this conference will now be
recorded welcome back I'd like to resume
the city of Salmon Arm regular council
meeting of Monday March the 24th
welcome to you we are meeting both
virtually and in person we have
councelor labry with us virtually along
with some media and um members of the
public and people who are interested in
some of the topics we're covering today
councelor lingren councelor Canon
councelor Flynn councelor Canela
councelor Wallace Richmond and myself
are in the council chamber along with
our staff some guests in the gallery so
welcome to you all it's nice to see you
I want to begin with a in in the
traditional
territory we acknowledge that we're
Gathering here on the traditional
territory of the shmc people with whom
we share these lands and where we live
and we work
together just before we adopt the agenda
today we have a special presentation a
very important presentation um that
Council would like to
make so
um we are very proud of our CAO um who
has earned a certificate in local
government executive management
congratulations Miss Jackson and uh this
certificate in executive management is
not one that's just given out you have
to earn it and you have to work hard at
it and uh one of the things I know we
all appreciate about Miss Jackson is her
willingness to learn um uh every day and
to share that with her staff so I would
ask Council if they would join me in the
front so that we can present our Cao
with a certificate
I'm gonna
call councel labry if you speak then you
will be on the screen so Council saying
in this
photo thank you I'm virtually joining
you and congratulations to Miss Jackson
well done
councelor lav I know that you're not
present uh I'll give you an opportunity
if you wish to say anything um please
indicate so thanks your worship I just
congratulations I extend uh as Council
has congratulations to Mr Jackson well
done thank
you okay counselors that's a good way to
start a uh council meeting um we have an
agenda in front of us I'll just check
with our CEO to see if there are any
changes to the
agenda thank you worship there is one
late addition um item
12.1.4 a letter from a Singh better
citizen
Solutions great thank you very much so
that'll be part of informational
correspondence Council as
12.1.4 with that addition to the agenda
can I have a move in a second or to
adopt the agenda councel ganella Council
Wallis Richmond thank you all those in
favor that passes
unanimously counselors we'll go to
disclosure of Interest around the
regular council meeting if there's any
counselors with a disclosure of Interest
they would like to share please indicate
now okay I see none thank you we'll go
to confirmation to minutes the regular
council meeting of March the 10th we
have a mover in a seconder please
councelor lingren councelor Canon thank
you any additions deletions to those
minutes seeing none I will call a
question all those in
favor that passes unanimously thank
you 6.2 is the parcel tax rooll review
panel meeting minutes of March the 10th
if I could have a move and a second for
that councelor canella councelor Wallace
Richmond thank you any additions or
deletions to those
minutes call a question all those in
favor that passes unanimously any
business arising from either of those
minutes okay we'll go to committee
reports and again Council we don't pass
their minutes they pass their own but uh
we will just go through them to see if
there's any items that you want to raise
item 71 is the development to plan
planning Services committee meeting
minutes of March
17th is there anyone who would like to
raise anything in those
minutes seeing none I'll go to 72 the
agriculture advisory committee meeting
minutes of March the 12th any business
arising from those
minutes seeing none we will go to the
Columbia shwop Regional District update
there's not a written update today but
if there is any verbal update from
either of our reps um now would be the
time please indicate
so councelor lavry please go
ahead uh yes thanks your worship and I
certainly defer to councelor Flynn for
further comment uh just to let Council
know that uh last week at um csrd there
was the adoption of the tax requisition
for
2025 to the city of Salmon Arm uh and it
represents uh a lower ing of the tax
requisition by about
8.63% um that lowering also reflected
some increases uh we know Ben van
nostran was here to talk to us about the
um the thorny problem of saving money
for uh landfill closures down the line
and that's going to be addressed later
on uh but that was a significant
increase as well as costs for uh uh
admin and it and general government but
on the whole um it's a reduction of that
amount uh that the regional district
will be asking from the city of
seminar thank you councelor labry for
that summary councelor Flynn if you wish
to add thank you worship um all I would
comment on is I want to thank Mr van van
nostran for coming and attending a
planning meeting and doing a
presentation on the intricate world of
landfills and landfill closures and all
of that um really want everybody to be
very aware that the solid waste
management plan review is ongoing and
it's about a two-year process and I
think one of the significant things in
light of the taxation being used for
landfill closures is a balance between
taxation of residents of the Columbia
Shoop whether they use the landfills or
not and I'm not sure anybody doesn't use
them in some way um but taxation versus
is user fees and tipping fees and um
that was brought up at the csrd table
and what's fair and that's a extremely
political discussion it's an extremely
uh difficult discussion around current
users future users um but landfill costs
are not going to go down closure costs
are not going to go down and I think
finding that balance of tipping fees
versus taxation is not going to be easy
but that that's undergoing right now so
um if it
stays weighted to taxation we'll see
these more increases possibly if we look
at more tipping fees perhaps paying for
some of that that might be fair because
it's a user pay but there's a fine
balance on how high you raise tipping
fees as well thank you councelor Flynn
thank you councelor lavry appreciate
that and just want to comment uh
councelor lbry thank you for your
summary of the 2025 budget and um you
know our requisition as you stated is is
less um and the reason it is less is
because we have uh decided to do our own
uh tourism DMO um and so that was a
reduction 182,000 plus the film
commission 12,000 so I don't want people
to think that we're getting the same
service from the csrd as we were before
um with much less money we have decided
that uh um we're going to follow through
on those on our own and in fact this
year probably saving about
$80,000 in the tourist budget because of
that all right let us move forward then
to
9.1 is a development permit application
number
464 the address is 621 10th Street
Southwest ble and Gibson's Company
Limited agent is Angus newfeld sash
developments limited we have a motion
for consideration Council for the DP I
could have a mover and a seconder
councelor lingren councelor Flynn thank
you Miss Jeffrey good afternoon thank
you for uh working walking through the
DP with us thank you your worship the
subject property is 6211 Street
Southwest west of 10 Street Southwest
and directly north of the Picadilly Mall
it is designated in the official
community plan as Highway service
tourist commercial and the property is
zoned C3 tourist commercial the property
is currently vacant the purpose of this
development permit application is for
the construction of a 1, 1892.jpg
along the frontage which staff view as a
positive enhancement to the street skate
The Proposal is also permitted in the C3
tourist commercial Zone the design
review panel are supportive of the
application as presented in the drawings
including in the staff report staff are
satisfied with the design and support
the development permit as proposed staff
are available should Council have any
questions thank you very much Miss
Jeffrey counselors I'm going to open it
up to you for any questions any comments
that you may wish to
make counselor Flynn thank you worship
uh I welcome this application I support
it I appreciate the work done by their
design review panel because I'm
certainly not a architect or necessarily
have good taste when it comes to
buildings so having the design review
panel make comments having applicants um
quite often follow those directions and
having it come to us in a final form
makes it very easy at this table to
support this in this location and in
this design thank you councelor Flynn
any other comments from Council
councelor lavry please go
ahead oh that's from the last one
councelor lavry no I'm good thanks fly
support okay thank you any other
comments from
Council I'll just make brief uh comments
first of all uh thank you to the
representatives um
um from this development for being with
us this afternoon once again um as they
were at meeting of the whole uh as
counselors have have mentioned both then
and now uh this is allowable use in that
zone the development permit meets all of
uh the guidelines that are asked and the
design review panel um is in
favor so I say welcome welcome to new
business seminar um it's great to see
that space being um filled in and it's a
wonderful location for the proposed use
so I will certainly vote in
favor seeing no other speakers I will
call the question all those in
favor that passes unanimously thank you
very
much okay we will go to 92 director
planning Community Services climate
resiliency plan steering committee
appointments um there is a motion for
consider
I would ask uh if there's any amendments
to that motion councelor lingren please
go ahead thanks your worship I would
like to make an amendment that we uh
change the number of alter uh sorry
members at large on the committee from
three to
four thank you second or to that uh
motion councelor lavry thank you very
much any discussion around that change
so then I'll call the question all those
in
favor that passes
unanimously okay now we have a motion
for consideration which would include
the names that are on the list as well
as for Citizens at large councelor
lingren please go ahead and press your
button thanks your worship so I'd like
to put forward the names for members at
large as Evia canuteson Amy valerine o
Paul Whitfield and CLE
eroic thank you is there a second or to
that motion thank you councelor lavry
for the second could I just take this
opportunity your worship to thank the
people that put their names forward yes
if you wish to speak to your motion for
sure absolutely go please go ahead it
was actually a fairly difficult decision
today because so many qualified people
put their names forward um that's why
we've increased the number of members at
large from three to four it would have
been awesome if we could have increased
it to include everybody that put their
names forward as there was no one uh
that was a bad choice on that list so
just thank you to the community for your
engagement on
this thank you very much councelor
lingren and it is a committee of 21 and
so um it was as you say really
encouraging that we had a lot of
interest um but in order to make it
functional we've budged it from three to
four um so thank you for the motion um
any further comments around the motion
seeing none I'll call the question all
those in
favor that passes unanimously thank you
and best of luck to that steering
committee okay counselors
we're up to item
9.3 which is General manner shop
Recreation Society Recreation Central
postal code data and I'll just preface
Mr jro's report by suggesting part of
the process maybe to forward this report
to the csrd because we want to be
completely transparent um in sharing our
factual data and uh then if there's any
direction we wish to give staff that may
be a part uh following Mr jro's um
discussion of the report thank you Mr
jro for putting it together thank you
good afternoon worship and Council so
over the past year uh samon Recreation
has been collecting postal codes to
profile where our users live this
includes postal codes from the
recreation center Rogers rink and City
Sports fields and courts the postal
codes were collected by email requests
and responses from associations and
users providing their post codes while
checking at the front desk all post
codes were collected with permission of
the user or the sports association's
executive they were able to uh comp a
sample postal codes from uh following
the list the table included in the
report uh should be known we weren't
successful obtaining every user group as
multiple user groups either did not
respond or there was sometimes a refusal
to provide we feel the sufficient sample
size of postal codes were collected to
deliver an accurate
representation um you can see the graphs
for the reports with the
data and this uh report at this time is
for information and I am available for
any questions you may have thank you
Mr J can we can we ask you we've seen
the graphs and had chance to look at
through them is it possible just to have
you speak through each of the P graphs
um for members of the public who might
be interested certainly yeah so the sasu
recreation center um again the data was
from one year February 2024 to February
2025 at the recreation center we saw a
78% from City of Salon arm 11% from the
csrd 6% from rdno
uh the tnrd shows 0% but there would
have been a very small amount from tnrd
and other was 5% we further broke this
down into um other areas of our regional
districts so area C of the Columbia sh
Regional District was 18% area D 1% area
e 6% and area G
26% Regional District of north Okanagan
account for
25% and Thompson North Regional District
uh was 2% other was 22% uh to not that
that was only the um other one so that
doesn't account for the city of Salon
arm so that was a total of 4,323 postal
codes thank you so just to
clarify the area C is 18% of
11% yes that is correct you worship yes
thank
you please continue so further at the
Rogers rink um we collected 1,577 poster
postal codes 74% of use was from the
city Salmon Arm 20% csrd 4% rdno 1% tnrd
and 1% other we further broke the uh
other the
26% down into uh the regional districts
uh so Columbia Regional District area B
represented 3% area C 24% area D 0% but
there have been a very small number with
that area e 8% area G 44% Rd 16% tnrd 2%
and other
3% further we uh analyzed our field and
Court user participants so a total of
2,32 postal codes collected 67% of those
from City Salmon Arm 14% csrd 9% rdno 1%
tnrd and other at
9% we further broke that down into the
regional district areas um of the csrd
area b a very small amount 0 to 1% area
C 9% area D 0 to 1% area e 8% area G
24% RDO represented 27% tnrd 4% and
other of
28% great thank you very much and thanks
for walking us through those graphs
really appreciate that I'm going to open
up the counselors for any questions
comments they might like to make
councelor Flynn please go ahead well
first of all thank you and thank you for
clarifying the pie charts um great
information um we've needed this for
some time um and I do want to thank you
and your team for collecting this
information because based on The quick
summary it seems like some users weren't
very Cooperative which is a little bit
disappointing um knowing that we're
trying to plan future facilities and
cost sharing but um thanks to all those
who did give that information it's nice
to have this um I I am not surprised I
think we can I am surprised a little bit
that the users of the Arena are more
Regional than the users of the multiplex
or the the gym and pool that surprised
me um that being said I do want to say
that
we need this information because in my
mind we are probably the jurisdiction in
the province and I'm may be asking for
somebody to put together some more
information that has the least Regional
funding of two very major
facilities the arena and the pool gym
complex I want to make it clear that
from my point of view the field and
Court use outdoor Fields Outdoor Court
use is not the issue because our
residents go to other communities and
use fields and that's why the number I
think is higher from Nord than you would
expect because of the soccer groups and
ball groups that travel around the okon
aen playing on everybody's
courts I don't feel we need to do
anything with field and courts but I
feel very strongly that we have to do
something about our taxpayers
subsidizing and I would say subsidizing
with tax dollars about 25% of the usage
if we look at a new facility we've heard
already that pools are around $60
million um to not have some kind of
pricing that has outside of the area
users who don't pay it through taxes pay
something is not fair so personally I
want to look at adjusting rates for next
year but that's a whole other discussion
but I do want to ask our CAO who would
put together a report that shows what
other areas are doing maybe similar size
communities and how much contribution
they're getting from the outlying
regional areas Chief administrator offer
your worship staff can uh take that on
I'm not exactly sure who has the
capacity at this current moment in time
but staff can spearhead that okay
because I I feel that this is the first
piece of information we at this table
need about 25% usage is non local
taxpayers I think the other piece we
need to understand is what are other
areas doing that have the only major
facility for the whole region and how
are they getting revenue and in a lot of
cases it's a referendum and it's
taxation in other cases it's
differential user fees which Vernon has
implemented um and so I think we need to
look for the next budget at how we are
going to solve the free users Fe thank
you councelor Flynn I'll come back to
you for a motion perhaps if you're
comfortable waiting toit okay thank you
and we'll just go to other speakers now
councelor lingren any comments or
questions on the data yeah I just
wondered if um somebody could clarify
for people who don't know where the
rdno the regional district of North Oak
aen and the tnrd where they butd up
against um either the municipality or
the csrd because I think there'd be a
significant portion of the community who
don't know what where these boundaries
are yeah thank you for that question
I'll pass that to chief administrative
officer your worship this is a test to
me and I'm not sure if I have anyone on
if you like Darren do you
know yeah I believe so Enderby would be
the uh
Aro and
then
heading be cam was Chase Chase would be
uh Thompson
Nia I think that the boundary for the um
rdno is actually much closer to ranero
than Enderby so um people should realize
that they live in significantly
different areas they are not taxed at
Municipal rates if you live uh on Grand
View bench you don't contribute to these
um re these resources that you use if
you live um in grin rod and you skate in
Salmon Arm you're not contributing uh
any of your tax dollars to support these
facilities and I think that it's really
important that people understand
uh I I think homeowners May understand
which district they're in because they
have to go somewhere to pay their
property taxes but people who are
renting will probably have no idea which
Regional District they live in thank you
councelor lingren thank you for the
question it was a good one councelor
Canon thank you worship um thank you for
the report this was great to uh get a
look at this we figured it was probably
20 plus from previous um in history
reports that we saw long ago um I think
really this is uh we have to educate um
after we discussed this at budget time I
had lots of emails from people from the
csrd region saying please don't
Implement differential pricing so as
soon as we put it on the table and start
discussing it it brings up the
conversation and I think that's our
whole
purpose of doing this and I think these
figures obviously are very
interesting and I
think until we're discussing it and
bringing up the conversation we're not
going to
do anything about it I mean in history
when we built our Arena facility um
there was a real push in
area Rano ranero area to not support us
financially for the arena the new arena
there was a real push for someone saying
vote no to this and I think I mean
that's quite a few years ago and now
it's at the table again with these uh
this information and I think we at this
table need
to carry the conversation and bring it
back and look uh if we get a staff
report back from staff what other
communities have done and how we're
going to go about doing this because I
want to see us move forward with either
uh pushing the csrd to look at it in
their areas uh so that they are
contributing I mean this shows us that
they are using and um I think that's
what we need to do in the future so
that's something that I really want to
push for at this table so whether it's
differential pricing that's going to get
us there and we may have to go the route
of differential pricing so that the
conversation gets pushed even
further thank you councelor Canon um and
thanks for your leadership in this in
this part um councelor lavry please go
ahead yeah thanks your worship and
thanks to Mr jome and staff for uh
coming up with this reporting I think
it's very confir confirmative um your
worship I think that we all know at this
table that we've committed to share this
update with the csrd so you know we can
forward it to them I'd like to see Mr
jro available at that time when it comes
up um if there are any questions from
that board about the data collection
piece and I think it's incumbent on our
two elected uh refs councelor Flynn and
myself uh to regularly update that board
on the political process of that so I
think that's that's something we all
know but just to emphasize that we pass
it on and if Mr jro could be there for
that meeting I think that would be
helpful um to speak to data collection
not not
policy um you if I agree with the
comments made so far and that we need to
engage in a sort of step-by-step
analysis of options um and perhaps
Council Flynn's going to come up with
the motion I don't know but my thinking
right now is that we should just accept
this report
today and put forward because I think it
is important at each
step that we are fome in our process
both publicly and and at our table um
that we come up with a uh fome notice of
motion that sets out exactly what
counselor wants staff to look at for
future options I think that helps us I
think that helps staff um I would be
happy to support a such a notice of
motion and and again if Council Finn
wants to go for a motion today that
that's fine but um I think a notice em
motion gives us more time to craft
things
specifically um I'd be happy to support
that I'd be happy to work on a
co-sponsorship of it um I'd leave that
up to others I don't think we have to
reinvent the wheel here uh there are
models out there um that are there for
all communities from a number of
communities that are we're not this is
not new um and I see staff coming back I
think in all sorts of timing uh
parameters to come back this fall so
that we consider it partly for budget
process but also partly for electoral
areas uh if they want to hold a
referendum about
contribution um that that would be
available for the uh October 2026 if
they so choose to uh put that in front
of their electrc so I again thanks you
worship I can I finish up just with my
own take on this right
now yeah please go ahead councelor labry
then going ask you for a formal motion
about part of what you said go ahead
okay
um my own take as clear as possible I've
have come to the position that and again
I will wait for staff reports and
options and look at that with due
consideration but I'm currently feel
that a system of Salmon Arm residency
pricing for kyre
facilities uh is needed
and it would prioritize two things one
would be pricing differential resident
tiered pricing so that Salmon Arm
taxpayers are supported for the use of
their Rec facilities that they pay
for and I would include hopefully other
electoral areas who might want to
support their own residents by entering
into a reasonable operations and
management uh uh maintenance cost
sharing agreement other jur itions have
it it can be done it doesn't have to be
controversial and to move forward the
second part of it is that I am
increasingly supportive that uh under
such uh resident
programming that Salmon Arm taxpaying
residents would be given preferential
access to what's now highly
oversubscribed
programs that it's tough for Salon arm
residents to get into because there's
such a demand
and I am becoming more and more in favor
that Salmon Arm residents who are paying
the tax bill for this have uh a one or
twoe window to register first for
programs that they actually
subsidize or other electoral areas who
decide to participate in a sharing
agreement would have that same access to
that's where I'm coming from your
worship uh the first step is a public
report of options for Council to
consider thank you thank you councelor
lavry and the motion I was thinking was
I think it would be nice to have a a
formal motion to forward this report to
the csrd and if you would be willing to
make that motion I would see if I could
get a second or yeah iig thought that
would probably understood but yeah that
that's no problem I would make that
motion we've and we've already committed
to that anyhow is there a second to the
motion councelor Wallace Richmond any
discussion around the motion that's just
to release to the
Cs all those in
favor okay thank you very much I think
it's important to have that form motion
because we want to be transparent we
want to make sure that that information
is received officially put on the agenda
and as as Council lry has mentioned
perhaps Mr jro would be able to attend
um to supply any information around
statistics okay um further discussion
counselor Flynn thank you worship as uh
with all due respect to staff I am not
going to try to do a rambling Kevin flnn
motion at this table I'm going to just
support councelor lavy's call for a
notice of motion at the next meeting so
we can work on that with staff because I
will have a great motion that will be
way too long and way too poorly worded
so councelor Flynn can I ask you to work
with councelor lavry then to put
together that notice of motion um for
the next council meeting I think that
would be a good yingyang combination so
yes okay excellent I oh and oh councelor
can wants to help as well okay I think
that combination would be great then
councelor Flynn councelor Canon
councelor labry doesn't have to be and
and can I just I think it's really
important when we put all these numbers
together I agree with councelor Canon's
comments this is about
education I don't think taxpayers in our
area or even in our town realize that
about half of the cost of those
facilities is tax
dollars the other half is recovered
we're approaching $2 million I believe
of Taxation between the two
facilities and to not have any of it
except 60,000 to toal from our regional
area is not fair and is not right and
it's not what's going on in the rest of
the province so I can't wait we'll put
the notice a motion together the three
of us will work with staff and we'll
hopefully have it for the next meeting
the bo the next full council meeting
thank you councelor Flynn appreciate
that is there any counselor who has not
spoken who would like an opportunity to
share okay I think uh the counselors
have looked after uh it very well thank
you so much thank you Mr jro for your
report and we'll look forward to a
notice motion at a future meeting put
together by counselors and
staff all right we are going to
9.4 which is the general manager shop
Recreation Society Canada Day
celebration Festival proposal there is a
proposed motion if I could get a moover
and a seconder councelor Wallace
Richmond councelor ganel would second
and I'll pass it over to our manager of
shop Recreation Society Mr Dro it's nice
that you Happ to be here thank
you so Recreation Society we recognize
the absence of a Canada Day Festival uh
celebration um we're eager to explore
opportunities to reunite the community
for this occasion so our goal would be
to host event um at the Rogers rink in
sasu Recreation
Center um we uh host uh activities such
as a ball hockey tournament which was
hosted last year on short notice and not
a lot of advertisement which we feel was
a good success
uh Artisan Market a familyfriendly fund
Zone food trucks some music and a show
and
shine staff have uh put togethere a
preliminary budget cost between 7 to
$10,000 and the 2025 budget includes an
amount to
$14,000 uh for Canada Day
Celebrations and uh at this time we're
looking to um have Council support and
authorize a contribution of up to 10,000
to the sh Recreation Society to host a
canidate festival at Roger rink and sasu
Recreation Center thank you very much Mr
Jal and I'll just check with our Chief
Financial Officer that the motion
assumes that that money comes from the
cada to Day Celebrations Reserve should
that be a part of the
motion uh yes your worship that was in
the 2025 budget line item coming in from
the reserve and there was an expense
line showing 14,000 great thank you so I
think it would be a friendly Amendment
if councelor Wallace Richman councelor
ganella were okay
okay thank you we'll accept that as a
friendly Amendment the source of the
money okay counselors anyone wish to
speak to this
motion councelor Flynn well I want to
thank the director of acting director of
engineering Public Works whatever your
title is right now um and Sho shop Rec
Society for um bringing this forward um
We Have Heard lots at this table that uh
the city should be doing more for Canada
today and we've always said in a lot of
communities it's an outside group but
I'm glad you're taking it on I very much
support this I did want to ask a quick
question with regards to detail would
the ball hockey be indoor Mr J or
outdoor through worship yeah we propos
to host it indoor on our dry floor okay
um unfortunately I all I was going to
comment is that the second biggest
um number of non US basketball players
is from Canada probably the MVP this
year in the NBA will be Canadian and we
have significant youth basketball groups
so I was hoping the hockey would be
outside the ball hockey and perhaps
basketball inside but I'm not going to
get into the logistics I just think our
community is a significant basketball
community and it would be nice to
somehow celebrate that as well I think
it's a great time to celebrate Canada I
very much supported and thank you for
stepping up thank you councelor Flynn is
there any other com who wish to
comment I'll just Echo councelor Flynn's
uh comments except for the basketball
piece because I don't really understand
all that um but uh I think it's great
too that you're reaching out to you know
other groups um I'm sure there's groups
in the community which would like to
help if not financially you know with uh
with handson so thank you to shop
Recreation um I agree there's there's no
better time to celebrate Canada than
this year so I certainly support the
motion all right I don't see any other
speakers so I'll call the question all
those in
favor that passes
unanimously Council we're now to uh tab
11 which is reconsideration of bylaws
this is final reading of these bylaws of
course questions are always welcome I
know that you're quite familiar with
them so I won't go to the director of
planning Community Services unless
someone has a question for him so the
first one 111 is zoning 4692
um which is uh f&j nort agents pu
Barberton um you're familiar with the
location if I could have a move in a
second or to pass this byw for a final
time councelor canala councelor Wallace
Richmond thank you I'll open it up to
counselors any comments any questions
you wish to
ask call a question then all those in
favor and thank you to the home for
walking through the process and uh
making it as smooth as
possible item 112 is uh subdivision and
development servicing Amendment bylaw
number
4698 um we have a proposed motion if we
can have a move a seconder councelor
Flynn councelor Canon thank you we had
quite a discussion about this one and
certainly welcome to any questions or
comments people wish to make before I
call a question on it
seeing none I will call a question all
those in
favor that passes unanimously thank you
Council counselors we're going to go to
informational correspondence under tab
12 uh we have five pieces uh because we
have one extra one that was added late
so I will uh open it up to you for any
items that you wish to speak to or make
motions about councelor lingren thank
you thanks your worship
12.1.2 um I just wondered if the staff
could maybe comment on if there are any
reasons from the city's perspective why
this might not work and whether or not
it would be appropriate for us to uh
write a letter of support sure um I'll
pass that to the chief administra
officer thank you worship um staff have
no concerns um about supporting the
registration um with roing Canada and
Rowing BC of a new nonprofit society as
requested in the letter
would you like to make that motion
Council Lang yeah in that case I'd like
to make a motion that we write a letter
of support for the formation of the new
rowing Society the Salmon Arm Rowing
Club thank you second to that councelor
ganella thank
you any discussion around the motion
councelor lingren did you wish to speak
to your motion okay councelor Flynn did
you wish to speak to that motion please
go ahead councelor Flynn I just had a
question to we're almost at March
31st and it says they've got a tight
time frame us approving this today are
they going to have time to make it for
that or is that not our problem yeah I I
have been in touch with Miss Mills and
uh um we will write this letter as soon
as we can and get it off to her and that
would meet the timeline okay I very much
support thank
you any further
discussion all those in
favor that passes unanimously thank you
councelor Flynn did you wish to speak to
another item no councelor Wallace
Richman yeah uh thank you your worship
um item
12.1.4 yes please go ahead the Canada
community building fund
um which is managed with the Union of BC
municipalities is hosting a series of
workshops on the next steps um of that
fund and how it might impact various
communities in our province
the Colona version will be held uh June
3r um it's free to attend and lunch is
provided uh I would like to attend I may
not be alone um so I just wondered about
process in terms of uh getting that
heads up for that or the thumbs up for
that yeah if counselors were willing to
make a motion to uh support councelor
Wallace Richmond in attending that June
thir thirdd Workshop in Colona I would
uh
I would entertain that councelor ganella
would move it councelor Flynn would
second it and councelor Wallace Richmond
I know that you are um at the Forefront
of our housing um strategy so I think
it's very
appropriate um councelor Flynn did you
to speak to the motion yes just one
comment um I think it would be valuable
for a staff member to join Council walls
Richman whoever staff feels is
appropriate um it sounds like it's going
to be some very valuable information for
us as a community and uh I don't think
we have to approve a staff member going
but I think I would encourage it thank
you councelor Flynn councelor lingren
yeah I just wondered about the timing
your worship uh June 5th is
fcm
um is councilor Wallace richond planning
to attend
that
um councelor wall Richman go ahead yes
it's June 3rd we will arrive home from
fcm on June
1st okay thank you thank you any further
speakers to the
motion okay I'll call a question all
those in
favor is there any
opposed passes unanimously thank
you any other items that people wish to
speak to councelor Flynn yeah I I didn't
really necessarily want to speak
12.1.3 but it came up at the csrd board
meeting and I feel that we don't need to
talk about this as a group because if we
want to support the resolution at ubcm
we do that individually and I don't feel
it's something that as Council we should
take on unless we want to put a similar
motion through ubcm or I mean through
silga but it's too late so we discussed
that at the um CSR d table last week and
I know we get a lot of these requests
and in my mind we should have a policy
that they're shared but we don't really
need to speak to them I appreciate that
councelor Flynn I think you're dead
right there I think communities do send
them to us as a heads up um but yeah we
ought that opportunity to support act at
the actual conference so thank you for
that I I would ask that 12. one.5 I
haven't really had time to digest it is
it possible to include that on the next
informational correspondence I'd like to
have more time to consider yes worship I
apologize for the late edition Mr Singh
had requested it and it it was not on
the agenda he notified me and we added
it we will add it again at the next
council meeting okay perhaps there's
someone who's more up to date on than me
but I'd like to have a little more
time any other discussion around
informational
correspondence
okay Council you are doing very well
today start um you
and so we have our guests here welcome
to you we are going to take a five
minute Comfort break which will give you
time to be ready and at
3:25 um if you're able if you're ready
to present that would be wonderful okay
thank you very much Council will take a
comfort break
3:25
e e
this council meeting of Monday March the
24th we are at presentations and uh
Daniel hubard who's the CEO of Okanagan
Regional Library is with us and we're so
pleased to have have you here um one of
the gems of Samar is uh Okanogan
Regional Library um that you help run so
thank you very much I'll turn it over to
you thank you so much thank you mayor
and Council uh it seems like a really
short time ago that I was last here I
think it was about a year ago but maybe
actually a little less than a year ago
so I've made every effort to make
today's presentation different than the
information I delivered approximately a
year ago um so uh as the mayor said my
name is Danielle hubard I'm the CEO of
the Okanagan Regional Library um and I'm
here with Christy Smith who I think you
all know she's um the branch head here
at the Salmon Arm Branch uh which is by
the way a very busy thriving wonderful
Branch so thank you chrisy for that um
so what I'm going to do today is provide
kind of an overview of five specific
areas of service that I want to
highlight that I think really illustrate
the value that the Okanagan Regional
Library brings to our community is um so
my section of the presentation is kind
of like si in our system as a whole
these are things that we provide and
then when christe speaks afterward
she'll talk about some of the
initiatives specifically Happening Here
in seminar and then my contact
information is at the end of the
presentation and if anyone wants to ask
me or Christie questions or tell us
anything you want to tell us at the end
I'm happy to hear that as well so um so
there we go told point this over here
okay so initiative number one that I
want to highlight is summer reading club
so when I did my presentations to all of
our member councils last year this was
the top program that um councils all
over the Okanogan and shoe swaps asked
about and commented on so and that's for
good reason because Summer Reading Club
is the number one most attended most
popular public program that the orl
provides so it's actually a provincewide
program
that happens every year in July and
August libraries all across BC and all
across Canada using a slightly different
model run a summer reading club to
encourage kids to keep on reading
keeping on learning keep coming into the
library over the summer so kids can come
into any branch they get a little
reading record these are the visuals
from last year uh was world of
Curiosities this year it's going to be
called color your summer um so kids get
a reading log they keep track of what
they've read and then when they hit
certain Milestones they get prizes and
they can also come into branches and
come to fun programs like magic shows
and last year we had the bug guy who
brought in um bugs and amphibians and
creepy crawlies that kids were really
excited to see and one of the reasons I
want to highlight this program is uh so
one of the things I often hear as the
Director of a library system is people
saying things along the lines of do
people even use libraries anymore more
uh which of course hurts hurts my soul
because I love the library um but so the
statistics I have up here really
illustrate the fact that yes people are
using public libraries actually more
than they ever have in the past so
summer reading club stats from
2024 um so in 2024 we had a
35% increase since the preo years so
there was a dip of course during covid
people weren't able to congregate out in
public they weren't able to come in and
browse books so there was a dip for a
few years but now 2024 we were 35%
higher participation than
pre-co um last year we had over 8,000
kids registered in summer reading club
that's across our whole system and
that's more than we've ever had before
and I should say also 2023 was more than
we had ever had before so it's really
like an increase each year and then
again 2024
um a little oh well almost
29,000 kids and parents attended
programs across our system so that is um
that's a lot of people it's a lot of
people coming out to hear story times
and read and come and interact with our
staff and enjoy our space and all the
things that we
provide that's Sumer Reading Club um one
of the other points that really came up
last year when I was visiting councils
and talking about Library service is our
electronic resources so people often
think about books when they think of the
library which is very accurate we have
hundreds of thousands of books um but we
also provide electronic resources so
those are mostly ebooks and E audio
books um that people can borrow on their
phones um or on their tablets on their
devices remotely uh and there's also
research materials magazines all kinds
of other electronic resources so again
this is whoops I skipped too
enthusiastically so again this is an
area that's really increasing so we're
seeing our physical book circulation is
slowly increasing that is also
increasing um but not by the same Leaps
and Bounds as our electronic usage so
again these are 2024 stats um that's our
last full year of course so in
2024 um we had just under
800,000 digital books borrowed um and
that's an 8.6 increase from the year
before so again each year we're seeing
this kind of increase in how much people
are reading
electronically and then audiobooks
listened to was almost 500,000
audiobooks were borrowed across our
system last year which is a 23% increase
which is a like a pretty steep increase
um and then we also added some more
digital magazines to our offerings last
year um and people really utilized those
so there was over 200,000 magazines were
borrowed last year across our
system and I realized with this next
initiative I forgot to bring in an
example I have an example in my car of
the library of things so I'm going to
act it out when we get to the next
slide but so one of the other
collections we've introduced uh is a
library of things collection so those
are things that are physical people can
check them out and take them home um but
they're not books there maybe not what
you traditionally imagine being in a
library so some of the images there
there's a picture of a radon detector
it's a little guy in the corner a a
number of robotic kits that are really
popular with kids um we have a dental
hygiene kit which is the one at the
bottom with the kind of creepy mouth um
a number of these kits we built in
partnership with other organizations so
for instance the dental hygiene one we
had support from Interior Health um so
that's a really neat aspect of this
collection and then the biggest image in
the center oh is the one that I have
sitting in my
car it's the um it's a braille kit so it
has tennis balls and what look like Lego
pieces and in fact they are Lego pieces
so I'm going to act it out because I
forgot to bring it but so it's a
Rubbermaid bin about the size of the top
of this Podium you lift off the lid
there are little containers of Lego
pieces those 6 by two those six square
Lego pieces you know 3x two and the
concept is that in the Braille alphabet
you can make every different letter of
the alphabet on a six
cube you know piece about as big as your
finger and depending where the dots on
the Lego are those represent different
letters so in that kit you have all the
different letters of the alphabet and
you can place them differently on a Lego
sheet and there's a a cu card that
explains what the different letters are
some books in Braille and then there's
also six tennis balls that sit in a
muffin tin that are like a big Braille
letter so if you're learning Braille you
can move the tennis balls into different
configurations and feel them with your
full hand and those represent different
Braille letters and I sincerely
apologize that I left the kit in my
car so library of things kits um at the
moment we have 22 different kits um they
are usually out in circulation so if you
put one on hold they will arrive for you
here at the Salmon Arm Branch but some
of them are popular and you might need
to wait a couple weeks uh in
2024 they circulated almost 2,000 times
and they're a really growing collections
so I anticipate these numbers are also
going to increase because we just
started building these kits a couple
years ago and then I went out of order
then I was supposed to do the show in
tell but
what a failure
okay the fourth thing I wanted to
highlight is the role that all of our
branches play as Community hubs and as
emergency lifelines so that plays out a
bit differently in our 30 different
branches so how we see that is in our
bigger Urban centers downtown Colona
downtown Vernon the library plays a
really active role in supporting the
unhoused population people often come in
and use the space as a warm safe space
to be um and then in our smaller more
rural locations we are often the only
public open space that people can come
in and spend time regardless of weather
regardless of whether they have any
money with them to buy coffee no
barriers um and then a specific aspect
of that is you know we live in a part of
the world that's being increasingly impa
impacted by climate change change in all
kinds of different ways um so our
libraries also play a really important
role during heat domes and cold snaps as
air conditioned public spaces and so in
some of our communities for instance
close by in um both Enderby and
Armstrong the orl has service agreements
with those two municipalities to be
official Heating and Cooling centers so
if that was something that Salmon Arm
was interested in pursuing by all means
get in contact with me and we could look
at if we wanted to do that so how it
works in um in Armstrong and Enderby is
that if there is um going to be a heat
Dome or a cold snap the city will
contact us the library if we have the
staff to do it we'll stay open
additional hours so maybe stay open
until 11: at night or stay open on
Sunday and then at the end of that
period Then the library would um invoice
the municipality for that additional
staff time that's all that we invoice
for because really the space is
available anyway so I just wanted to
highlight that um and then the final
thing this is my cue to soon hand things
over to Christie so most of our funding
is Municipal as I think you're all aware
I talked about our funding model when I
came out last year uh but about 15% of
our funding comes from the provincial
government I would love for that to be
more but that's what it is at the moment
um a couple years ago we did receive an
additional chunk of funding from The
Province called the provincial
enhancement Grant and so one of the
things that I've taken very seriously as
CEO is making sure that a portion of
that funding gets out to each of our
branches uh and so at that queue I'm
going to invite Christy to come up and
she's going to tell you what's happening
here in samon arm thank you Danielle and
welcome
Christie good afternoon everybody it's
nice to see you all uh I just wanted to
share a few of the branch initiatives
that we have um we are lucky to be one
of the recipients of the provincial
enhancement Grant and we will be getting
new flooring finally to replace our very
well-loved carpeting uh that we've been
stepping on for many years we are hoping
to have a lovely gray carpet throughout
the branch and a wood tone vinyl plank
in the children's area we don't have an
anticipated start date for that yet but
should be sometime this year so we're
very very excited about that and just a
touch on what uh Danielle had shown you
with uh the Braille
kit um one of the programs I'd like to
highlight is called no barriers and
exploring options for Low Vision reading
so reading changes throughout your life
including how you read we're going to be
having our access services Department
come to the Salmon Arm branch and
they're going to Showcase different
Technologies uh to keep you or someone
you know reading uh so you can discover
how to make the Libby app more
accessible what Daisy players and discs
are and they're going to Showcase other
Technologies for print disabled readers
so that's happening Thursday April 24th
in the afternoon uh and I'll just have a
table at the front of the library to
Showcase some of those uh really cool
things that we have at the library to
help people continue to
read uh starting this year we have a
monthly Library drum circle so just one
of the fun programs I wanted to
highlight uh where people can learn
about hand drumming and join in we have
a few loner drums for folks who would
like to try it out so of course like
everything else in the library it's free
to join uh Daniel got to see it
firsthand this after afternoon so today
is a drumming day and you can tell when
you walk into the mall that it is a
drumming day because you'll hear some
lovely rhythmic
thumping uh the staff that work at the
library uh we all Bop along to it while
we're
working um we had the friends of the
library book sale this Friday and
Saturday very successful they will be
having their annual general meeting at
the Salmon Arm Branch next month on
Monday April
28th our friends fundraise and advocate
for the Salmon Arm and South shush SWAT
branches um and they Advocate spread the
word about the library and our programs
and events so membership is $5 a year so
that's something that uh anyone can join
and we hope that you
do and then uh one last thing to note is
uh the city of Salmon Arm will be
featuring the library in one of their
social media videos next month so you
will see uh mayor Harrison and myself
online maybe we'll do puppets we'll talk
but yeah thank you very much sounds
great thank you very much looking
forward to that do I get to pick my
puppet oh of
course thank you thank you to both of
you um for sharing all the great things
that are happening in the library I will
open it up to counselors for any
comments or if they have questions at
all counselor lingren
thanks your worship as the rep on the
Okanagan Regional Library board um I
just so appreciate the work that the
libraries are doing I think um knowing
that Canada is among the has the highest
is among the countries with the highest
literacy rates in the world uh we cannot
um uh understate the importance of
libraries in that in bringing free
education and literacy to everybody in
this country everyone has equal access
and so I just wanted to say thank you
very much for the work that the
libraries do and for making that
possible thank you councelor lingren and
thank you for being our rep on the
regional board councelor Wallace
Richmond yeah thank thanks you both for
the presentation um so appreciate uh the
library uh just on behalf of uh the
social impact advisory committee I
wanted to say thank you to Christie for
continuing to work and partner with uh
the agencies that help our most
vulnerable including the of course the
library so that uh
collaboration um as well with many other
organizations is very much appreciated
and certainly adds to the fact that the
library is a community Hub so thank you
thank you councelor Wallace
Richmond don't see other any other
speakers I'll just make my comment first
of all it's really it's heartwarming
actually to see the summer reading
program and uh the increase in numbers
um there uh
my parents used to take me to summer
reading program here in Salmon Arm in
the library way back and so
um and as a former principal parents
used to ask me how how can I encourage
my kids to
read and my answer was always
read um and I know my parents when we
went to some reading program I would get
my books but they would get theirs and
then they would read their books
and
so if you're on your phone your parents
or your kids are going to want to be on
their phone if you're reading a book
They're going to want to do it so really
appreciate your encouragement in that
way the the other piece is just your
pivot and Innovation I mean 25 years ago
if you heard drums coming out of a
library that would be quite unusual
there were quiet spaces now it's ukulele
drums all kinds of great stuff happening
there so thank you thank you for what
you're doing there ccer Canon thank you
and I just it kind of twigged with our
mayor saying that his parents used to
take him to the library because I was
telling my grandchildren because I had
them at the library uh that the library
used to be when I was a kid at the art
gallery they're like the art gallery
used to be the library and I was like
yep that's where the LI Library used to
be so it's great to uh hear you know all
the different programs and how you're
capturing all the different groups at
the library so it's a great that we have
that in our community so thank you for
everything that you
do and thank you for coming and
presenting to us we uh we always
appreciate you being here so thank
you well and thank you all for your time
too have a good rest of your meeting
thank
you okay counselors we're at Council
statements if any counselor has a
statement they wish to share now would
be a good time councelor Wallace
Richmond thank you thank you um just a
quick um early update from the uh
Federation of can Canadian
municipalities board meeting uh held in
Montreal last week first of all uh
grateful as ever for the opportunity for
for samon arm to be at that table
unexpectedly I I'm you know not
unexpectedly I mean lots of talks about
tariffs lots of talks about trade lot of
talks about election Readiness so there
will be a series of tools that we will
have at our disposal as members moving
forward um as we uh go through this
difficult uh these challenging
times but in general it's really the
messaging um that Canadian communities
are the engine of national prosperity
and so they're calling for
um Federal parties to recognize the
power of community building whether it
be infrastructure projects to continuing
to support housing uh National utility
corridors uh big nation building
projects and so um keep an eye on your
fcm communic that you get on your email
and if you don't get it please do sign
up it's very informative and uh again
always a pleasure to be there on behalf
of of Salmon Arm we are making a
difference and um I'm very proud of
representing us at that table thank you
thank you councelor Wallace Richmond
really appreciate it and you do a
fantastic job so thank you so much any
other Council statements
today councelor Flynn thank you worship
I'd be remiss if I didn't make a quick
comment um thanking the roots and blues
Organization for what looks like an
unbelievable lineup coming up in July
one of my all-time favorite artists who
used to be the lead singer the guest gu
who Burton Cummings um is highlighting
or headlining on Saturday but the rest
of the lineup looks just amazing Colin
James and many others so uh exciting
lineup invite your friends invite your
family and uh enjoy an awesome Festival
in the middle of the
summer thank you councelor Flynn yeah
that's quite a lineup
wow I don't see any other Council
statements I'll just maybe make a couple
of quick items um feel very fortunate to
be invited to special things that happen
in our community and I think a lots of
you are aware of the uh the new dry Kiln
that's just opened at uh canoe Forest
Products and it's kind of neat because
about two years ago we made a motion to
write a letter here to help Gorman
Brothers get a a provincial Grant to
help them with the um being able to
afford this D kill as did n gonth uh
band and a number of other users they
did get a $2 million provincial Grant um
the cost of the actual Kil was about 14
million some of you also I think have
toured there when the old dryer Kil was
there and we were explained how they're
going to have to build the roof remove
the old dryer put the new dryer
in without any operation loss incredible
feet of engineering um and so it was a
real privilege to be there uh Minister
from The Province was there as well um
and you know they recognize at Gorman's
that you have to innovate and every
little change enables you um to be
financially viable and so this is a
really important change for them and uh
yeah you maybe get a chance to go in
there at some time a couple of other
quick events uh I know some of you are
at uh the art center for Tracy Ker's uh
um farewell and celebration on on
Saturday and uh um Tracy uh handled
herself as you would expect in Tracy
fashion and just uh um so gracious her
family was there and many others so um
it was a really wonderful send off and
privilege to be there and on the same
day was 55 plus um activity centers
volunteer
recognition um what a facility that is
it's run entirely by volunteers there
must have been a hundred of them there
for lunch and uh um they have fun um
they have activities but most of all
they socialize and that piece for those
seniors especially who are either alone
or lonely and I understand those because
I've had parents in my family in that
boat they are really supplying um such
an important um need feeling such a need
there and there's everything from
Canasta to Zumba happening in that in
that facility so uh um thank you to all
the people that work
there any other
Council
statements okay seeing none we are at
our question and answer period does
anyone have a question for us anyone
with us virtually or in the gallery who
would like to ask Council a question
today
okay
um before we adjourn this meeting we
have an item in in camera that we have
to go to so I would entertain a motion
from a counselor to move in camera
councelor Canon councelor Flynn thank
you all those in
favor that passes unanimously thank you
very much for your attendance members of
the public today