
and what they've done with Adventures in
[52:18] Healthcare and taking the kids to the
CNC for some um almost if you could say
[52:24] book work and then a tour of the actual
hospital and the facilities and ER and
[52:28] what's happening that life experience.
Um listening to some of the u the the
[52:33] kids that took the program um they were
quite excited. It's not just about
[52:37] nursing and doctoring. There's other
things. There's lab technicians. There's
[52:40] all these other pieces that they could
get interested into. So, it's a
[52:44] wonderful program and we hope to see
that going as as we continue and a great
[52:48] job for just want to shout out to the
Rotary Club of Point. My other um
[52:52] comment and it was mentioned already
housing and I was going to ask that when
[52:55] I had that on my list but you had
already mentioned one of the one of the
[52:58] major was you know recruitment and
retention the housing piece. So glad
[53:03] that that's on the radar and I think we
can work through different things but I
[53:07] just wanted to make a comment about the
the Rotary exchange and adventures in
[53:10] healthcare. So thanks.
>> Okay. Thank you, Councelor Goule. I've
[53:14] got a couple I don't really have any
questions, but but a couple of comments
[53:17] and and that is that as the mayor, I'm
um constantly inundate inundated with um
[53:24] more um bouques than beefs about health
care generally in Quinnell. And I and I
[53:32] a lot of it goes to uh GR Baker and and
Dun Roven and and basically the whole
[53:38] healthc care picture generally. So
again, keep up the good work and when we
[53:43] turn on the news and see what what other
communities are going through, uh we are
[53:47] very thankful that um that we've got um
you know basically zero um touch wood um
[53:56] er closures. So so keep up the good
work. Um also I was going to put in a a
[54:03] comment about the good news on the clean
team, but that's already being covered
[54:07] off. I just want to mention that um my
daughter is is a recent graduate of the
[54:14] um the healthc care assistant program.
She moved over from education to to
[54:19] healthc care and she absolutely loves
her new job. So so thank you for that.
[54:25] And finally, I've got a little story for
you, and that is um when I go to see my
[54:30] family doctor occasionally, uh he likes
to hear my stories about basically um
[54:36] snowmmoiling and fishing. And I said to
him one day, I says, "Hey, doc, have you
[54:40] ever been fishing here in the caribou?"
And he says, "No." And I says, "Well,
[54:44] how would you like to go?" And he says,
"Yeah, I'd love that." So, uh, Pat and I
[54:48] were busy setting up a fishing trip out
to Tensicut Lake for he and his, um,
[54:54] wife and and three kids and get
everything loaded up and ready to go and
[54:59] got the res the, um, the the reservation
at the resort because we we didn't want
[55:05] to take a chance. We were at Tensicut
Lake and didn't want to take a chance
[55:09] with the forestry campsite and all ready
to go. And then at the last minute, I
[55:14] get the phone call. Oh, I'm sorry. I got
called in to work. So, he's on the
[55:19] waiting list for uh for another fishing
trip. So, um I understand the problems
[55:24] and and um we're going to get that
fishing trip um looked after as soon as
[55:29] possible. So, any more questions or
comments?
[55:34] Okay, seeing none, I thank you Darl and
Michelle for your presentation and we'll
[55:38] just give you a minute to to clear the
technology and and get the new tech.
[55:42] Well, we've got them in in in true true
flesh and blood reality here. So
[55:47] hopefully we don't have to rely on
technology. So thank you again.
[55:52] » Thank you.
[56:25] Okay. Are we ready to go?
>> Yes, sir.
[56:28] » We are. We have Amy Faker, um, CEO of
the Caribou Chilcoten Coast. I remember
[56:34] when it was the Caribou Tourism
Association. And I'm really dating
[56:37] myself when I say that. So the triple
CTA and Amy, if you could uh use your
[56:42] loud voice because uh some of us are a
little hearing impaired. So not me, but
[56:48] » not you. Not me. I can do that. I've
been told I have a mom voice and can
[56:52] project.
>> So the floor is yours, Amy.
[56:55] » Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thank you
everyone for having me. I just want to
[56:59] acknowledge um two quick things before I
get started today. our team member Patty
[57:03] Jiardi, who's normally with you, is in
the gallery with me today. Um, and a
[57:08] shout out to Amy and her team for
helping put together numbers that matter
[57:13] and leading the other economic
development officers across the Caribou
[57:17] Regional District. So, thank you very
much.
[57:20] So, in the next 12 minutes, I have a
script to stay on topic because I too
[57:25] talk often and long. I'm going to walk
through some of the things that the
[57:29] municipal regional district tax program
otherwise known as MRDT has delivered
[57:35] for tourism across the Caribage Cotton
Coast region. So, no picture asked for
[57:39] you today and not your regular marketing
update meeting, but a report on the
[57:43] overall MRDT results across the region
since inception.
[57:49] So, let's start where we began. A decade
ago, destination BC had pulled back all
[57:55] its marketing programs and funding
support for your from your rural
[57:59] communities and tourism operators. Our
regional communities had limited budgets
[58:04] to replace these funds and most were not
significantly investing in tourism
[58:09] marketing on its own. Tourism operator
budgets were stretched thin. The Tourism
[58:14] Accommodation Assessment Relief Act was
outdated and underresourcing tourism
[58:19] operators. BC fairies had even cancelled
the Bellakula to Port Hardy route,
[58:24] cutting off a key access point for
travelers to the region. And the result
[58:29] was predictable. It was serious. This
region was losing tourism businesses. We
[58:34] were losing market share to the rest of
the province. And there were no
[58:38] marketing programs left to help our
operators recover.
[58:43] Here's what that looked like in numbers
from Destination BC's own regional
[58:48] profile for the Caribou Chukoten Coast.
In January of 2015,
[58:53] the region held 1% of BC's population,
but less than 1% of the province's
[58:59] tourism revenue. Room revenue across the
entire region sat at $21.2 million. We
[59:06] were pulling 3% of BC's visitors with 2%
of overnight stays, but less than 1% was
[59:13] staying in business's pockets as
revenue. The average daily room rate
[59:18] then was just $12469.
[59:23] One of the strong regional goals we
heard across businesses was that we
[59:28] needed to generate at least 5% annual
growth and take back 1% of the
[59:34] province's tourism revenue share to help
them be viable. This became a
[59:39] foundational goal in the first MRDT
collection plan.
[59:45] Getting there took years of persistence
and was not a single decision as many of
[59:49] you in the room know. In 2015, tourism
operators across the region asked
[59:55] Caribou Chukoten Coast for a solution.
Research and industry input was
[1:00:00] undertaken. In 2016, our board took to
ask local governments if they would be
[1:00:06] willing to take on MRDT. Most of them
said no, but businesses continued to
[1:00:12] push the organization.
By 2017, the first regional collection
[1:00:17] plan was in place. And in May of 2018,
MRDT was launched across the majority of
[1:00:23] the region with 141 businesses remitting
in that first year. In 2019, we launched
[1:00:31] the land without limits consumer website
to give the region a real marketing home
[1:00:36] again. And in May 2023 on our first MRDT
renewal, it expanded to cover the entire
[1:00:43] Caribbean coast with 166 remitting
businesses.
[1:00:50] With that funding finally in place in
2017, here is what was set out for us to
[1:00:56] do in that first plan and has been
accomplished. We used destination BC's
[1:01:02] open pool funding to extend reach into
existing markets. Invested in key travel
[1:01:07] corridors like the gold rush trail.
Built regional branded marketing
[1:01:12] initiatives that were aimed squarely at
those goals of growing room occupancy
[1:01:17] and rate across the region. We ran
targeted campaigns. We advocated for
[1:01:23] better transportation across access,
including road, rail, air, and that darn
[1:01:28] ferry. We grew funding for destination
development, secured marketing staff for
[1:01:34] the region to execute the plans, and
kept the businesses engaged in shaping
[1:01:38] those plans every step of the way. Most
recently, we introduced responsible
[1:01:44] travel campaigns to protect what makes
the region and our communities worth
[1:01:49] visiting.
We've also started work that is still
[1:01:53] building momentum today from that plan,
including investing in third-party media
[1:01:58] rights on behalf of operators and
communities, and putting real research
[1:02:02] and performance monitoring behind
decisions instead of marketing
[1:02:06] guesswork. We support new tourism
products and experiences, are investing
[1:02:12] in strengthening industry knowledge and
business skills, and are tightening how
[1:02:16] we measure the return on every marketing
dollar.
[1:02:20] The team is reinforcing the identity of
the region as an outdoor recreation
[1:02:26] destination based on business's
direction, exploring new co-op and
[1:02:31] corporate partnerships, working directly
with the region's indigenous tourism
[1:02:35] operators, and growing programs in
sustainability, accessibility, and
[1:02:41] overnight stays across the board. But
our work from that first plan is still
[1:02:47] not done. We need more training for
frontline and visitor center staff so
[1:02:52] that every visitor to the region gets a
warm welcome and a quality experience
[1:02:57] start to fish finish. We need a real
signage strategy for our offhighway
[1:03:02] routes and remote destinations. And
beyond that, we're actively asking
[1:03:07] operators what are the new opportunities
in front of us today in the shifting
[1:03:13] landscape.
So is it actually working? Let's look at
[1:03:18] the numbers. This is the heart of what
we put together to come and share with
[1:03:22] you today. Starting with business
success in 2018,
[1:03:27] 141 accommodation properties were
remitting MRDT.
[1:03:31] By 2022, that had grown to 166. And in
2025, it's 194 properties. 53 more
[1:03:41] businesses eligible and remitting in 7
years. Now to be fair, we can't fully
[1:03:47] separate new businesses growing the new
businesses joining the program from
[1:03:52] natural growth because the increase in
2024 included that inclusion of Quinnel
[1:03:59] and Wells into the new collection. But
the trend underneath it is real and
[1:04:04] positive. Despite business transitions
across the region, we can say we've
[1:04:10] reversed the trend of losing tourism
businesses despite CO and other
[1:04:14] emergency impacts.
Referrals and leads to tourism
[1:04:18] businesses have grown even faster. In
our first year from 2017 to 18, the
[1:04:25] organization generated 9,678
referrals to business. This past year
[1:04:31] from 2025 to 26 that number was 54,685
and was up 12% from the year previous.
[1:04:40] These are real qualified business leads
being driven by marketing and handed
[1:04:45] directly to businesses in the region
every year.
[1:04:49] Now to room revenue. From where our core
target at the beginning was 5% annual
[1:04:54] growth in the first five years of
collection from 18 to 22 room revenue
[1:05:00] grew from $21.2 million to nearly 35 65%
growth more than $9 million ahead of our
[1:05:10] target while the rest of British
Columbia grew at only 36% in the same
[1:05:15] time period. In our current MRDT term,
between 2023 and 2025, we've added
[1:05:22] another 20% growth from 44.6 million to
53.7 million.
[1:05:30] The growth is beginning to moderate and
businesses are starting to tell the team
[1:05:34] that they are fully booked at certain
times of year. And this is exactly the
[1:05:38] kind of problem that we want to have.
This conversation will be an important
[1:05:43] one with operators when we begin to set
new targets in the next 5-year plan. And
[1:05:49] on to that provincial share. The
original goal was to take back 1% of
[1:05:54] BC's tourism revenue. In 2018, the
region held 0.75%
[1:06:01] and in 2025 we'd earned back to 1.08%.
43% growth or roughly a third of a
[1:06:09] percentage point of real hard one market
share taken back one campaign at a time.
[1:06:15] But we're not done yet. With revenue
growth exceeding expectations and more
[1:06:20] than doubling regional room revenue in
eight years of marketing and programs,
[1:06:26] our board feels that marketing is
actually making a difference.
[1:06:31] So, I'm going to move quickly through
the next few slides because this is
[1:06:34] where we're headed, not where we've
been. I mentioned research, and this is
[1:06:39] some personabased visitor profiling from
Environics Analytics. It maps out
[1:06:44] exactly who the core and opportunity
travel segments are across British
[1:06:50] Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario as our
core domestic markets. and the same
[1:06:55] profiling for our secondary US markets
in Washington, Oregon, California,
[1:07:02] Florida, Texas, and Colorado. This data
is the foundation for the new generation
[1:07:07] of targeted marketing for this region.
Reaching the right travelers with the
[1:07:12] right message instead of marketing
broadly and hoping it continues to land.
[1:07:19] None of this works without the operators
and businesses. 92% of tourism
[1:07:24] businesses in this province are small
businesses and they are the backbone of
[1:07:28] local economies right across this
region. In 2023, BC's tourism industry
[1:07:34] employed 125,700
people, up 7.9% from 2022, and paid out
[1:07:42] 5.9 billion in wages and salary, up
11.8%
[1:07:47] from the year before. These businesses
and employees in our communities are the
[1:07:53] backbone of tourism and who we're proud
to continue to serve.
[1:07:58] A strong criticism we've heard
repeatedly is that we refuse to share
[1:08:03] local details on collection. So that's
all very nice, but what actually gets
[1:08:08] collected right here in Quinnel. And
I've shared before our frustrations that
[1:08:12] we actually can't share that
information. So here is an MRDT
[1:08:16] statement in black and white. This is
what we get monthly in our dispersement
[1:08:21] letter from the provincial government.
The net payments on that letter
[1:08:26] represent local businesses across the
region that remit MRDT directly via
[1:08:31] their PST returns. The OAP line is
online accommodation platform
[1:08:38] allocations where a local business may
pay that fee to a platform such as
[1:08:42] Airbnb or VRBO and then they remit to
the province on their behalf. The
[1:08:48] province then takes their admin fee for
administering the program. They take the
[1:08:53] tourism events deduction fee which funds
fairs, festivals and event programs
[1:08:58] across the province including in our
communities. And the bottom balance are
[1:09:03] the real dollars that are transferred
directly to support the tourism
[1:09:06] marketing we've shared. As frustrating
as it may be, and our team shares the
[1:09:12] frustration when we're planning, there
is no way for us to carve out of those
[1:09:16] numbers what comes from right here in
Quinnel.
[1:09:21] So in closing, where does that leave us
today? In 2025, the Caribbean coast held
[1:09:28] 1% of BC's population and 1 08% of its
tourism revenue. 43% growth in our
[1:09:35] provincial share since we began. Room
revenues are up to 53.7 million, more
[1:09:42] than double where we started in 2018.
And there are more than 20% more
[1:09:48] accommodation businesses remitting MRDT
than when the current term began.
[1:09:54] We're overindexed on exactly the right
visitor profiles that we want coming to
[1:09:59] the communities and businesses in our
region. We're generating more than
[1:10:04] 50,000 warm qualified leads to
businesses every year. And last year,
[1:10:09] the program also created over $1.7
million in free media advertising at no
[1:10:17] additional cost and not out of our MRDT
budget. That's what a decade of
[1:10:22] investment, persistence, and partnership
with communities like yourself has
[1:10:26] built. Thank you very much for your time
and your continued partnership and
[1:10:31] leadership in your community. The
contacts on the screen, but I'd be happy
[1:10:35] to answer any questions.
>> Okay, thank you for that. Uh I think
[1:10:39] it's bundled up to be good news. So, so
thank you very much for that. I'm going
[1:10:44] to open the floor to questions. Uh
councelor Runge.
[1:10:47] » Yeah, thanks for the report. And yeah, I
do have questions. So, you you were able
[1:10:52] to give us uh that number of pe of
businesses that are submitting uh the
[1:10:57] MRDT text from 166 to 192 in 2024 that
included our local area. Do you know how
[1:11:03] many are from here?
>> No.
[1:11:06] » So, so that number that is given to you
by the province, the 166 to the 192.
[1:11:13] » No. Great question. uh we figure out
that number because we know what the per
[1:11:17] property submission fee for the admin
fee is. So I showed you that letter and
[1:11:22] we see what they take. If you divide it
by their per property submission admin
[1:11:27] fee then each month I can see the number
of businesses that remitted and average
[1:11:32] it over the year because of privacy and
PST they won't release any business
[1:11:37] information. almost fair but you know
it's too bad uh because you know what
[1:11:42] for me my my question is actually goes
back to the you know the triple C you
[1:11:46] know what are you hearing from our local
operators and once again from a city's
[1:11:50] perspective is there something that we
are missing here at the city costless of
[1:11:56] course that we can support these
business with businesses with you know
[1:12:01] from my past experiences with some of
our hotels and things and asking for
[1:12:05] funding during fairs and things like
that a lot of replies were, "Oh, it's
[1:12:09] not helping." But, you know, these
numbers actually speak a very different
[1:12:14] story. And it's a real positive story.
But I, you know, for me, it's still if
[1:12:17] there's something that you're hearing
that you communicate it, not with me,
[1:12:21] with staff so that they can come back to
us, right? And we can find a way to
[1:12:25] continue to support things. It's, you
know, for me it's really unfortunate
[1:12:28] that we can't get better numbers because
we're actually I'm not sure what of that
[1:12:34] 1% we are that Barkerville is that, you
know, where that support is. So, it
[1:12:38] becomes a a feel-good story, but one
that is ultimately just a feel-good
[1:12:43] story. Thank you.
>> Okay, Councelor McKelby.
[1:12:49] » Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just have a
comment. I just want to thank uh you Amy
[1:12:53] and Patty for being here and I this is
really encouraging and thank you for
[1:12:59] your hard work. It's all in the numbers
and they're proving that it's working.
[1:13:02] Thank you.
>> Okay. Thank you, Councelor McKelby.
[1:13:06] Councelor Rudenberg,
>> thanks and good evening you guys. Good
[1:13:11] to see you again. Um, so I know you
touched on a couple things like uh
[1:13:15] signage strategy, which I totally get
because I we actually traveled over to
[1:13:21] uh Velmont last weekend and I know
that's outside of the triple CTA, but
[1:13:26] it'd be really nice if the province, you
know, if we could get that that one
[1:13:29] style of signage for everybody, so you
knew exactly what you were looking for
[1:13:32] when you're looking at signage. Just
saying might be something you can talk
[1:13:36] to your colleagues about. Um, I know
this might be outside of the the scope
[1:13:41] of what you're doing, what you're
presenting today, but I'm kind of
[1:13:44] curious of what your wildfire strategy
is because we know that when people see,
[1:13:50] oh my god, the, you know, Colona is on
fire, they avoid the entire area all
[1:13:55] summer. So when we talk about our area,
what type of strategy have you in place
[1:14:00] that you know encourage people to come
when it's safe and that it's okay to
[1:14:05] come because everything's still in place
and we can still offer what you're
[1:14:09] looking for as a as a visitor.
>> Yeah, really great question. Um, we've
[1:14:14] done a lot of research. We've had a lot
of experience collectively together over
[1:14:19] the years. Um so the first step is
because we do so much digital targeted
[1:14:25] marketing now our marketing doesn't turn
off collectively like you had to turn
[1:14:30] off a program. It turns off an area
that's being impacted and continues to
[1:14:35] support the surrounding areas. So we're
better able to manage that flow and
[1:14:40] response. The media team um within our
wildfire strategy does a lot of media
[1:14:46] monitoring and education about the size
of the region, the size of British
[1:14:51] Columbia, the distance between
communities, sort of all of that to your
[1:14:55] point of just because there's a fire in
Colona doesn't mean you can't come to
[1:14:59] Quinnell or Prince George or Bella. Um
and they have a full-time monitoring
[1:15:04] strategy that corrects misinformation in
media. um so that we can
[1:15:10] you know retractions don't always change
what people saw but sometimes we can get
[1:15:15] a positive story out of that in an
education piece u and then we work very
[1:15:19] closely with the emergency management
team and British Columbia on people
[1:15:24] movement um ensuring those businesses
that are impacted have access toss and
[1:15:29] logistics and opportunities should they
choose to to have a different revenue
[1:15:34] stream during the interruption and then
finally the marketing team works on
[1:15:38] recovery marketing and messaging. So,
they're just getting ready to deploy new
[1:15:43] toolkits. Um, we shared information with
our operators this year about using
[1:15:47] social media to showcase real time.
Well, the North Caribou had blue skies
[1:15:52] and everybody thought there were smoke
advisories. We're encouraging businesses
[1:15:55] to show those daily photos and, you
know, use the power of people to break
[1:16:01] the misinformation that's in media. And
I think that's that's one of the
[1:16:05] important things is getting, you know,
the the local people who are in the
[1:16:09] midst of this. Um I just think there's
probably other opportunities and I can't
[1:16:15] tell you them off the top of my head how
the triplect can really reinforce the
[1:16:20] fact that you know the caribou and the
you know is doing well. You know it's
[1:16:25] almost like you know you put that blast
out there. It's not about following the
[1:16:29] online stuff, but it's about being
proactive and saying, "Listen, we know
[1:16:33] there are fires here, but check out
what's going on here." It's almost like
[1:16:36] you have to have those preemptive kind
of messaging to go out so that people
[1:16:40] really do get it because it takes more
than once for people to understand. So,
[1:16:44] I do appreciate that you have a fire
strategy, but I think that it's about
[1:16:49] being out ahead of the game more than
anything else in my mind's eye. So,
[1:16:53] thank you.
>> Thank you.
[1:16:55] » Okay. Thank you, Councelor Rudenberg.
Councelor Vic.
[1:16:58] » Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Hi.
>> Hi.
[1:17:00] » Uh, definitely the it seems the results
show to a lot of improvement at large
[1:17:06] for the entire region and and I think
what where we've had questions in the
[1:17:11] past is trying to drill down to see what
local businesses, local entrepreneurs in
[1:17:17] this space are saying. Have you given
any thought or any um consideration for
[1:17:25] creating data points from your office to
focus on
[1:17:30] nucleuses like Quinnell might be a
nucleus, Williams Lake might be on what
[1:17:34] the local operators are saying about how
things are going. Um have just so we can
[1:17:41] this is good data and it I'm proud of
that that our region writ large is doing
[1:17:46] well. But ultimately, as councelor Rush
sort of alluded to, it it's it's not
[1:17:51] in-depth enough for our community.
>> Yeah, I completely understand and thank
[1:17:56] you for the question. We do have
operators that share financials with our
[1:18:01] team um and share what's going on and
share details and we have that
[1:18:06] internally for decision making. We've
worked with the BCO tele association
[1:18:11] about trying to get some of that data
clustered. And what uh we run into both
[1:18:16] at that level and at our level is the
moment we say we want to roll it up and
[1:18:20] share it, but they're willing to share
becomes very much less because of
[1:18:25] competition. Um, so we don't have a
dashboard sort of being invested in at
[1:18:31] this point because of the challenges of
the number it takes to report without it
[1:18:37] being obvious that you're like, "Oh, I
know who that was." Um, for data
[1:18:42] security across it, but it is an ongoing
conversation that happens around our
[1:18:46] table and our marketing board all of the
time.
[1:18:49] » Yeah.
>> Just a quick followup, Mr. Mayor, and
[1:18:51] that and I I respect that. Um, but I
know Amy's team quite frequently sends
[1:18:57] out surveys to the business community in
Quinnell and I think that data has ended
[1:19:02] up being shared at large to the whole
community um during council meetings. So
[1:19:07] is there a way to draft a survey which
doesn't get into the weeds on financials
[1:19:14] for a business where they don't feel
comfortable sharing but at least gets a
[1:19:17] sense on how they feel about the
direction of your organization about the
[1:19:22] state of the world and and in business.
>> Yeah, absolutely. I can take back. We do
[1:19:28] um an industry satisfaction survey and
so does destination BC every year that
[1:19:34] asks not like less the financial of how
they're doing in business but what they
[1:19:38] think and familiarity with programs and
value. I can definitely ask the data
[1:19:42] teams how finely we're allowed to slice
that or whether they could change the
[1:19:46] wording when it goes out to ask it to be
shared at a community level.
[1:19:50] » Yeah, you're welcome.
[1:19:55] Okay, we're good to go. Anyone else?
Well, well, thank you, Amy. And uh I
[1:20:01] just want to put a bug in your ear that
uh 2028 is Quinnel's 100th anniversary.
[1:20:09] A great year to have your AGM here in Q
Town. So,
[1:20:13] » all right, put that in the book.
>> I'll talk to the team.
[1:20:16] » Thank you.
>> Okay. And again, uh thank you to you and
[1:20:19] Patty for uh for the presentation. As I
said, it's it it's very positive and uh
[1:20:25] that's all a tribute to to your hard
work and your due diligence. So, thank
[1:20:29] you again and we'll we'll stay in touch.
>> Thank you, Mayor. It takes a team.
[1:20:38] » Okay. So,
we have no items arising from previous
[1:20:46] special closed meetings. Now we will go
to reports and note that uh committee
[1:20:52] report regarding the housing solutions
table uh will be deferred until the next
[1:20:57] council meeting when um councelor Elliot
is back again. So I'll now go to
[1:21:04] committee report August 18th 2026
financial sustainability and audit
[1:21:10] committee councelor Vic to report.
>> Thank you Mr. Mayor. Uh we had a pretty
[1:21:16] thick agenda at our last meeting. So
understanding that council's probably
[1:21:21] read this report, I'll try and zip
through it a little quicker. Um so the
[1:21:26] first order of business was uh we took a
first pass at comprehensive fees bylaw
[1:21:31] for for the upcoming year. Um basically
no no big surprises. We do have some
[1:21:38] typical inflationary pressures. So
things like our utility rates will rise
[1:21:43] marginally for inflationary reasons but
nothing that uh we haven't seen in the
[1:21:49] past. Um the bigger discussion on this
part was regarding our cemetery rates.
[1:21:55] The the fee structure is going to
change. um residents in the city will
[1:22:00] not see a change but regional district
residents will see a change and that's
[1:22:04] by virtue of the fact that their
contribution to the cemetery function
[1:22:09] their contribution has lowered. So that
has resulted in a change to the fees
[1:22:15] that those residents will pay for plots
at the cemetery. Uh next we went into
[1:22:21] nonprofit permissive tax exemptions. So
there um BA basically uh there's two
[1:22:29] changes primarily this time around. One
of them is we'll be removing the tax
[1:22:33] exemption for the SPCA as they are no
longer acting as our city pound and that
[1:22:38] was a prerequisite for them to receive
the permissive tax exemption. Also the
[1:22:43] TICOM society has uh has a lot flurry of
activity with their folios. So there'll
[1:22:49] be a degree of consolidation
um to clean that up. Uh next we talked
[1:22:55] about funding to outside groups which
there are uh to my math there are six
[1:23:00] outside groups that we provide funding
to with the new council coming in. Uh
[1:23:05] we'll be asking each of these groups to
explain uh their needs uh how things are
[1:23:10] going so they can uh educate the new
council on their function and why uh
[1:23:15] they're receiving money from the city of
Cornell. Um, the big the big ticket item
[1:23:21] that we talked about at this meeting was
capital prioritization. I'm not going to
[1:23:25] get in too much depth on this because
Director Bolton will be covering this
[1:23:29] off in a staff report in a few minutes,
but basically this was the real meat and
[1:23:33] potatoes of the meeting. We have several
high priority capital projects uh coming
[1:23:39] to bear and we had to uh prioritize or
sort of have a function and a and a and
[1:23:48] a series of criteria to prioritize these
um projects. In the end, one of the key
[1:23:55] um factors in prioritization
was regulatory um compliance and that
[1:24:04] ultimately leads to a discussion on
water treatment as we are uh required to
[1:24:10] uh treat our water because of the
manganesees issue that sort of trumps
[1:24:14] other issues. So in the end, this
committee uh will recommend that that
[1:24:19] project receives priority and director
Bolton will talk a little bit more about
[1:24:24] that in her report.
Um
[1:24:28] basically that's that's about it. A
little bit of good news. Uh Director
[1:24:31] Bolton uh informed us that they were
able to rebuild a loader. I know it's a
[1:24:35] small detail, but I think it's good
news. We were able to re rebuild one of
[1:24:39] our loaders, and that uh may save us
$375,000 in borrowing. uh this year
[1:24:45] because we didn't have to buy a new
loader. So I thought that was great news
[1:24:48] and I thank the team for that and uh
there are the three uh for reference
[1:24:54] only the the recommendations that the
finance has made but that will be
[1:24:58] covered off in director Bolton's report
and the next scheduled meeting is the
[1:25:03] middle of September. I'll take any
questions if anyone has any.
[1:25:06] » Okay. Thank you councelor Vic. questions
from the from the council comments?
[1:25:13] Anyone?
Okay, seeing none, I'll um and you have
[1:25:18] no no recommendations that we need to
follow up as a result.
[1:25:23] » Not from this report. They're all for
reference only. They're going to be
[1:25:25] covered off from Director Pton's report.
>> Thank you. Thank you. Okay. So I'll go
[1:25:29] to the next item and that is a report
from myself uh on the excuse me June
[1:25:36] 19th Caribou Regional District Board
meeting and I apologize because this
[1:25:42] report I'm been re being relying on the
CRD for their uh reports that come out
[1:25:49] and this just came into our office. So,
I think what I'm going to have to do is
[1:25:54] craft a a report immediately after uh
attending a CRD meeting rather than
[1:26:00] relying on waiting for the Caribou
Regional District's report because this
[1:26:05] goes back about 3 months and uh we need
to do better than that. So um very
[1:26:12] briefly um regarding the um the nil
Hitzel eco
[1:26:20] um wind wind project uh that that uh
there was a a letter or pardon me the
[1:26:26] board received a presentation and um I
understand that the board has uh uh
[1:26:32] submitted a letter in support of that
and actually we have um a staff report
[1:26:38] coming up immedi immediately following
this. So there there will be some more
[1:26:42] business uh on that particular project.
Um the 2025 statement of financial
[1:26:49] information came out as it as it does
for all municipalities and regional
[1:26:54] districts uh in the car or in the in the
province. Uh the board approved
[1:26:59] sponsorship funding for the Williams
Lake First Nation annual POW and um
[1:27:04] performances in the park partnership
renewal. That is again a Williams Lake
[1:27:10] event that the uh the board approved.
And there were a bunch of other um
[1:27:15] pieces of business that dealt with um
South Caribou uh Regional Airport and
[1:27:21] Esler Recreation Capital projects. Uh so
I'll conclude right there and if there's
[1:27:26] any questions, I'd be happy to answer
them.
[1:27:32] Okay, seeing none, let's move on to
staff report uh 6426.
[1:27:38] And this this is on the Hixon I can't
pronounce that. I'm sorry, the wind
[1:27:42] project at Hixon. And um so I'm going to
go to manager Reed for this report.
[1:27:50] » Thank you, Mayor. The purpose of this
report is to provide clarification
[1:27:53] regarding the Nili Eco wind project's
planned use of the Quinnell landfill.
[1:27:58] And if it's okay, I'll just say wind
project going forward. At the July 28th
[1:28:03] council meeting, council requested staff
bring further information regarding the
[1:28:07] use of the Cornell landfill by the wind
project. The draft socioeconomic impact
[1:28:13] assessment summary states non-hazardous
materials will be collected and also
[1:28:18] disposed of in accordance with
applicable provincial and federal
[1:28:22] regulatory requirements. The Quinnell
landfill is the closest landfill to the
[1:28:26] project site and it is anticipated the
bulk of non-hazardous materials will be
[1:28:31] transported there depending on the
ability of the landfill to accept
[1:28:35] project related waste at the time of
construction. If project needs cannot be
[1:28:40] easily accommodated by existing landfill
capacity,
[1:28:44] NET Ecoenter will explore alternative
disposal locations with local and
[1:28:49] regional authorities in adherence with
local permitting requirements.
[1:28:54] I did reach out to the project manager
and he couldn't provide an accurate
[1:28:57] volume estimate at this time, but his
email noted that it would likely be a
[1:29:02] few construction bins per month. He also
confirmed that if capacity was a
[1:29:07] concern, an alternate location for waste
disposal could be identified. Once
[1:29:11] volumes can be confirmed, the city may
deny access to the landfill. A letter of
[1:29:16] support for the project will not be
considered approval to use the landfill
[1:29:19] for waste generated during construction.
So the recommendation is that council
[1:29:25] provide a letter of support for the wind
project for their energy regulator
[1:29:29] activities act permit application.
>> Okay. Thank you.
[1:29:47] » Yes. Thank you. Thank you for putting
that call out because it was us that
[1:29:50] requested uh the the landfill question
and and I do I'm really happy to hear
[1:29:55] that it the amounts here and like I said
before, you know, as long as it's been
[1:30:00] it's been approved, we're not worried
about end of life things right now, but
[1:30:03] I see that the city can at any time if
if it's stuff that we can't deal with,
[1:30:07] they can just say no. So, I do
appreciate you reaching out. If there's
[1:30:10] a chance for me ever to talk to them,
I'd love to find out more about this. Uh
[1:30:13] but thank you very much for for checking
in on us for for this.
[1:30:19] » Okay, thank you for that. Any further
questions before I call the question on
[1:30:23] the question?
Okay, seeing no further comment or
[1:30:28] question. Are we all in favor? Opposed?
One opposed. You wish your vote
[1:30:34] recorded. Uh so please record councelor
McKelby's vote.
[1:30:39] Okay, thank you for that. And then we
will go now to staff report 65/26
[1:30:50] city staff report local government
climate action program reporting local
[1:30:55] government intermuel to report.
>> Thank you Mr. Mayor. The purpose of this
[1:31:02] report is to provide council and the
public with a copy of the local
[1:31:05] government climate action report
submitted by the city for 2025's
[1:31:10] greenhouse gas emissions.
The local government climate action
[1:31:14] program LGCAP
provides stable funding to local
[1:31:19] governments and modern treaty nations.
This funding supports local climate
[1:31:23] actions that reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. Municip mi municipalities
[1:31:29] with a population exceeding 5,000
residents must measure and report their
[1:31:34] corporate emissions profiles for
traditional services to remain eligible
[1:31:38] for funding. The most recent statistics
Canada data for 2021 states the
[1:31:44] population of Cornell census subdivision
is 9,889.
[1:31:50] The survey requires greenhouse gas
emissions to be reported as tons of CO2
[1:31:54] equivalent.
In 2025, the greenhouse gas emissions
[1:31:59] for traditional services directly
delivered and contracted services as
[1:32:04] defined by LGCAP
were 1,144.37
[1:32:10] TCO2E,
which is a 3% increase from 2024's
[1:32:16] 11,000 sorry 1,11.44
[1:32:20] TCO2E.
the it's my sorry it's the recommend the
[1:32:26] point of this proposal is just for the
council to receive this report for
[1:32:30] information only. Thank you.
>> Okay. Thank you for that. So um yeah
[1:32:35] we've been advised that uh this is for
for council information. So therefore uh
[1:32:40] no um resolution is required but I will
open the floor to questions from anyone
[1:32:46] that uh that wishes.
Okay. seeing you're you're you're
[1:32:50] getting off easy here tonight. So So
thank you for your report. Okay. So the
[1:32:55] next one
is staff report
[1:32:59] uh 66/26
capital prioritization. Director Bolton
[1:33:06] to report.
>> Thank you. The purpose of this report is
[1:33:10] to discuss the prioritization of major
projects in the 20-year capital plan and
[1:33:14] articulate some recommendations for the
new council arriving this fall. The
[1:33:18] financial sustainability and audit
committee has reviewed this report and
[1:33:21] recommends the resolutions included in
the report. So, a major challenge facing
[1:33:26] the community is that infrastructure
costs continue to rise without a
[1:33:29] matching increase in revenue. With the
city's assessment base remaining
[1:33:32] relatively stable, these costs are
generally passed on to residents through
[1:33:35] higher taxes taxes and user fees. At the
same time, the city faces ongoing
[1:33:40] pressure to direct more operating funds
towards social and other needs. The
[1:33:44] challenge is not expected to ease
significantly in the near future through
[1:33:47] growth, new revenue sources, or
additional provincial funding. As a
[1:33:50] result, council will need to consider
how much taxes and fees can reasonably
[1:33:54] increase to maintain existing services
and whether some service levels should
[1:33:58] be reviewed to support long-term
sustainability.
[1:34:01] And then I've given just different ways
we evaluate capital projects at uh c at
[1:34:06] budget time, just the things we think
about. So strategic alignment, whether
[1:34:10] or not there's a regulatory requirement,
improvements to service levels,
[1:34:14] consequence of failure is a big one.
Other operational risks and economic
[1:34:18] impacts. Those are all the things we
think about when we look at every
[1:34:21] project and decide whether or not it
should go forward. We did do the master
[1:34:24] infrastructure plan just a year and a
half ago, I guess, now, and it looked at
[1:34:28] all our projects that we need in the
20-year plan to maintain our services.
[1:34:32] And it showed that property taxes will
need to increase by at least 1% per year
[1:34:36] for the foreseeable future to fund the
current level of roads, drainage,
[1:34:39] buildings, and related infrastructure,
and that water fees will need to
[1:34:43] increase by 1.5% and sewer fees by 1%.
All of this is before inflation. And of
[1:34:48] course, as we all know, the world's
going a bit crazy right now, so we don't
[1:34:51] know where inflation's going. So, it's
something we'll have to continue to
[1:34:54] watch. So, the infrastructure plan and
20-year financial plan were based on
[1:34:58] using debt for any large significant
building renovations in the future, such
[1:35:01] as the RCMP building, and assume
significant grant funding for water
[1:35:05] treatment. So, I gave a little summary
of how some of our capital funding
[1:35:09] sources are changing. And then we talked
about the three projects that are in the
[1:35:13] 20-year capital plan that will likely
require debt financing. So that's
[1:35:17] replacing a fire ladder truck, the RCMP
renovation if it proceeds, and water
[1:35:22] treatment.
So these will all require debt. I spoke
[1:35:26] a little about our debt capacity. It's
not an issue. I mean, we've run out of
[1:35:30] taxes to pay the debt before we'd run
out of debt capacity. Um, so then here's
[1:35:35] the large projects that we need to think
about. So water the water treatment
[1:35:38] project is a regulatory requirement and
the largest project facing the city in
[1:35:42] the near future. The water treatment is
a project that infrastructure grants
[1:35:46] have been given for in the past. So,
we'll continue to look for grants for
[1:35:49] that. Our city's our current water fees
are lower than average than across the
[1:35:53] province because we aren't currently
paying for water treatment. So, this is
[1:35:57] one we'll look for grant funding for. I
gave just some examples there. You can
[1:36:00] see depending on how much grant funding
we get, how much this will cost us per
[1:36:04] year. Um, one of the in in addition to
the capital cost, water treatment also
[1:36:08] has approximately a million dollars of
operating costs once it's up and
[1:36:11] running. So that'll increase our water
costs each year.
[1:36:15] The RCMP detachment, another project
that could potentially require debt. So
[1:36:19] the renovation is a priority project for
the detachment. Although parking issues
[1:36:22] related to the project remain
unresolved, the project should be
[1:36:26] reviewed with the new council, including
the discussion of the parking
[1:36:28] requirements and the preferred timing
for a referendum on the required debt
[1:36:31] funding. Because there's currently no
reserve funding for major building
[1:36:35] projects, works of the scale will
generally need to be funded through
[1:36:38] debt. At this time, there are no other
significant building projects
[1:36:41] anticipated. So, in the 20-year plan, we
don't have any other big buildings
[1:36:45] coming at us. So, again, I showed the
potential tax increase just due to the
[1:36:51] debt payments that we would be required
if we take debt for our share of the
[1:36:54] RCMP renovation. The province would pay
part of that building because they have
[1:36:58] officers in that building, too. And then
the fire equipment. We've got a ladder
[1:37:02] truck that we're going to have to
replace here in a few years. The last
[1:37:05] one was debt funded, and that's debt is
almost out. So then we would take a debt
[1:37:09] to fund the new one. So I've included a
copy of all our large projects over the
[1:37:14] next 10 years just for information. And
I also included a chart of the potential
[1:37:19] tax increases. This is just estimates
ballparks just so someone knows kind of
[1:37:23] where we're headed and kind of the
challenges facing us. But I just want to
[1:37:26] make sure it is estimates and of course
the new council will have a lot of input
[1:37:30] into this. So the recommendations just
to give some direction to staff as we
[1:37:35] move forward on these especially the
unfunded projects. Do you want me I'll
[1:37:39] do them one at a time. The first one is
that council directs the water treatment
[1:37:42] capital project to be the priority
project for infrastructure grant
[1:37:45] funding. Recognize the city will be
required to fund a portion of the
[1:37:48] project and to seek grants that
contribute at least twothirds of the
[1:37:51] cost.
[1:37:57] » Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Councelor
Run is moving seconding councelor Vic.
[1:38:03] Any discussion, comments?
Okay. Are we all in favor? Opposed?
[1:38:09] Carried. Thank you. That's a big one.
>> Okay.
[1:38:13] » Okay. So, now um
we go to council information.
[1:38:19] » No, I I've still got two more
resolutions. I'm sorry. Yeah.
[1:38:22] » So, the
I I've got two more resolutions.
[1:38:27] » Oh, okay.
>> Okay. Go ahead.
[1:38:29] » The second one is the council directs
future budgets to be built with a 1.5%
[1:38:33] increase per year in taxation to the
capital reinvestment reserve to fund the
[1:38:37] capital replacement projects in the
master infrastructure plan. This is in
[1:38:40] addition to the required increases for
sewer and water fees each year.
[1:38:45] » Okay. I'm sorry I misread that. I
thought it was all sort of an omnibus um
[1:38:51] resolution. So this is the second of
three resolutions. Councelor Vic, you're
[1:38:56] moving. Councelor McCelby is seconding.
Any discussion? Councelor Runge.
[1:39:02] » Yeah, I think this is a good way to
slide into some of these other things
[1:39:04] too. Uh, with regards to our debt funded
projects because this is pushing a lot
[1:39:09] of this 1.5% in my mind. Uh, and also
some of these other things going forward
[1:39:14] with regards to the ladder truck, are we
able to maybe consider, you know, what
[1:39:18] what is actually being used? I think is
a fairly common practice across North
[1:39:21] America, the same thing as the loader to
rebuild it at a significant cost. Is
[1:39:25] that are we able to do that with
insurance?
[1:39:27] » I don't think so. With the trucks,
there's very strict requirements about
[1:39:30] what the fire underwriters insurance
requires. They can only be such an age.
[1:39:34] So once they reach an age, we have to
either move them into a lower level of
[1:39:38] service or we lose our level of in of
insurance that we have, which would
[1:39:42] affect everyone's home insurance.
>> So, so I'd really like to request that
[1:39:46] we can possibly have a chance sometime.
I'm not sure how busy staff is because
[1:39:50] indications are on research is that
actually other communities do do this
[1:39:54] and extend truck lives by 10 or 15 years
which would be above the 10 years that
[1:39:58] they originally used them. So just if
that's a possibility it would be
[1:40:01] wonderful. That's
>> you're talking fire truck specifically
[1:40:04] » that fire in this case because it's a $3
million uh purchase if we were able to
[1:40:08] spend something to extend it at a lower
cost that would push down other costs
[1:40:12] going forward. Like I'm for me it goes
back to this 1.5%.
[1:40:17] I understand we're going to be voting on
this and my understanding is that yes,
[1:40:22] it's a baseline that we're going to be
looking on, but councils have to have
[1:40:25] the ability to actually look at taxes
and say, "Hey, we can or can't afford
[1:40:30] this at the given time." But it's it's
to make sure that we're getting that
[1:40:33] money for the water treatment, which is
a must.
[1:40:36] » And I just want to be clear, the 1.5% is
just for the capital reinvestment
[1:40:39] reserve. So the debt projects are all on
top of that. So there's tax increases
[1:40:43] for those that I've listed in those
charts below on top of that. So
[1:40:47] » yeah, I'm just for me personally, I'm
just worried that we're, you know, if I
[1:40:51] when I just look at these numbers
without the chance of re of revisiting
[1:40:54] them by a future council or by
>> every budget will look at these things.
[1:40:59] » Well, we have to look at these things
and say, is this actually a possibility
[1:41:02] still? I understand that we have to put
a baseline there to say, look, if we
[1:41:06] want water, we we need to start putting
stuff away for water. Uh, and I'm
[1:41:11] hoping, you know, I'm, you know, with
all these crazy things going on
[1:41:15] internationally and south of the border
and our Canada Builds funds that maybe
[1:41:19] we can tweak someone's ear there in
Ottawa to say, "Hey, Cornell really
[1:41:22] needs some water here. How about
chucking us 50 mil so we can get going
[1:41:25] and build Canada strong here in
Cornell?" Uh, and and same possibly with
[1:41:29] ARMP while we're at it. Anyway, uh,
yeah. So, and that's I guess that goes
[1:41:34] to because people know that I'm
inc uh I'm adverse to increasing taxes
[1:41:42] by too much. I mean, I don't think
that's that's uh you know, surprised by
[1:41:46] anyone. So, I just So, for me, I want
the option still to I don't mind saying
[1:41:50] yes, we're looking at this 1.5, but I
really need me or any other council
[1:41:55] that's going to be in the future there
looking at saying here, can we still do
[1:41:57] it?
>> Thank you.
[1:42:00] » Yeah. Well, well said, councelor Runge.
Councelor Vic,
[1:42:03] » thank you. It's a lot to unpack there,
sir, but yes, of course, any future
[1:42:09] council can take a look at what we've
decided here tonight potentially, and
[1:42:14] make adjustments based on the situation
they find themselves with at that
[1:42:18] moment. The the goal here with these
three recommendations, which were
[1:42:22] halfway through, is staff needed some
direction to focus energy. Right now,
[1:42:27] we've identified the water treatment as
a critical critical issue and that's
[1:42:34] where staff energy needs to be to try
and get these grant funds through Canada
[1:42:37] builds or wherever else and we've
identified that it has to contribute at
[1:42:42] least 2/3 of the cost otherwise the
burden becomes uh significant. And then
[1:42:48] regarding the second element of our
recommendations, the 1.5% increase,
[1:42:52] which is not to do with water treatment,
is just to to continue to um effectively
[1:42:59] replace and and um repair the
infrastructure we have today because
[1:43:05] these are projections for the future
costs and we will to to make sure we can
[1:43:10] meet that baseline to cover off these
replacements. This 1.5% is what is
[1:43:15] forecasted to cover those costs.
However, all of that can go out the
[1:43:19] window if there is an acute issue with
taxation or the economy of the day of
[1:43:24] the day. So, um anyway, thank you, Mr.
Mayor.
[1:43:28] » Okay. Thank you. Any anyone else? Do I
do I have a mover and seconder for
[1:43:32] resolution number two of three?
>> Yes, you do.
[1:43:35] » Uh okay. Thank you. And um no more uh
questions or comments. So, I will now
[1:43:41] call the question on resolution number
two. All in favor? Opposed? carried
[1:43:46] unanimously. Okay, let's go to
resolution number three.
[1:43:50] » And the final resolution that council
directs staff to look at the potential
[1:43:53] solutions for RCMP parking and that this
be built into the plan for the RCMP
[1:43:57] detachment renovation before going to
referendum.
[1:44:02] » Okay, moving councelor Rudenberg
seconding
[1:44:07] councelor Vic. Questions, discussion.
Okay, I'll call the question. All in
[1:44:13] favor? Opposed? carried unanimously.
Okay, thank you. Moving right along.
[1:44:21] Uh now we go to council information
package and I would ask that um uh
[1:44:27] number one be brought forward. Um madame
clerk, I wonder if you can you summarize
[1:44:33] that for us, please. Or do you want it
read into the record in in its entirety?
[1:44:48] Yeah.
[1:44:51] Would you like would you would you like
me to read it? I'm going to do that.
[1:44:54] This is a letter from Lori Bowen. Um I
am a senior citizen, taxpayer, and
[1:45:00] homeowner and business owner in the
Cornell area for 50 years. I have lived
[1:45:05] in Cornell for 50 years, raised our
children in Quinnell and worked at the
[1:45:09] se at several places of Northern Health
for Northern Health throughout the years
[1:45:13] and served on many different sports
committees over these years. We have
[1:45:18] never felt a worry about our children
going in our downtown and walking
[1:45:22] around. I would never allow this to
happen with our grandchildren as it is
[1:45:27] so unsafe now. I am disgusted and
disturbed with the number of homeless
[1:45:32] wandering our downtown area now. Drug
use, theft, sex acts defecating on the
[1:45:38] streets, not to mention the safety of
the residents of Cornell, which was once
[1:45:43] a beautiful downtown area. I have
empathy for our business owners in the
[1:45:48] downtown area, which have many stories
to date. I had an incident on Thursday,
[1:45:54] July 9, midday. I was only out of my
vehicle for 5 minutes walking in front
[1:45:59] of the Royal Bank when a lady approached
me yelling at me to call 911. I had to
[1:46:05] back up and said no. She then became
aggressive and started swearing foul
[1:46:10] words at me and coming closer. A female
security came along and got her to move
[1:46:16] on. This is not okay for our citizens of
Quinnel. I have purchased a defense
[1:46:21] mechanism for myself for the next time
something happens and I have full
[1:46:25] intentions of protecting myself and I
also uh purchase some other family or
[1:46:31] some four other family members. I am
writing in hopes that we can work on a
[1:46:37] plan for making our city improved. I
have heard many other friends and family
[1:46:42] and have confrontations on that have had
uh confrontations on the streets of
[1:46:48] Cornell. I have heard for years that
city council received money from these
[1:46:53] for these people being brought to
Quinnell. I still do not know the answer
[1:46:57] to this. We know most of these people
are not from our town. So who is
[1:47:01] bringing them and dropping them off to
destroy our town? If they are bust here,
[1:47:07] who is footing the bill? Why do we have
to suffer the consequences of a bad
[1:47:11] decision? This is signed as a concerned
citizen of uh Cornell Lori Bowen. Um so
[1:47:18] this is obviously a a very heavyduty
letter and and I asked for it to to be
[1:47:25] brought forward. Uh we we will be having
a uh PSP which is public uh safe or
[1:47:33] public safety and policing uh meeting
coming up. We haven't set the date yet.
[1:47:38] Uh but it it is coming and certainly
this item will be on that agenda. I I'll
[1:47:44] leave it open to to council for any
questions. Councelor Rudenberg,
[1:47:48] » not so much a question, but um so on the
very last paragraph, can you answer the
[1:47:54] lady um the first question she asked is
that uh council receives money for
[1:47:59] people that come into Cornell. Can you
let her know whether that's true or not?
[1:48:03] I know what the answer is. Can you let
her know, please?
[1:48:07] » I I certainly I mean, I'm I'm going to
call her. I've got I've got her number,
[1:48:11] but I but I wanted to see this on on the
agenda. I mean um I I as a mayor and I'm
[1:48:18] sure that other council members have
also received calls from people that um
[1:48:23] they saw somebody u a bus unloading
people and and the last two that I've
[1:48:29] received, I said, "Do you have a cell
phone?" "Yes, I do." I said, "Do you do
[1:48:33] you do you know that there's a camera in
your cell phone?" I mean, nobody's ever
[1:48:38] provided a picture or a photograph of of
a bus unloading people in the middle of
[1:48:43] the night. So, um,
>> so, but my my my question to you is to
[1:48:48] answer that first question that council
receives money for people coming to
[1:48:53] Quinnel. And I think people need to hear
this from council that that is not true
[1:48:58] and they need to hear it from the mayor
>> because I know I don't see it in the
[1:49:01] budget. Do you see it in the budget? Uh
as chair of the finance committee, I
[1:49:06] don't think you see money in the budget
coming in from
[1:49:09] Sorry. So you say that to the community,
I believe, mayor. Well, that's what I've
[1:49:14] been doing for the last two years is is,
you know, anytime that um somebody
[1:49:19] accuses the city of accepting money
under the table or over the table, I I
[1:49:24] say, "Where's your evidence?" I I it's
not true.
[1:49:28] » Thank you. And I I just wanted you to
say that. So, thank you.
[1:49:31] » Yeah,
>> I appreciate that.
[1:49:33] » Okay. Is there anyone else on this one?
But as I say, it'll it will be coming up
[1:49:37] at PSP and we just need to set a date
and and also we're we're discussing um
[1:49:44] you know how that how that public safety
and policing meeting will be handled. Uh
[1:49:49] some of these meetings are are held uh
behind closed doors and and I'm all for,
[1:49:54] you know, opening the doors and and
having a a town hall of some sort. So
[1:50:00] stay tuned.
Anything more on this one?
[1:50:04] But I but I will be um contacting Miss
Bowen. And the uh the second one that we
[1:50:11] have on the agenda or pardon me under
council information is number six and
[1:50:17] it's just for council information. Um,
I'm not going to go into detail, but the
[1:50:22] Quinnell Kangaroos are submitting a bid
to host the 2027 Western Canada Savage
[1:50:29] Cup Hockey uh, Championships, and
they've asked for a letter of support
[1:50:34] from the mayor. So I have just basically
put this letter of support on the agenda
[1:50:39] to get the word out that uh that we are
in support of of them that this is not
[1:50:44] the first time uh that the Koi or the
Koi Cup the the the Savage Cup follows
[1:50:50] the Koi Cup and so this is not the first
time that we've ever that we've ever um
[1:50:55] hosted the Savage Cup here in Cornell.
And uh so I'm I'm hoping that everyone
[1:51:01] would be in agreement with that.
Councelor Rudenberg,
[1:51:05] » thank you. And I appreciate that you've
responded to them. I hope that you could
[1:51:09] uh perhaps send uh their request to
joint planning to see if joint planning
[1:51:14] would like to send a letter of support
also.
[1:51:17] » Okay, that that's that's a good idea.
They they had just asked for a letter
[1:51:20] from the mayor, but you you raised a
good point. So if uh if uh we have in
[1:51:25] fact we have a a a joint advisory coming
up. So maybe if if staff could uh put
[1:51:31] that on the agenda to get a second
letter of support, I think that would
[1:51:36] that would go a long way. I I do know
that they were up against a deadline for
[1:51:40] this. So but but certainly if even if
the uh a letter from Joint Advisory is
[1:51:45] is a few days late um so be it. So u
anything more on that?
[1:51:54] Okay. So uh the next item is oh under
correspondence and I I'll just move
[1:52:00] right into this one and um I will read
the letter from the um
[1:52:09] from the legion. This is addressed to
mayor and city council. Dear Mayor and
[1:52:15] Council, 2027 will mark the 100th
anniversary of the Royal Canadian Legion
[1:52:20] Caribou Branch 94, and we are planning
several events to mark this milestone.
[1:52:26] You might also be aware that our Senate
is in need of extensive repairs. This
[1:52:32] will involve raising the monument to
allow for a new foundation to be poured.
[1:52:37] Our executive feels that since the
Senate needs to be lifted and moved,
[1:52:42] this may be an ideal time to consider
relocation. You are all aware of the
[1:52:47] logistics required to put on a parade
such as on Remembrance Day as it
[1:52:52] requires official, and I underline the
word official rrooting of Highway 97 on
[1:52:58] Carson Avenue. I have received approval
from branch executive to request use of
[1:53:04] the northwest corner of the city's
parking lot at Kinchant and Barlo for
[1:53:10] permanent relocation of the Santa. This
would keep the memorial on Veterans Way
[1:53:16] in close and safe proximity to the
branch and highly visible to the public.
[1:53:23] It should be noted that this property
was sold to the city by the Legion at
[1:53:28] the city's request in the late 1990s. If
approved, this would require relocation
[1:53:34] of the city's public notice board, which
is located in the same spot. We would
[1:53:40] appreciate having the Senate relocated
and repaired in time for rededicated
[1:53:46] uh to be rededicated for the branch 94
100th anniversary date on October of
[1:53:53] October 10, 2027. We do have access to
funding for this project. Thank you for
[1:54:00] considering and hopefully approving our
request. I remain respectfully yours,
[1:54:05] Doug. Doug Kerry Kerry, uh, chairman of
the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 94
[1:54:11] 100th anniversary committee. Um, so I'm
just going to bounce this over to staff
[1:54:16] for comment. I don't know if we're we're
basically want to get this on the on the
[1:54:21] table for for discussion uh by staff.
Then staff can come back with some
[1:54:26] recommendations.
>> Yeah, we don't need a resolution for
[1:54:29] this. I'll take this as staff direction.
And in fact, staff had a a meeting about
[1:54:32] it briefly. We're going to meet again
next week to discuss how to to take
[1:54:35] this. I do just want to pass on to
council. We will focus on that corner of
[1:54:39] the parking lot, but we may also work
with the Legion on other areas within
[1:54:42] that parking lot that might be might
also work. So, I don't want to limit it
[1:54:45] just to that corner till we've had a
chance to look at the bigger picture and
[1:54:49] implications for the city and our own
development plans.
[1:54:52] » Yeah. Once staff has had an opportunity
to to review and and report on this, a
[1:54:56] report will be coming back to council
for council's uh decision. So, we'll
[1:55:01] leave it at that for now. Um, so now
under bylaws, uh, bylaw number 1985,
[1:55:08] city of Cornell, appointment of officers
and delegation of authority amendment
[1:55:12] bylaw number 1985 of 2026, final
adoption. Uh, mover moved by councelor
[1:55:18] Goule, seconded councelor Vic. Any
discussion?
[1:55:23] Seeing none, all in favor? Opposed?
Carried. Thank you for that. We have no
[1:55:30] new business or business arising. Uh
information and question period. If
[1:55:35] there's anyone in the gallery that
wishes to come forward and ask a
[1:55:39] question. Uh and it's not a comment. You
have to ask a question that is
[1:55:43] pertaining to the uh the agenda tonight.
And when you do come forward, simply
[1:55:48] identify yourself for the record and um
and state your question.
[1:55:54] Uh seeing none,
um we have no um we have no changes to
[1:56:03] upcoming meeting schedule. Um we have no
changes to committee appointments,
[1:56:10] announcements, and events. Anyone?
[1:56:15] Okay, seeing none gallery questions.
No gallery questions. Okay, then this is
[1:56:22] getting easy. So now a motion to
adjurnn. All in favor? Oh move. I'm
[1:56:28] sorry. Councelor Rudenberg is moving and
councelor Goule is seconding. Now I call
[1:56:33] the question. All in favor of
adjourning. Thank you everyone. Good
[1:56:36] evening. Thank you.