[0:02] this conference will now be

[0:23] recorded welcome back I'd like to resume

[0:25] the city of Salmon Arm regular council

[0:27] meeting of Monday March the 24th

[0:30] welcome to you we are meeting both

[0:33] virtually and in person we have

[0:35] councelor labry with us virtually along

[0:38] with some media and um members of the

[0:40] public and people who are interested in

[0:42] some of the topics we're covering today

[0:45] councelor lingren councelor Canon

[0:47] councelor Flynn councelor Canela

[0:48] councelor Wallace Richmond and myself

[0:50] are in the council chamber along with

[0:52] our staff some guests in the gallery so

[0:55] welcome to you all it's nice to see you

[0:58] I want to begin with a in in the

[1:00] traditional

[1:02] territory we acknowledge that we're

[1:04] Gathering here on the traditional

[1:05] territory of the shmc people with whom

[1:08] we share these lands and where we live

[1:11] and we work

[1:13] together just before we adopt the agenda

[1:16] today we have a special presentation a

[1:18] very important presentation um that

[1:20] Council would like to

[1:22] make so

[1:25] um we are very proud of our CAO um who

[1:30] has earned a certificate in local

[1:31] government executive management

[1:34] congratulations Miss Jackson and uh this

[1:38] certificate in executive management is

[1:40] not one that's just given out you have

[1:42] to earn it and you have to work hard at

[1:44] it and uh one of the things I know we

[1:47] all appreciate about Miss Jackson is her

[1:49] willingness to learn um uh every day and

[1:53] to share that with her staff so I would

[1:55] ask Council if they would join me in the

[1:56] front so that we can present our Cao

[2:00] with a certificate

[2:45] I'm gonna

[2:49] call councel labry if you speak then you

[2:52] will be on the screen so Council saying

[2:54] in this

[2:55] photo thank you I'm virtually joining

[2:57] you and congratulations to Miss Jackson

[3:00] well done

[3:39] councelor lav I know that you're not

[3:41] present uh I'll give you an opportunity

[3:43] if you wish to say anything um please

[3:46] indicate so thanks your worship I just

[3:48] congratulations I extend uh as Council

[3:51] has congratulations to Mr Jackson well

[3:53] done thank

[3:56] you okay counselors that's a good way to

[3:59] start a uh council meeting um we have an

[4:03] agenda in front of us I'll just check

[4:05] with our CEO to see if there are any

[4:07] changes to the

[4:09] agenda thank you worship there is one

[4:12] late addition um item

[4:16] 12.1.4 a letter from a Singh better

[4:19] citizen

[4:20] Solutions great thank you very much so

[4:23] that'll be part of informational

[4:24] correspondence Council as

[4:28] 12.1.4 with that addition to the agenda

[4:31] can I have a move in a second or to

[4:33] adopt the agenda councel ganella Council

[4:35] Wallis Richmond thank you all those in

[4:40] favor that passes

[4:42] unanimously counselors we'll go to

[4:44] disclosure of Interest around the

[4:47] regular council meeting if there's any

[4:49] counselors with a disclosure of Interest

[4:52] they would like to share please indicate

[4:58] now okay I see none thank you we'll go

[5:01] to confirmation to minutes the regular

[5:02] council meeting of March the 10th we

[5:05] have a mover in a seconder please

[5:06] councelor lingren councelor Canon thank

[5:08] you any additions deletions to those

[5:13] minutes seeing none I will call a

[5:15] question all those in

[5:17] favor that passes unanimously thank

[5:21] you 6.2 is the parcel tax rooll review

[5:26] panel meeting minutes of March the 10th

[5:28] if I could have a move and a second for

[5:30] that councelor canella councelor Wallace

[5:32] Richmond thank you any additions or

[5:35] deletions to those

[5:37] minutes call a question all those in

[5:41] favor that passes unanimously any

[5:44] business arising from either of those

[5:47] minutes okay we'll go to committee

[5:49] reports and again Council we don't pass

[5:51] their minutes they pass their own but uh

[5:54] we will just go through them to see if

[5:55] there's any items that you want to raise

[5:57] item 71 is the development to plan

[5:59] planning Services committee meeting

[6:01] minutes of March

[6:03] 17th is there anyone who would like to

[6:06] raise anything in those

[6:09] minutes seeing none I'll go to 72 the

[6:12] agriculture advisory committee meeting

[6:13] minutes of March the 12th any business

[6:16] arising from those

[6:21] minutes seeing none we will go to the

[6:24] Columbia shwop Regional District update

[6:25] there's not a written update today but

[6:27] if there is any verbal update from

[6:29] either of our reps um now would be the

[6:31] time please indicate

[6:36] so councelor lavry please go

[6:39] ahead uh yes thanks your worship and I

[6:41] certainly defer to councelor Flynn for

[6:43] further comment uh just to let Council

[6:46] know that uh last week at um csrd there

[6:51] was the adoption of the tax requisition

[6:53] for

[6:54] 2025 to the city of Salmon Arm uh and it

[6:57] represents uh a lower ing of the tax

[7:00] requisition by about

[7:03] 8.63% um that lowering also reflected

[7:08] some increases uh we know Ben van

[7:10] nostran was here to talk to us about the

[7:13] um the thorny problem of saving money

[7:16] for uh landfill closures down the line

[7:19] and that's going to be addressed later

[7:21] on uh but that was a significant

[7:23] increase as well as costs for uh uh

[7:27] admin and it and general government but

[7:30] on the whole um it's a reduction of that

[7:33] amount uh that the regional district

[7:35] will be asking from the city of

[7:37] seminar thank you councelor labry for

[7:39] that summary councelor Flynn if you wish

[7:41] to add thank you worship um all I would

[7:44] comment on is I want to thank Mr van van

[7:47] nostran for coming and attending a

[7:49] planning meeting and doing a

[7:50] presentation on the intricate world of

[7:54] landfills and landfill closures and all

[7:57] of that um really want everybody to be

[8:00] very aware that the solid waste

[8:04] management plan review is ongoing and

[8:07] it's about a two-year process and I

[8:10] think one of the significant things in

[8:12] light of the taxation being used for

[8:15] landfill closures is a balance between

[8:19] taxation of residents of the Columbia

[8:22] Shoop whether they use the landfills or

[8:24] not and I'm not sure anybody doesn't use

[8:26] them in some way um but taxation versus

[8:29] is user fees and tipping fees and um

[8:34] that was brought up at the csrd table

[8:36] and what's fair and that's a extremely

[8:41] political discussion it's an extremely

[8:43] uh difficult discussion around current

[8:45] users future users um but landfill costs

[8:49] are not going to go down closure costs

[8:51] are not going to go down and I think

[8:53] finding that balance of tipping fees

[8:56] versus taxation is not going to be easy

[8:59] but that that's undergoing right now so

[9:02] um if it

[9:03] stays weighted to taxation we'll see

[9:06] these more increases possibly if we look

[9:09] at more tipping fees perhaps paying for

[9:11] some of that that might be fair because

[9:14] it's a user pay but there's a fine

[9:16] balance on how high you raise tipping

[9:17] fees as well thank you councelor Flynn

[9:21] thank you councelor lavry appreciate

[9:23] that and just want to comment uh

[9:25] councelor lbry thank you for your

[9:27] summary of the 2025 budget and um you

[9:31] know our requisition as you stated is is

[9:34] less um and the reason it is less is

[9:38] because we have uh decided to do our own

[9:43] uh tourism DMO um and so that was a

[9:47] reduction 182,000 plus the film

[9:49] commission 12,000 so I don't want people

[9:52] to think that we're getting the same

[9:53] service from the csrd as we were before

[9:56] um with much less money we have decided

[9:58] that uh um we're going to follow through

[10:02] on those on our own and in fact this

[10:04] year probably saving about

[10:06] $80,000 in the tourist budget because of

[10:10] that all right let us move forward then

[10:12] to

[10:13] 9.1 is a development permit application

[10:16] number

[10:17] 464 the address is 621 10th Street

[10:21] Southwest ble and Gibson's Company

[10:24] Limited agent is Angus newfeld sash

[10:27] developments limited we have a motion

[10:29] for consideration Council for the DP I

[10:32] could have a mover and a seconder

[10:34] councelor lingren councelor Flynn thank

[10:37] you Miss Jeffrey good afternoon thank

[10:39] you for uh working walking through the

[10:42] DP with us thank you your worship the

[10:45] subject property is 6211 Street

[10:48] Southwest west of 10 Street Southwest

[10:51] and directly north of the Picadilly Mall

[10:54] it is designated in the official

[10:56] community plan as Highway service

[10:58] tourist commercial and the property is

[11:01] zoned C3 tourist commercial the property

[11:04] is currently vacant the purpose of this

[11:07] development permit application is for

[11:10] the construction of a 1, 1892.jpg

[11:29] along the frontage which staff view as a

[11:32] positive enhancement to the street skate

[11:35] The Proposal is also permitted in the C3

[11:37] tourist commercial Zone the design

[11:40] review panel are supportive of the

[11:42] application as presented in the drawings

[11:45] including in the staff report staff are

[11:47] satisfied with the design and support

[11:50] the development permit as proposed staff

[11:52] are available should Council have any

[11:54] questions thank you very much Miss

[11:56] Jeffrey counselors I'm going to open it

[11:58] up to you for any questions any comments

[12:00] that you may wish to

[12:06] make counselor Flynn thank you worship

[12:09] uh I welcome this application I support

[12:11] it I appreciate the work done by their

[12:13] design review panel because I'm

[12:15] certainly not a architect or necessarily

[12:19] have good taste when it comes to

[12:20] buildings so having the design review

[12:22] panel make comments having applicants um

[12:26] quite often follow those directions and

[12:29] having it come to us in a final form

[12:31] makes it very easy at this table to

[12:33] support this in this location and in

[12:36] this design thank you councelor Flynn

[12:40] any other comments from Council

[12:42] councelor lavry please go

[12:43] ahead oh that's from the last one

[12:46] councelor lavry no I'm good thanks fly

[12:48] support okay thank you any other

[12:51] comments from

[12:53] Council I'll just make brief uh comments

[12:56] first of all uh thank you to the

[12:58] representatives um

[12:59] um from this development for being with

[13:01] us this afternoon once again um as they

[13:04] were at meeting of the whole uh as

[13:08] counselors have have mentioned both then

[13:10] and now uh this is allowable use in that

[13:13] zone the development permit meets all of

[13:17] uh the guidelines that are asked and the

[13:19] design review panel um is in

[13:23] favor so I say welcome welcome to new

[13:26] business seminar um it's great to see

[13:28] that space being um filled in and it's a

[13:31] wonderful location for the proposed use

[13:33] so I will certainly vote in

[13:35] favor seeing no other speakers I will

[13:38] call the question all those in

[13:40] favor that passes unanimously thank you

[13:43] very

[13:46] much okay we will go to 92 director

[13:49] planning Community Services climate

[13:51] resiliency plan steering committee

[13:56] appointments um there is a motion for

[13:58] consider

[14:02] I would ask uh if there's any amendments

[14:05] to that motion councelor lingren please

[14:07] go ahead thanks your worship I would

[14:09] like to make an amendment that we uh

[14:12] change the number of alter uh sorry

[14:16] members at large on the committee from

[14:17] three to

[14:18] four thank you second or to that uh

[14:23] motion councelor lavry thank you very

[14:25] much any discussion around that change

[14:30] so then I'll call the question all those

[14:32] in

[14:35] favor that passes

[14:38] unanimously okay now we have a motion

[14:41] for consideration which would include

[14:43] the names that are on the list as well

[14:46] as for Citizens at large councelor

[14:48] lingren please go ahead and press your

[14:50] button thanks your worship so I'd like

[14:53] to put forward the names for members at

[14:55] large as Evia canuteson Amy valerine o

[15:00] Paul Whitfield and CLE

[15:02] eroic thank you is there a second or to

[15:05] that motion thank you councelor lavry

[15:07] for the second could I just take this

[15:09] opportunity your worship to thank the

[15:11] people that put their names forward yes

[15:13] if you wish to speak to your motion for

[15:15] sure absolutely go please go ahead it

[15:16] was actually a fairly difficult decision

[15:18] today because so many qualified people

[15:21] put their names forward um that's why

[15:23] we've increased the number of members at

[15:25] large from three to four it would have

[15:26] been awesome if we could have increased

[15:28] it to include everybody that put their

[15:30] names forward as there was no one uh

[15:32] that was a bad choice on that list so

[15:35] just thank you to the community for your

[15:36] engagement on

[15:37] this thank you very much councelor

[15:40] lingren and it is a committee of 21 and

[15:43] so um it was as you say really

[15:46] encouraging that we had a lot of

[15:48] interest um but in order to make it

[15:51] functional we've budged it from three to

[15:53] four um so thank you for the motion um

[15:56] any further comments around the motion

[16:01] seeing none I'll call the question all

[16:02] those in

[16:05] favor that passes unanimously thank you

[16:08] and best of luck to that steering

[16:14] committee okay counselors

[16:17] we're up to item

[16:21] 9.3 which is General manner shop

[16:23] Recreation Society Recreation Central

[16:26] postal code data and I'll just preface

[16:30] Mr jro's report by suggesting part of

[16:36] the process maybe to forward this report

[16:39] to the csrd because we want to be

[16:41] completely transparent um in sharing our

[16:45] factual data and uh then if there's any

[16:47] direction we wish to give staff that may

[16:50] be a part uh following Mr jro's um

[16:54] discussion of the report thank you Mr

[16:56] jro for putting it together thank you

[16:59] good afternoon worship and Council so

[17:02] over the past year uh samon Recreation

[17:04] has been collecting postal codes to

[17:05] profile where our users live this

[17:08] includes postal codes from the

[17:09] recreation center Rogers rink and City

[17:12] Sports fields and courts the postal

[17:14] codes were collected by email requests

[17:16] and responses from associations and

[17:18] users providing their post codes while

[17:20] checking at the front desk all post

[17:22] codes were collected with permission of

[17:24] the user or the sports association's

[17:26] executive they were able to uh comp a

[17:29] sample postal codes from uh following

[17:32] the list the table included in the

[17:33] report uh should be known we weren't

[17:35] successful obtaining every user group as

[17:38] multiple user groups either did not

[17:40] respond or there was sometimes a refusal

[17:42] to provide we feel the sufficient sample

[17:45] size of postal codes were collected to

[17:46] deliver an accurate

[17:48] representation um you can see the graphs

[17:49] for the reports with the

[17:52] data and this uh report at this time is

[17:55] for information and I am available for

[17:56] any questions you may have thank you

[17:59] Mr J can we can we ask you we've seen

[18:02] the graphs and had chance to look at

[18:04] through them is it possible just to have

[18:06] you speak through each of the P graphs

[18:08] um for members of the public who might

[18:10] be interested certainly yeah so the sasu

[18:12] recreation center um again the data was

[18:14] from one year February 2024 to February

[18:17] 2025 at the recreation center we saw a

[18:20] 78% from City of Salon arm 11% from the

[18:25] csrd 6% from rdno

[18:28] uh the tnrd shows 0% but there would

[18:30] have been a very small amount from tnrd

[18:33] and other was 5% we further broke this

[18:35] down into um other areas of our regional

[18:39] districts so area C of the Columbia sh

[18:42] Regional District was 18% area D 1% area

[18:46] e 6% and area G

[18:49] 26% Regional District of north Okanagan

[18:52] account for

[18:53] 25% and Thompson North Regional District

[18:56] uh was 2% other was 22% uh to not that

[19:00] that was only the um other one so that

[19:04] doesn't account for the city of Salon

[19:05] arm so that was a total of 4,323 postal

[19:08] codes thank you so just to

[19:11] clarify the area C is 18% of

[19:17] 11% yes that is correct you worship yes

[19:19] thank

[19:20] you please continue so further at the

[19:23] Rogers rink um we collected 1,577 poster

[19:27] postal codes 74% of use was from the

[19:30] city Salmon Arm 20% csrd 4% rdno 1% tnrd

[19:36] and 1% other we further broke the uh

[19:39] other the

[19:42] 26% down into uh the regional districts

[19:46] uh so Columbia Regional District area B

[19:49] represented 3% area C 24% area D 0% but

[19:55] there have been a very small number with

[19:57] that area e 8% area G 44% Rd 16% tnrd 2%

[20:03] and other

[20:06] 3% further we uh analyzed our field and

[20:10] Court user participants so a total of

[20:13] 2,32 postal codes collected 67% of those

[20:17] from City Salmon Arm 14% csrd 9% rdno 1%

[20:22] tnrd and other at

[20:25] 9% we further broke that down into the

[20:27] regional district areas um of the csrd

[20:30] area b a very small amount 0 to 1% area

[20:34] C 9% area D 0 to 1% area e 8% area G

[20:41] 24% RDO represented 27% tnrd 4% and

[20:47] other of

[20:51] 28% great thank you very much and thanks

[20:53] for walking us through those graphs

[20:55] really appreciate that I'm going to open

[20:56] up the counselors for any questions

[20:58] comments they might like to make

[21:00] councelor Flynn please go ahead well

[21:02] first of all thank you and thank you for

[21:04] clarifying the pie charts um great

[21:08] information um we've needed this for

[21:10] some time um and I do want to thank you

[21:14] and your team for collecting this

[21:16] information because based on The quick

[21:20] summary it seems like some users weren't

[21:22] very Cooperative which is a little bit

[21:25] disappointing um knowing that we're

[21:27] trying to plan future facilities and

[21:30] cost sharing but um thanks to all those

[21:33] who did give that information it's nice

[21:36] to have this um I I am not surprised I

[21:42] think we can I am surprised a little bit

[21:44] that the users of the Arena are more

[21:46] Regional than the users of the multiplex

[21:50] or the the gym and pool that surprised

[21:53] me um that being said I do want to say

[21:58] that

[21:59] we need this information because in my

[22:03] mind we are probably the jurisdiction in

[22:05] the province and I'm may be asking for

[22:08] somebody to put together some more

[22:09] information that has the least Regional

[22:11] funding of two very major

[22:15] facilities the arena and the pool gym

[22:19] complex I want to make it clear that

[22:21] from my point of view the field and

[22:23] Court use outdoor Fields Outdoor Court

[22:26] use is not the issue because our

[22:28] residents go to other communities and

[22:30] use fields and that's why the number I

[22:32] think is higher from Nord than you would

[22:35] expect because of the soccer groups and

[22:37] ball groups that travel around the okon

[22:39] aen playing on everybody's

[22:41] courts I don't feel we need to do

[22:43] anything with field and courts but I

[22:46] feel very strongly that we have to do

[22:49] something about our taxpayers

[22:53] subsidizing and I would say subsidizing

[22:55] with tax dollars about 25% of the usage

[22:59] if we look at a new facility we've heard

[23:01] already that pools are around $60

[23:04] million um to not have some kind of

[23:08] pricing that has outside of the area

[23:12] users who don't pay it through taxes pay

[23:14] something is not fair so personally I

[23:19] want to look at adjusting rates for next

[23:21] year but that's a whole other discussion

[23:23] but I do want to ask our CAO who would

[23:26] put together a report that shows what

[23:29] other areas are doing maybe similar size

[23:31] communities and how much contribution

[23:33] they're getting from the outlying

[23:37] regional areas Chief administrator offer

[23:40] your worship staff can uh take that on

[23:43] I'm not exactly sure who has the

[23:45] capacity at this current moment in time

[23:47] but staff can spearhead that okay

[23:50] because I I feel that this is the first

[23:53] piece of information we at this table

[23:55] need about 25% usage is non local

[24:00] taxpayers I think the other piece we

[24:02] need to understand is what are other

[24:03] areas doing that have the only major

[24:06] facility for the whole region and how

[24:09] are they getting revenue and in a lot of

[24:11] cases it's a referendum and it's

[24:14] taxation in other cases it's

[24:16] differential user fees which Vernon has

[24:18] implemented um and so I think we need to

[24:20] look for the next budget at how we are

[24:23] going to solve the free users Fe thank

[24:26] you councelor Flynn I'll come back to

[24:28] you for a motion perhaps if you're

[24:30] comfortable waiting toit okay thank you

[24:32] and we'll just go to other speakers now

[24:34] councelor lingren any comments or

[24:36] questions on the data yeah I just

[24:37] wondered if um somebody could clarify

[24:40] for people who don't know where the

[24:43] rdno the regional district of North Oak

[24:46] aen and the tnrd where they butd up

[24:48] against um either the municipality or

[24:51] the csrd because I think there'd be a

[24:52] significant portion of the community who

[24:54] don't know what where these boundaries

[24:56] are yeah thank you for that question

[24:57] I'll pass that to chief administrative

[25:01] officer your worship this is a test to

[25:04] me and I'm not sure if I have anyone on

[25:06] if you like Darren do you

[25:09] know yeah I believe so Enderby would be

[25:13] the uh

[25:16] Aro and

[25:18] then

[25:19] heading be cam was Chase Chase would be

[25:23] uh Thompson

[25:25] Nia I think that the boundary for the um

[25:28] rdno is actually much closer to ranero

[25:31] than Enderby so um people should realize

[25:35] that they live in significantly

[25:38] different areas they are not taxed at

[25:40] Municipal rates if you live uh on Grand

[25:42] View bench you don't contribute to these

[25:45] um re these resources that you use if

[25:48] you live um in grin rod and you skate in

[25:50] Salmon Arm you're not contributing uh

[25:53] any of your tax dollars to support these

[25:55] facilities and I think that it's really

[25:56] important that people understand

[25:58] uh I I think homeowners May understand

[26:01] which district they're in because they

[26:02] have to go somewhere to pay their

[26:04] property taxes but people who are

[26:05] renting will probably have no idea which

[26:08] Regional District they live in thank you

[26:11] councelor lingren thank you for the

[26:12] question it was a good one councelor

[26:14] Canon thank you worship um thank you for

[26:17] the report this was great to uh get a

[26:21] look at this we figured it was probably

[26:24] 20 plus from previous um in history

[26:28] reports that we saw long ago um I think

[26:33] really this is uh we have to educate um

[26:38] after we discussed this at budget time I

[26:40] had lots of emails from people from the

[26:43] csrd region saying please don't

[26:46] Implement differential pricing so as

[26:50] soon as we put it on the table and start

[26:52] discussing it it brings up the

[26:55] conversation and I think that's our

[26:57] whole

[26:58] purpose of doing this and I think these

[27:01] figures obviously are very

[27:04] interesting and I

[27:06] think until we're discussing it and

[27:09] bringing up the conversation we're not

[27:11] going to

[27:12] do anything about it I mean in history

[27:16] when we built our Arena facility um

[27:20] there was a real push in

[27:24] area Rano ranero area to not support us

[27:31] financially for the arena the new arena

[27:34] there was a real push for someone saying

[27:37] vote no to this and I think I mean

[27:41] that's quite a few years ago and now

[27:43] it's at the table again with these uh

[27:46] this information and I think we at this

[27:49] table need

[27:51] to carry the conversation and bring it

[27:54] back and look uh if we get a staff

[27:57] report back from staff what other

[28:00] communities have done and how we're

[28:03] going to go about doing this because I

[28:05] want to see us move forward with either

[28:08] uh pushing the csrd to look at it in

[28:11] their areas uh so that they are

[28:14] contributing I mean this shows us that

[28:17] they are using and um I think that's

[28:20] what we need to do in the future so

[28:23] that's something that I really want to

[28:25] push for at this table so whether it's

[28:27] differential pricing that's going to get

[28:30] us there and we may have to go the route

[28:32] of differential pricing so that the

[28:35] conversation gets pushed even

[28:38] further thank you councelor Canon um and

[28:41] thanks for your leadership in this in

[28:42] this part um councelor lavry please go

[28:45] ahead yeah thanks your worship and

[28:48] thanks to Mr jome and staff for uh

[28:50] coming up with this reporting I think

[28:52] it's very confir confirmative um your

[28:55] worship I think that we all know at this

[28:56] table that we've committed to share this

[28:59] update with the csrd so you know we can

[29:01] forward it to them I'd like to see Mr

[29:03] jro available at that time when it comes

[29:05] up um if there are any questions from

[29:08] that board about the data collection

[29:11] piece and I think it's incumbent on our

[29:13] two elected uh refs councelor Flynn and

[29:16] myself uh to regularly update that board

[29:20] on the political process of that so I

[29:22] think that's that's something we all

[29:23] know but just to emphasize that we pass

[29:25] it on and if Mr jro could be there for

[29:28] that meeting I think that would be

[29:29] helpful um to speak to data collection

[29:33] not not

[29:34] policy um you if I agree with the

[29:38] comments made so far and that we need to

[29:41] engage in a sort of step-by-step

[29:43] analysis of options um and perhaps

[29:46] Council Flynn's going to come up with

[29:47] the motion I don't know but my thinking

[29:49] right now is that we should just accept

[29:52] this report

[29:54] today and put forward because I think it

[29:56] is important at each

[29:58] step that we are fome in our process

[30:01] both publicly and and at our table um

[30:04] that we come up with a uh fome notice of

[30:08] motion that sets out exactly what

[30:11] counselor wants staff to look at for

[30:13] future options I think that helps us I

[30:15] think that helps staff um I would be

[30:19] happy to support a such a notice of

[30:22] motion and and again if Council Finn

[30:24] wants to go for a motion today that

[30:25] that's fine but um I think a notice em

[30:28] motion gives us more time to craft

[30:31] things

[30:32] specifically um I'd be happy to support

[30:34] that I'd be happy to work on a

[30:36] co-sponsorship of it um I'd leave that

[30:39] up to others I don't think we have to

[30:41] reinvent the wheel here uh there are

[30:43] models out there um that are there for

[30:47] all communities from a number of

[30:49] communities that are we're not this is

[30:51] not new um and I see staff coming back I

[30:54] think in all sorts of timing uh

[30:58] parameters to come back this fall so

[31:01] that we consider it partly for budget

[31:05] process but also partly for electoral

[31:08] areas uh if they want to hold a

[31:10] referendum about

[31:12] contribution um that that would be

[31:14] available for the uh October 2026 if

[31:19] they so choose to uh put that in front

[31:22] of their electrc so I again thanks you

[31:25] worship I can I finish up just with my

[31:27] own take on this right

[31:29] now yeah please go ahead councelor labry

[31:32] then going ask you for a formal motion

[31:33] about part of what you said go ahead

[31:36] okay

[31:38] um my own take as clear as possible I've

[31:42] have come to the position that and again

[31:44] I will wait for staff reports and

[31:45] options and look at that with due

[31:47] consideration but I'm currently feel

[31:50] that a system of Salmon Arm residency

[31:53] pricing for kyre

[31:55] facilities uh is needed

[31:58] and it would prioritize two things one

[32:01] would be pricing differential resident

[32:04] tiered pricing so that Salmon Arm

[32:07] taxpayers are supported for the use of

[32:11] their Rec facilities that they pay

[32:13] for and I would include hopefully other

[32:17] electoral areas who might want to

[32:19] support their own residents by entering

[32:22] into a reasonable operations and

[32:23] management uh uh maintenance cost

[32:26] sharing agreement other jur itions have

[32:28] it it can be done it doesn't have to be

[32:31] controversial and to move forward the

[32:34] second part of it is that I am

[32:36] increasingly supportive that uh under

[32:39] such uh resident

[32:42] programming that Salmon Arm taxpaying

[32:45] residents would be given preferential

[32:47] access to what's now highly

[32:50] oversubscribed

[32:52] programs that it's tough for Salon arm

[32:56] residents to get into because there's

[32:57] such a demand

[32:58] and I am becoming more and more in favor

[33:01] that Salmon Arm residents who are paying

[33:03] the tax bill for this have uh a one or

[33:05] twoe window to register first for

[33:07] programs that they actually

[33:10] subsidize or other electoral areas who

[33:13] decide to participate in a sharing

[33:15] agreement would have that same access to

[33:17] that's where I'm coming from your

[33:18] worship uh the first step is a public

[33:20] report of options for Council to

[33:22] consider thank you thank you councelor

[33:25] lavry and the motion I was thinking was

[33:27] I think it would be nice to have a a

[33:29] formal motion to forward this report to

[33:33] the csrd and if you would be willing to

[33:36] make that motion I would see if I could

[33:37] get a second or yeah iig thought that

[33:40] would probably understood but yeah that

[33:41] that's no problem I would make that

[33:42] motion we've and we've already committed

[33:44] to that anyhow is there a second to the

[33:46] motion councelor Wallace Richmond any

[33:48] discussion around the motion that's just

[33:50] to release to the

[33:52] Cs all those in

[33:54] favor okay thank you very much I think

[33:56] it's important to have that form motion

[33:58] because we want to be transparent we

[33:59] want to make sure that that information

[34:01] is received officially put on the agenda

[34:03] and as as Council lry has mentioned

[34:06] perhaps Mr jro would be able to attend

[34:08] um to supply any information around

[34:11] statistics okay um further discussion

[34:13] counselor Flynn thank you worship as uh

[34:17] with all due respect to staff I am not

[34:19] going to try to do a rambling Kevin flnn

[34:22] motion at this table I'm going to just

[34:24] support councelor lavy's call for a

[34:26] notice of motion at the next meeting so

[34:28] we can work on that with staff because I

[34:31] will have a great motion that will be

[34:33] way too long and way too poorly worded

[34:35] so councelor Flynn can I ask you to work

[34:38] with councelor lavry then to put

[34:40] together that notice of motion um for

[34:42] the next council meeting I think that

[34:43] would be a good yingyang combination so

[34:46] yes okay excellent I oh and oh councelor

[34:49] can wants to help as well okay I think

[34:51] that combination would be great then

[34:53] councelor Flynn councelor Canon

[34:55] councelor labry doesn't have to be and

[34:57] and can I just I think it's really

[34:59] important when we put all these numbers

[35:02] together I agree with councelor Canon's

[35:03] comments this is about

[35:05] education I don't think taxpayers in our

[35:08] area or even in our town realize that

[35:11] about half of the cost of those

[35:14] facilities is tax

[35:16] dollars the other half is recovered

[35:18] we're approaching $2 million I believe

[35:21] of Taxation between the two

[35:23] facilities and to not have any of it

[35:26] except 60,000 to toal from our regional

[35:29] area is not fair and is not right and

[35:32] it's not what's going on in the rest of

[35:34] the province so I can't wait we'll put

[35:36] the notice a motion together the three

[35:38] of us will work with staff and we'll

[35:40] hopefully have it for the next meeting

[35:42] the bo the next full council meeting

[35:44] thank you councelor Flynn appreciate

[35:46] that is there any counselor who has not

[35:47] spoken who would like an opportunity to

[35:51] share okay I think uh the counselors

[35:54] have looked after uh it very well thank

[35:55] you so much thank you Mr jro for your

[35:57] report and we'll look forward to a

[35:59] notice motion at a future meeting put

[36:01] together by counselors and

[36:04] staff all right we are going to

[36:07] 9.4 which is the general manager shop

[36:10] Recreation Society Canada Day

[36:11] celebration Festival proposal there is a

[36:15] proposed motion if I could get a moover

[36:17] and a seconder councelor Wallace

[36:18] Richmond councelor ganel would second

[36:20] and I'll pass it over to our manager of

[36:23] shop Recreation Society Mr Dro it's nice

[36:25] that you Happ to be here thank

[36:28] you so Recreation Society we recognize

[36:31] the absence of a Canada Day Festival uh

[36:33] celebration um we're eager to explore

[36:36] opportunities to reunite the community

[36:38] for this occasion so our goal would be

[36:40] to host event um at the Rogers rink in

[36:43] sasu Recreation

[36:46] Center um we uh host uh activities such

[36:50] as a ball hockey tournament which was

[36:51] hosted last year on short notice and not

[36:54] a lot of advertisement which we feel was

[36:56] a good success

[36:58] uh Artisan Market a familyfriendly fund

[37:00] Zone food trucks some music and a show

[37:02] and

[37:04] shine staff have uh put togethere a

[37:07] preliminary budget cost between 7 to

[37:10] $10,000 and the 2025 budget includes an

[37:13] amount to

[37:14] $14,000 uh for Canada Day

[37:17] Celebrations and uh at this time we're

[37:19] looking to um have Council support and

[37:22] authorize a contribution of up to 10,000

[37:24] to the sh Recreation Society to host a

[37:27] canidate festival at Roger rink and sasu

[37:29] Recreation Center thank you very much Mr

[37:32] Jal and I'll just check with our Chief

[37:33] Financial Officer that the motion

[37:36] assumes that that money comes from the

[37:37] cada to Day Celebrations Reserve should

[37:40] that be a part of the

[37:41] motion uh yes your worship that was in

[37:44] the 2025 budget line item coming in from

[37:47] the reserve and there was an expense

[37:49] line showing 14,000 great thank you so I

[37:52] think it would be a friendly Amendment

[37:54] if councelor Wallace Richman councelor

[37:55] ganella were okay

[37:58] okay thank you we'll accept that as a

[37:59] friendly Amendment the source of the

[38:00] money okay counselors anyone wish to

[38:02] speak to this

[38:04] motion councelor Flynn well I want to

[38:08] thank the director of acting director of

[38:11] engineering Public Works whatever your

[38:12] title is right now um and Sho shop Rec

[38:16] Society for um bringing this forward um

[38:20] We Have Heard lots at this table that uh

[38:22] the city should be doing more for Canada

[38:24] today and we've always said in a lot of

[38:26] communities it's an outside group but

[38:28] I'm glad you're taking it on I very much

[38:30] support this I did want to ask a quick

[38:33] question with regards to detail would

[38:35] the ball hockey be indoor Mr J or

[38:38] outdoor through worship yeah we propos

[38:40] to host it indoor on our dry floor okay

[38:43] um unfortunately I all I was going to

[38:46] comment is that the second biggest

[38:50] um number of non US basketball players

[38:55] is from Canada probably the MVP this

[38:59] year in the NBA will be Canadian and we

[39:01] have significant youth basketball groups

[39:05] so I was hoping the hockey would be

[39:07] outside the ball hockey and perhaps

[39:09] basketball inside but I'm not going to

[39:10] get into the logistics I just think our

[39:12] community is a significant basketball

[39:14] community and it would be nice to

[39:16] somehow celebrate that as well I think

[39:18] it's a great time to celebrate Canada I

[39:21] very much supported and thank you for

[39:23] stepping up thank you councelor Flynn is

[39:26] there any other com who wish to

[39:30] comment I'll just Echo councelor Flynn's

[39:32] uh comments except for the basketball

[39:34] piece because I don't really understand

[39:35] all that um but uh I think it's great

[39:39] too that you're reaching out to you know

[39:41] other groups um I'm sure there's groups

[39:43] in the community which would like to

[39:44] help if not financially you know with uh

[39:48] with handson so thank you to shop

[39:50] Recreation um I agree there's there's no

[39:54] better time to celebrate Canada than

[39:55] this year so I certainly support the

[39:58] motion all right I don't see any other

[40:00] speakers so I'll call the question all

[40:01] those in

[40:03] favor that passes

[40:06] unanimously Council we're now to uh tab

[40:10] 11 which is reconsideration of bylaws

[40:12] this is final reading of these bylaws of

[40:14] course questions are always welcome I

[40:16] know that you're quite familiar with

[40:18] them so I won't go to the director of

[40:20] planning Community Services unless

[40:22] someone has a question for him so the

[40:24] first one 111 is zoning 4692

[40:28] um which is uh f&j nort agents pu

[40:31] Barberton um you're familiar with the

[40:34] location if I could have a move in a

[40:36] second or to pass this byw for a final

[40:40] time councelor canala councelor Wallace

[40:42] Richmond thank you I'll open it up to

[40:44] counselors any comments any questions

[40:47] you wish to

[40:50] ask call a question then all those in

[40:55] favor and thank you to the home for

[40:58] walking through the process and uh

[41:00] making it as smooth as

[41:02] possible item 112 is uh subdivision and

[41:06] development servicing Amendment bylaw

[41:08] number

[41:10] 4698 um we have a proposed motion if we

[41:12] can have a move a seconder councelor

[41:14] Flynn councelor Canon thank you we had

[41:17] quite a discussion about this one and

[41:19] certainly welcome to any questions or

[41:21] comments people wish to make before I

[41:24] call a question on it

[41:28] seeing none I will call a question all

[41:29] those in

[41:30] favor that passes unanimously thank you

[41:35] Council counselors we're going to go to

[41:37] informational correspondence under tab

[41:40] 12 uh we have five pieces uh because we

[41:43] have one extra one that was added late

[41:46] so I will uh open it up to you for any

[41:48] items that you wish to speak to or make

[41:50] motions about councelor lingren thank

[41:52] you thanks your worship

[41:55] 12.1.2 um I just wondered if the staff

[41:59] could maybe comment on if there are any

[42:02] reasons from the city's perspective why

[42:04] this might not work and whether or not

[42:06] it would be appropriate for us to uh

[42:08] write a letter of support sure um I'll

[42:12] pass that to the chief administra

[42:13] officer thank you worship um staff have

[42:17] no concerns um about supporting the

[42:20] registration um with roing Canada and

[42:23] Rowing BC of a new nonprofit society as

[42:26] requested in the letter

[42:29] would you like to make that motion

[42:30] Council Lang yeah in that case I'd like

[42:32] to make a motion that we write a letter

[42:34] of support for the formation of the new

[42:38] rowing Society the Salmon Arm Rowing

[42:40] Club thank you second to that councelor

[42:43] ganella thank

[42:44] you any discussion around the motion

[42:48] councelor lingren did you wish to speak

[42:49] to your motion okay councelor Flynn did

[42:52] you wish to speak to that motion please

[42:53] go ahead councelor Flynn I just had a

[42:54] question to we're almost at March

[42:58] 31st and it says they've got a tight

[43:01] time frame us approving this today are

[43:03] they going to have time to make it for

[43:04] that or is that not our problem yeah I I

[43:07] have been in touch with Miss Mills and

[43:09] uh um we will write this letter as soon

[43:12] as we can and get it off to her and that

[43:13] would meet the timeline okay I very much

[43:15] support thank

[43:17] you any further

[43:20] discussion all those in

[43:24] favor that passes unanimously thank you

[43:27] councelor Flynn did you wish to speak to

[43:28] another item no councelor Wallace

[43:30] Richman yeah uh thank you your worship

[43:33] um item

[43:35] 12.1.4 yes please go ahead the Canada

[43:38] community building fund

[43:41] um which is managed with the Union of BC

[43:45] municipalities is hosting a series of

[43:47] workshops on the next steps um of that

[43:52] fund and how it might impact various

[43:55] communities in our province

[43:57] the Colona version will be held uh June

[44:01] 3r um it's free to attend and lunch is

[44:05] provided uh I would like to attend I may

[44:08] not be alone um so I just wondered about

[44:13] process in terms of uh getting that

[44:15] heads up for that or the thumbs up for

[44:18] that yeah if counselors were willing to

[44:20] make a motion to uh support councelor

[44:22] Wallace Richmond in attending that June

[44:24] thir thirdd Workshop in Colona I would

[44:26] uh

[44:27] I would entertain that councelor ganella

[44:29] would move it councelor Flynn would

[44:31] second it and councelor Wallace Richmond

[44:33] I know that you are um at the Forefront

[44:37] of our housing um strategy so I think

[44:40] it's very

[44:41] appropriate um councelor Flynn did you

[44:43] to speak to the motion yes just one

[44:45] comment um I think it would be valuable

[44:48] for a staff member to join Council walls

[44:51] Richman whoever staff feels is

[44:53] appropriate um it sounds like it's going

[44:56] to be some very valuable information for

[44:59] us as a community and uh I don't think

[45:01] we have to approve a staff member going

[45:03] but I think I would encourage it thank

[45:06] you councelor Flynn councelor lingren

[45:09] yeah I just wondered about the timing

[45:11] your worship uh June 5th is

[45:14] fcm

[45:16] um is councilor Wallace richond planning

[45:19] to attend

[45:20] that

[45:22] um councelor wall Richman go ahead yes

[45:26] it's June 3rd we will arrive home from

[45:28] fcm on June

[45:32] 1st okay thank you thank you any further

[45:36] speakers to the

[45:39] motion okay I'll call a question all

[45:41] those in

[45:42] favor is there any

[45:45] opposed passes unanimously thank

[45:49] you any other items that people wish to

[45:52] speak to councelor Flynn yeah I I didn't

[45:55] really necessarily want to speak

[45:57] 12.1.3 but it came up at the csrd board

[46:00] meeting and I feel that we don't need to

[46:05] talk about this as a group because if we

[46:08] want to support the resolution at ubcm

[46:10] we do that individually and I don't feel

[46:13] it's something that as Council we should

[46:15] take on unless we want to put a similar

[46:19] motion through ubcm or I mean through

[46:21] silga but it's too late so we discussed

[46:23] that at the um CSR d table last week and

[46:29] I know we get a lot of these requests

[46:30] and in my mind we should have a policy

[46:32] that they're shared but we don't really

[46:34] need to speak to them I appreciate that

[46:36] councelor Flynn I think you're dead

[46:37] right there I think communities do send

[46:39] them to us as a heads up um but yeah we

[46:42] ought that opportunity to support act at

[46:44] the actual conference so thank you for

[46:46] that I I would ask that 12. one.5 I

[46:49] haven't really had time to digest it is

[46:51] it possible to include that on the next

[46:53] informational correspondence I'd like to

[46:55] have more time to consider yes worship I

[46:58] apologize for the late edition Mr Singh

[47:00] had requested it and it it was not on

[47:03] the agenda he notified me and we added

[47:06] it we will add it again at the next

[47:08] council meeting okay perhaps there's

[47:09] someone who's more up to date on than me

[47:11] but I'd like to have a little more

[47:12] time any other discussion around

[47:15] informational

[47:18] correspondence

[47:20] okay Council you are doing very well

[47:24] today start um you

[47:27] and so we have our guests here welcome

[47:30] to you we are going to take a five

[47:33] minute Comfort break which will give you

[47:34] time to be ready and at

[47:39] 3:25 um if you're able if you're ready

[47:42] to present that would be wonderful okay

[47:44] thank you very much Council will take a

[47:46] comfort break

[47:55] 3:25

[48:25] e e

[56:43] this council meeting of Monday March the

[56:47] 24th we are at presentations and uh

[56:51] Daniel hubard who's the CEO of Okanagan

[56:53] Regional Library is with us and we're so

[56:55] pleased to have have you here um one of

[56:58] the gems of Samar is uh Okanogan

[57:01] Regional Library um that you help run so

[57:03] thank you very much I'll turn it over to

[57:05] you thank you so much thank you mayor

[57:07] and Council uh it seems like a really

[57:10] short time ago that I was last here I

[57:11] think it was about a year ago but maybe

[57:13] actually a little less than a year ago

[57:15] so I've made every effort to make

[57:17] today's presentation different than the

[57:19] information I delivered approximately a

[57:21] year ago um so uh as the mayor said my

[57:25] name is Danielle hubard I'm the CEO of

[57:27] the Okanagan Regional Library um and I'm

[57:30] here with Christy Smith who I think you

[57:32] all know she's um the branch head here

[57:34] at the Salmon Arm Branch uh which is by

[57:37] the way a very busy thriving wonderful

[57:39] Branch so thank you chrisy for that um

[57:43] so what I'm going to do today is provide

[57:46] kind of an overview of five specific

[57:48] areas of service that I want to

[57:50] highlight that I think really illustrate

[57:52] the value that the Okanagan Regional

[57:54] Library brings to our community is um so

[57:57] my section of the presentation is kind

[57:59] of like si in our system as a whole

[58:02] these are things that we provide and

[58:04] then when christe speaks afterward

[58:06] she'll talk about some of the

[58:07] initiatives specifically Happening Here

[58:09] in seminar and then my contact

[58:12] information is at the end of the

[58:13] presentation and if anyone wants to ask

[58:15] me or Christie questions or tell us

[58:18] anything you want to tell us at the end

[58:20] I'm happy to hear that as well so um so

[58:24] there we go told point this over here

[58:27] okay so initiative number one that I

[58:28] want to highlight is summer reading club

[58:30] so when I did my presentations to all of

[58:33] our member councils last year this was

[58:36] the top program that um councils all

[58:39] over the Okanogan and shoe swaps asked

[58:41] about and commented on so and that's for

[58:44] good reason because Summer Reading Club

[58:46] is the number one most attended most

[58:48] popular public program that the orl

[58:51] provides so it's actually a provincewide

[58:54] program

[58:56] that happens every year in July and

[58:58] August libraries all across BC and all

[59:02] across Canada using a slightly different

[59:03] model run a summer reading club to

[59:05] encourage kids to keep on reading

[59:07] keeping on learning keep coming into the

[59:10] library over the summer so kids can come

[59:12] into any branch they get a little

[59:14] reading record these are the visuals

[59:16] from last year uh was world of

[59:18] Curiosities this year it's going to be

[59:20] called color your summer um so kids get

[59:23] a reading log they keep track of what

[59:25] they've read and then when they hit

[59:27] certain Milestones they get prizes and

[59:29] they can also come into branches and

[59:31] come to fun programs like magic shows

[59:35] and last year we had the bug guy who

[59:38] brought in um bugs and amphibians and

[59:41] creepy crawlies that kids were really

[59:43] excited to see and one of the reasons I

[59:45] want to highlight this program is uh so

[59:48] one of the things I often hear as the

[59:50] Director of a library system is people

[59:52] saying things along the lines of do

[59:54] people even use libraries anymore more

[59:57] uh which of course hurts hurts my soul

[59:59] because I love the library um but so the

[1:00:02] statistics I have up here really

[1:00:04] illustrate the fact that yes people are

[1:00:06] using public libraries actually more

[1:00:08] than they ever have in the past so

[1:00:11] summer reading club stats from

[1:00:13] 2024 um so in 2024 we had a

[1:00:17] 35% increase since the preo years so

[1:00:21] there was a dip of course during covid

[1:00:23] people weren't able to congregate out in

[1:00:25] public they weren't able to come in and

[1:00:26] browse books so there was a dip for a

[1:00:29] few years but now 2024 we were 35%

[1:00:33] higher participation than

[1:00:35] pre-co um last year we had over 8,000

[1:00:39] kids registered in summer reading club

[1:00:41] that's across our whole system and

[1:00:43] that's more than we've ever had before

[1:00:46] and I should say also 2023 was more than

[1:00:48] we had ever had before so it's really

[1:00:51] like an increase each year and then

[1:00:54] again 2024

[1:00:56] um a little oh well almost

[1:00:59] 29,000 kids and parents attended

[1:01:01] programs across our system so that is um

[1:01:05] that's a lot of people it's a lot of

[1:01:07] people coming out to hear story times

[1:01:09] and read and come and interact with our

[1:01:12] staff and enjoy our space and all the

[1:01:15] things that we

[1:01:16] provide that's Sumer Reading Club um one

[1:01:20] of the other points that really came up

[1:01:22] last year when I was visiting councils

[1:01:23] and talking about Library service is our

[1:01:25] electronic resources so people often

[1:01:29] think about books when they think of the

[1:01:30] library which is very accurate we have

[1:01:32] hundreds of thousands of books um but we

[1:01:35] also provide electronic resources so

[1:01:37] those are mostly ebooks and E audio

[1:01:40] books um that people can borrow on their

[1:01:43] phones um or on their tablets on their

[1:01:45] devices remotely uh and there's also

[1:01:48] research materials magazines all kinds

[1:01:51] of other electronic resources so again

[1:01:55] this is whoops I skipped too

[1:01:58] enthusiastically so again this is an

[1:02:00] area that's really increasing so we're

[1:02:02] seeing our physical book circulation is

[1:02:04] slowly increasing that is also

[1:02:06] increasing um but not by the same Leaps

[1:02:09] and Bounds as our electronic usage so

[1:02:12] again these are 2024 stats um that's our

[1:02:15] last full year of course so in

[1:02:18] 2024 um we had just under

[1:02:21] 800,000 digital books borrowed um and

[1:02:24] that's an 8.6 increase from the year

[1:02:27] before so again each year we're seeing

[1:02:29] this kind of increase in how much people

[1:02:31] are reading

[1:02:33] electronically and then audiobooks

[1:02:35] listened to was almost 500,000

[1:02:38] audiobooks were borrowed across our

[1:02:40] system last year which is a 23% increase

[1:02:43] which is a like a pretty steep increase

[1:02:46] um and then we also added some more

[1:02:49] digital magazines to our offerings last

[1:02:51] year um and people really utilized those

[1:02:53] so there was over 200,000 magazines were

[1:02:56] borrowed last year across our

[1:03:00] system and I realized with this next

[1:03:02] initiative I forgot to bring in an

[1:03:05] example I have an example in my car of

[1:03:07] the library of things so I'm going to

[1:03:09] act it out when we get to the next

[1:03:12] slide but so one of the other

[1:03:14] collections we've introduced uh is a

[1:03:17] library of things collection so those

[1:03:20] are things that are physical people can

[1:03:22] check them out and take them home um but

[1:03:25] they're not books there maybe not what

[1:03:27] you traditionally imagine being in a

[1:03:28] library so some of the images there

[1:03:31] there's a picture of a radon detector

[1:03:33] it's a little guy in the corner a a

[1:03:35] number of robotic kits that are really

[1:03:38] popular with kids um we have a dental

[1:03:41] hygiene kit which is the one at the

[1:03:43] bottom with the kind of creepy mouth um

[1:03:46] a number of these kits we built in

[1:03:48] partnership with other organizations so

[1:03:50] for instance the dental hygiene one we

[1:03:53] had support from Interior Health um so

[1:03:56] that's a really neat aspect of this

[1:03:58] collection and then the biggest image in

[1:04:00] the center oh is the one that I have

[1:04:02] sitting in my

[1:04:03] car it's the um it's a braille kit so it

[1:04:08] has tennis balls and what look like Lego

[1:04:10] pieces and in fact they are Lego pieces

[1:04:13] so I'm going to act it out because I

[1:04:14] forgot to bring it but so it's a

[1:04:16] Rubbermaid bin about the size of the top

[1:04:18] of this Podium you lift off the lid

[1:04:21] there are little containers of Lego

[1:04:24] pieces those 6 by two those six square

[1:04:27] Lego pieces you know 3x two and the

[1:04:30] concept is that in the Braille alphabet

[1:04:33] you can make every different letter of

[1:04:35] the alphabet on a six

[1:04:38] cube you know piece about as big as your

[1:04:41] finger and depending where the dots on

[1:04:43] the Lego are those represent different

[1:04:45] letters so in that kit you have all the

[1:04:48] different letters of the alphabet and

[1:04:50] you can place them differently on a Lego

[1:04:52] sheet and there's a a cu card that

[1:04:56] explains what the different letters are

[1:04:58] some books in Braille and then there's

[1:05:01] also six tennis balls that sit in a

[1:05:03] muffin tin that are like a big Braille

[1:05:07] letter so if you're learning Braille you

[1:05:09] can move the tennis balls into different

[1:05:11] configurations and feel them with your

[1:05:13] full hand and those represent different

[1:05:16] Braille letters and I sincerely

[1:05:19] apologize that I left the kit in my

[1:05:22] car so library of things kits um at the

[1:05:26] moment we have 22 different kits um they

[1:05:29] are usually out in circulation so if you

[1:05:31] put one on hold they will arrive for you

[1:05:33] here at the Salmon Arm Branch but some

[1:05:35] of them are popular and you might need

[1:05:36] to wait a couple weeks uh in

[1:05:40] 2024 they circulated almost 2,000 times

[1:05:43] and they're a really growing collections

[1:05:45] so I anticipate these numbers are also

[1:05:47] going to increase because we just

[1:05:49] started building these kits a couple

[1:05:51] years ago and then I went out of order

[1:05:53] then I was supposed to do the show in

[1:05:55] tell but

[1:05:58] what a failure

[1:06:00] okay the fourth thing I wanted to

[1:06:02] highlight is the role that all of our

[1:06:05] branches play as Community hubs and as

[1:06:07] emergency lifelines so that plays out a

[1:06:10] bit differently in our 30 different

[1:06:13] branches so how we see that is in our

[1:06:16] bigger Urban centers downtown Colona

[1:06:18] downtown Vernon the library plays a

[1:06:21] really active role in supporting the

[1:06:23] unhoused population people often come in

[1:06:26] and use the space as a warm safe space

[1:06:29] to be um and then in our smaller more

[1:06:31] rural locations we are often the only

[1:06:35] public open space that people can come

[1:06:38] in and spend time regardless of weather

[1:06:41] regardless of whether they have any

[1:06:42] money with them to buy coffee no

[1:06:46] barriers um and then a specific aspect

[1:06:49] of that is you know we live in a part of

[1:06:51] the world that's being increasingly impa

[1:06:54] impacted by climate change change in all

[1:06:56] kinds of different ways um so our

[1:06:59] libraries also play a really important

[1:07:01] role during heat domes and cold snaps as

[1:07:04] air conditioned public spaces and so in

[1:07:07] some of our communities for instance

[1:07:09] close by in um both Enderby and

[1:07:12] Armstrong the orl has service agreements

[1:07:16] with those two municipalities to be

[1:07:18] official Heating and Cooling centers so

[1:07:21] if that was something that Salmon Arm

[1:07:23] was interested in pursuing by all means

[1:07:25] get in contact with me and we could look

[1:07:27] at if we wanted to do that so how it

[1:07:29] works in um in Armstrong and Enderby is

[1:07:34] that if there is um going to be a heat

[1:07:37] Dome or a cold snap the city will

[1:07:40] contact us the library if we have the

[1:07:42] staff to do it we'll stay open

[1:07:44] additional hours so maybe stay open

[1:07:46] until 11: at night or stay open on

[1:07:48] Sunday and then at the end of that

[1:07:51] period Then the library would um invoice

[1:07:54] the municipality for that additional

[1:07:57] staff time that's all that we invoice

[1:07:59] for because really the space is

[1:08:01] available anyway so I just wanted to

[1:08:04] highlight that um and then the final

[1:08:07] thing this is my cue to soon hand things

[1:08:10] over to Christie so most of our funding

[1:08:12] is Municipal as I think you're all aware

[1:08:14] I talked about our funding model when I

[1:08:16] came out last year uh but about 15% of

[1:08:19] our funding comes from the provincial

[1:08:21] government I would love for that to be

[1:08:23] more but that's what it is at the moment

[1:08:26] um a couple years ago we did receive an

[1:08:29] additional chunk of funding from The

[1:08:31] Province called the provincial

[1:08:32] enhancement Grant and so one of the

[1:08:34] things that I've taken very seriously as

[1:08:36] CEO is making sure that a portion of

[1:08:39] that funding gets out to each of our

[1:08:41] branches uh and so at that queue I'm

[1:08:44] going to invite Christy to come up and

[1:08:46] she's going to tell you what's happening

[1:08:47] here in samon arm thank you Danielle and

[1:08:51] welcome

[1:08:53] Christie good afternoon everybody it's

[1:08:55] nice to see you all uh I just wanted to

[1:08:58] share a few of the branch initiatives

[1:09:01] that we have um we are lucky to be one

[1:09:04] of the recipients of the provincial

[1:09:06] enhancement Grant and we will be getting

[1:09:09] new flooring finally to replace our very

[1:09:13] well-loved carpeting uh that we've been

[1:09:15] stepping on for many years we are hoping

[1:09:17] to have a lovely gray carpet throughout

[1:09:20] the branch and a wood tone vinyl plank

[1:09:23] in the children's area we don't have an

[1:09:26] anticipated start date for that yet but

[1:09:28] should be sometime this year so we're

[1:09:30] very very excited about that and just a

[1:09:34] touch on what uh Danielle had shown you

[1:09:37] with uh the Braille

[1:09:39] kit um one of the programs I'd like to

[1:09:41] highlight is called no barriers and

[1:09:45] exploring options for Low Vision reading

[1:09:48] so reading changes throughout your life

[1:09:50] including how you read we're going to be

[1:09:53] having our access services Department

[1:09:55] come to the Salmon Arm branch and

[1:09:57] they're going to Showcase different

[1:10:00] Technologies uh to keep you or someone

[1:10:03] you know reading uh so you can discover

[1:10:06] how to make the Libby app more

[1:10:07] accessible what Daisy players and discs

[1:10:10] are and they're going to Showcase other

[1:10:12] Technologies for print disabled readers

[1:10:16] so that's happening Thursday April 24th

[1:10:19] in the afternoon uh and I'll just have a

[1:10:21] table at the front of the library to

[1:10:23] Showcase some of those uh really cool

[1:10:26] things that we have at the library to

[1:10:28] help people continue to

[1:10:30] read uh starting this year we have a

[1:10:34] monthly Library drum circle so just one

[1:10:37] of the fun programs I wanted to

[1:10:39] highlight uh where people can learn

[1:10:41] about hand drumming and join in we have

[1:10:45] a few loner drums for folks who would

[1:10:47] like to try it out so of course like

[1:10:50] everything else in the library it's free

[1:10:51] to join uh Daniel got to see it

[1:10:54] firsthand this after afternoon so today

[1:10:56] is a drumming day and you can tell when

[1:10:57] you walk into the mall that it is a

[1:10:59] drumming day because you'll hear some

[1:11:01] lovely rhythmic

[1:11:03] thumping uh the staff that work at the

[1:11:05] library uh we all Bop along to it while

[1:11:07] we're

[1:11:09] working um we had the friends of the

[1:11:11] library book sale this Friday and

[1:11:14] Saturday very successful they will be

[1:11:17] having their annual general meeting at

[1:11:19] the Salmon Arm Branch next month on

[1:11:22] Monday April

[1:11:24] 28th our friends fundraise and advocate

[1:11:27] for the Salmon Arm and South shush SWAT

[1:11:30] branches um and they Advocate spread the

[1:11:33] word about the library and our programs

[1:11:35] and events so membership is $5 a year so

[1:11:39] that's something that uh anyone can join

[1:11:41] and we hope that you

[1:11:43] do and then uh one last thing to note is

[1:11:47] uh the city of Salmon Arm will be

[1:11:49] featuring the library in one of their

[1:11:51] social media videos next month so you

[1:11:54] will see uh mayor Harrison and myself

[1:11:58] online maybe we'll do puppets we'll talk

[1:12:01] but yeah thank you very much sounds

[1:12:04] great thank you very much looking

[1:12:06] forward to that do I get to pick my

[1:12:09] puppet oh of

[1:12:11] course thank you thank you to both of

[1:12:13] you um for sharing all the great things

[1:12:16] that are happening in the library I will

[1:12:18] open it up to counselors for any

[1:12:20] comments or if they have questions at

[1:12:23] all counselor lingren

[1:12:25] thanks your worship as the rep on the

[1:12:27] Okanagan Regional Library board um I

[1:12:29] just so appreciate the work that the

[1:12:31] libraries are doing I think um knowing

[1:12:33] that Canada is among the has the highest

[1:12:36] is among the countries with the highest

[1:12:38] literacy rates in the world uh we cannot

[1:12:43] um uh understate the importance of

[1:12:46] libraries in that in bringing free

[1:12:48] education and literacy to everybody in

[1:12:52] this country everyone has equal access

[1:12:55] and so I just wanted to say thank you

[1:12:56] very much for the work that the

[1:12:57] libraries do and for making that

[1:13:00] possible thank you councelor lingren and

[1:13:02] thank you for being our rep on the

[1:13:04] regional board councelor Wallace

[1:13:06] Richmond yeah thank thanks you both for

[1:13:08] the presentation um so appreciate uh the

[1:13:12] library uh just on behalf of uh the

[1:13:15] social impact advisory committee I

[1:13:17] wanted to say thank you to Christie for

[1:13:19] continuing to work and partner with uh

[1:13:22] the agencies that help our most

[1:13:23] vulnerable including the of course the

[1:13:25] library so that uh

[1:13:27] collaboration um as well with many other

[1:13:31] organizations is very much appreciated

[1:13:33] and certainly adds to the fact that the

[1:13:36] library is a community Hub so thank you

[1:13:40] thank you councelor Wallace

[1:13:42] Richmond don't see other any other

[1:13:44] speakers I'll just make my comment first

[1:13:46] of all it's really it's heartwarming

[1:13:48] actually to see the summer reading

[1:13:50] program and uh the increase in numbers

[1:13:53] um there uh

[1:13:56] my parents used to take me to summer

[1:13:58] reading program here in Salmon Arm in

[1:13:59] the library way back and so

[1:14:02] um and as a former principal parents

[1:14:05] used to ask me how how can I encourage

[1:14:09] my kids to

[1:14:11] read and my answer was always

[1:14:16] read um and I know my parents when we

[1:14:19] went to some reading program I would get

[1:14:21] my books but they would get theirs and

[1:14:24] then they would read their books

[1:14:26] and

[1:14:27] so if you're on your phone your parents

[1:14:29] or your kids are going to want to be on

[1:14:30] their phone if you're reading a book

[1:14:32] They're going to want to do it so really

[1:14:34] appreciate your encouragement in that

[1:14:35] way the the other piece is just your

[1:14:38] pivot and Innovation I mean 25 years ago

[1:14:41] if you heard drums coming out of a

[1:14:43] library that would be quite unusual

[1:14:45] there were quiet spaces now it's ukulele

[1:14:47] drums all kinds of great stuff happening

[1:14:50] there so thank you thank you for what

[1:14:51] you're doing there ccer Canon thank you

[1:14:55] and I just it kind of twigged with our

[1:14:58] mayor saying that his parents used to

[1:15:00] take him to the library because I was

[1:15:02] telling my grandchildren because I had

[1:15:05] them at the library uh that the library

[1:15:07] used to be when I was a kid at the art

[1:15:11] gallery they're like the art gallery

[1:15:13] used to be the library and I was like

[1:15:15] yep that's where the LI Library used to

[1:15:17] be so it's great to uh hear you know all

[1:15:21] the different programs and how you're

[1:15:24] capturing all the different groups at

[1:15:26] the library so it's a great that we have

[1:15:28] that in our community so thank you for

[1:15:30] everything that you

[1:15:32] do and thank you for coming and

[1:15:34] presenting to us we uh we always

[1:15:36] appreciate you being here so thank

[1:15:37] you well and thank you all for your time

[1:15:40] too have a good rest of your meeting

[1:15:42] thank

[1:15:44] you okay counselors we're at Council

[1:15:46] statements if any counselor has a

[1:15:48] statement they wish to share now would

[1:15:50] be a good time councelor Wallace

[1:15:52] Richmond thank you thank you um just a

[1:15:56] quick um early update from the uh

[1:15:58] Federation of can Canadian

[1:16:00] municipalities board meeting uh held in

[1:16:02] Montreal last week first of all uh

[1:16:04] grateful as ever for the opportunity for

[1:16:07] for samon arm to be at that table

[1:16:10] unexpectedly I I'm you know not

[1:16:13] unexpectedly I mean lots of talks about

[1:16:17] tariffs lots of talks about trade lot of

[1:16:20] talks about election Readiness so there

[1:16:23] will be a series of tools that we will

[1:16:27] have at our disposal as members moving

[1:16:29] forward um as we uh go through this

[1:16:33] difficult uh these challenging

[1:16:36] times but in general it's really the

[1:16:38] messaging um that Canadian communities

[1:16:42] are the engine of national prosperity

[1:16:44] and so they're calling for

[1:16:48] um Federal parties to recognize the

[1:16:51] power of community building whether it

[1:16:53] be infrastructure projects to continuing

[1:16:56] to support housing uh National utility

[1:17:00] corridors uh big nation building

[1:17:03] projects and so um keep an eye on your

[1:17:07] fcm communic that you get on your email

[1:17:10] and if you don't get it please do sign

[1:17:12] up it's very informative and uh again

[1:17:16] always a pleasure to be there on behalf

[1:17:18] of of Salmon Arm we are making a

[1:17:21] difference and um I'm very proud of

[1:17:25] representing us at that table thank you

[1:17:28] thank you councelor Wallace Richmond

[1:17:30] really appreciate it and you do a

[1:17:31] fantastic job so thank you so much any

[1:17:34] other Council statements

[1:17:37] today councelor Flynn thank you worship

[1:17:39] I'd be remiss if I didn't make a quick

[1:17:41] comment um thanking the roots and blues

[1:17:44] Organization for what looks like an

[1:17:47] unbelievable lineup coming up in July

[1:17:50] one of my all-time favorite artists who

[1:17:53] used to be the lead singer the guest gu

[1:17:55] who Burton Cummings um is highlighting

[1:17:58] or headlining on Saturday but the rest

[1:18:00] of the lineup looks just amazing Colin

[1:18:03] James and many others so uh exciting

[1:18:06] lineup invite your friends invite your

[1:18:09] family and uh enjoy an awesome Festival

[1:18:12] in the middle of the

[1:18:14] summer thank you councelor Flynn yeah

[1:18:16] that's quite a lineup

[1:18:18] wow I don't see any other Council

[1:18:21] statements I'll just maybe make a couple

[1:18:23] of quick items um feel very fortunate to

[1:18:27] be invited to special things that happen

[1:18:29] in our community and I think a lots of

[1:18:32] you are aware of the uh the new dry Kiln

[1:18:36] that's just opened at uh canoe Forest

[1:18:38] Products and it's kind of neat because

[1:18:40] about two years ago we made a motion to

[1:18:44] write a letter here to help Gorman

[1:18:47] Brothers get a a provincial Grant to

[1:18:50] help them with the um being able to

[1:18:53] afford this D kill as did n gonth uh

[1:18:58] band and a number of other users they

[1:19:01] did get a $2 million provincial Grant um

[1:19:04] the cost of the actual Kil was about 14

[1:19:07] million some of you also I think have

[1:19:09] toured there when the old dryer Kil was

[1:19:13] there and we were explained how they're

[1:19:14] going to have to build the roof remove

[1:19:17] the old dryer put the new dryer

[1:19:19] in without any operation loss incredible

[1:19:24] feet of engineering um and so it was a

[1:19:26] real privilege to be there uh Minister

[1:19:29] from The Province was there as well um

[1:19:32] and you know they recognize at Gorman's

[1:19:36] that you have to innovate and every

[1:19:40] little change enables you um to be

[1:19:42] financially viable and so this is a

[1:19:44] really important change for them and uh

[1:19:47] yeah you maybe get a chance to go in

[1:19:49] there at some time a couple of other

[1:19:52] quick events uh I know some of you are

[1:19:54] at uh the art center for Tracy Ker's uh

[1:19:59] um farewell and celebration on on

[1:20:02] Saturday and uh um Tracy uh handled

[1:20:06] herself as you would expect in Tracy

[1:20:08] fashion and just uh um so gracious her

[1:20:11] family was there and many others so um

[1:20:14] it was a really wonderful send off and

[1:20:16] privilege to be there and on the same

[1:20:18] day was 55 plus um activity centers

[1:20:22] volunteer

[1:20:23] recognition um what a facility that is

[1:20:26] it's run entirely by volunteers there

[1:20:27] must have been a hundred of them there

[1:20:29] for lunch and uh um they have fun um

[1:20:34] they have activities but most of all

[1:20:36] they socialize and that piece for those

[1:20:40] seniors especially who are either alone

[1:20:43] or lonely and I understand those because

[1:20:45] I've had parents in my family in that

[1:20:47] boat they are really supplying um such

[1:20:50] an important um need feeling such a need

[1:20:54] there and there's everything from

[1:20:55] Canasta to Zumba happening in that in

[1:20:58] that facility so uh um thank you to all

[1:21:01] the people that work

[1:21:02] there any other

[1:21:06] Council

[1:21:08] statements okay seeing none we are at

[1:21:13] our question and answer period does

[1:21:15] anyone have a question for us anyone

[1:21:17] with us virtually or in the gallery who

[1:21:19] would like to ask Council a question

[1:21:21] today

[1:21:25] okay

[1:21:28] um before we adjourn this meeting we

[1:21:30] have an item in in camera that we have

[1:21:32] to go to so I would entertain a motion

[1:21:34] from a counselor to move in camera

[1:21:37] councelor Canon councelor Flynn thank

[1:21:38] you all those in

[1:21:41] favor that passes unanimously thank you

[1:21:43] very much for your attendance members of

[1:21:45] the public today

Regular Council Meeting

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