[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