[0:55] Okay.

[0:58] Call to order. Any errors? Just small

[1:00] errors, which we learned organizes the

[1:02] ancestral territory of the Squamish

[1:04] people.

[1:05] And

[1:09] adoption of the agenda as presented.

[1:12] >> Someone moved to second.

[1:13] >> Who will second?

[1:15] Playing all in favor.

[1:16] Carried. Adoption of the August 5th

[1:19] regular meeting council minutes. So, who

[1:21] will move to second?

[1:22] >> I'll move to second.

[1:24] >> Are there any omissions? All in favor?

[1:26] Carried. Sorry.

[1:28] Yes, it's come to my attention first.

[1:29] >> Yes.

[1:30] >> Um no petitions or delegations today.

[1:32] We'll go to staff reports under 6.1,

[1:35] business facade improvement grant

[1:36] application for 133 Fir Street and 8th

[1:38] Avenue.

[1:39] Mark.

[1:40] >> Thank you. Uh we've got a facade

[1:42] improvement grant application for 135.

[1:46] Um

[1:47] this is

[1:48] uh

[1:49] retail location with suites above. Uh

[1:52] they have just finished a exterior

[1:57] renovation on the lane side of their

[1:59] building. Um and they want to upgrade

[2:02] the facade on the Vermilion side,

[2:04] basically to match. Uh it's kind of a

[2:06] dark grayish brown uh hardy plank

[2:10] siding.

[2:11] And then uh re-shingling the

[2:14] uh

[2:15] the awning as well. So,

[2:17] uh total project cost is uh

[2:20] over $18,000.

[2:22] So, uh if approved, it would likely be

[2:25] the maximum funding of 5,000.

[2:29] >> Questions?

[2:30] >> Councilor Gould.

[2:31] >> Um Mark, I see that the awning is like a

[2:34] shared

[2:36] like it's um it's over more than one

[2:39] building. Will they just do what's in

[2:40] front?

[2:41] >> Presumably, yes.

[2:43] >> Okay.

[2:44] >> Um

[2:45] >> And then your report says that they

[2:46] would have to enter into a or possibly

[2:49] have to enter an encroachment agreement.

[2:51] >> Yeah, so so with

[2:54] kind of the way we've handled the

[2:55] awnings

[2:57] uh that are over our sidewalks is if

[2:58] they require a building permit, um

[3:02] at the very least then then we uh try to

[3:05] catch up on the that legal easement as

[3:07] well. Um

[3:09] I have talked to the building

[3:10] department. Uh

[3:12] they're a little unsure what the scope

[3:14] of work is, but um

[3:16] with this

[3:18] with the BFI program uh when they enter

[3:22] into the performance agreement, uh it

[3:25] basically asks for a review with the

[3:27] building department prior to work

[3:29] starting.

[3:29] >> That's when they'll get more details.

[3:31] Okay, perfect.

[3:32] >> Yeah.

[3:33] >> No, it's going to look nice.

[3:37] » Anybody else? Motion?

[3:39] Councilor Gould.

[3:40] Second.

[3:41] >> Mhm.

[3:42] >> To approve.

[3:44] Any last questions?

[3:47] All in favor?

[3:48] Carried. Thank you.

[3:50] Uh Council Kerr, Council Gould.

[3:53] >> Uh, I have no but I had a community for

[3:56] my for community forest meeting and then

[3:59] our

[4:06] » Uh, counselor McClean.

[4:10] » Nothing other than my

[4:12] and well

[4:13] town migration.

[4:17] » Yeah.

[4:18] >> We were there a few weeks ago.

[4:24] » Okay.

[4:26] Councilor

[4:27] >> Uh, as I stated at the last meeting

[4:29] August it's pretty quiet for me so I

[4:31] have nothing to report.

[4:33] >> Okay.

[4:34] Um

[4:35] I'm just trying to remember when our

[4:36] last meeting was.

[4:39] Uh, there's been lots going on.

[4:41] Um

[4:42] so

[4:44] just

[4:45] Uh, we had a meeting um

[4:48] with uh

[4:49] Jared

[4:51] and Shawn and uh

[4:54] directors from area HB and G.

[4:57] Um

[4:58] with the Minister of

[5:01] water, land, natural or resource

[5:03] stewardship uh

[5:06] on

[5:07] early August 3rd.

[5:09] Um discussing some of the projects that

[5:11] were outstanding and uh getting permits

[5:13] for for approvals. We're still waiting

[5:16] on the permits for certain works post

[5:19] flood so we discussed that and then as a

[5:22] valley we discussed uh some water

[5:25] issues that are ongoing with the

[5:27] watershed and the ongoing drought and what not.

[5:31] Um

[5:33] so that was a good meeting. Um she used

[5:35] my office for a while to have a meeting

[5:37] and then we had an hour and a half with

[5:39] the minister which is uh

[5:41] pretty great cuz you don't usually get

[5:43] that kind of access so

[5:45] Um and then the next day

[5:48] um

[5:51] Yeah, so we're working on a highway

[5:52] through the SBPS working on a

[5:55] um

[5:56] Highway 3 tourism

[5:59] kind of succession planning and business

[6:01] attraction program. Um, we're almost to

[6:04] the point. So, Destination Canada has a

[6:07] grant process out. We're working with

[6:09] Destination BC to do some matching funds

[6:12] and then each participant has to put in

[6:14] some funds. So, today at our SBPS

[6:16] meeting we allocated

[6:18] 5,000 out of our budget to to go to

[6:21] this. Um

[6:23] So, that'll be our portion and then

[6:26] uh, we're working with Boundary Country

[6:28] and Christina Lake. So, we're going to

[6:30] look at a corridor-wide

[6:32] business

[6:34] succession planning attraction and uh

[6:37] um

[6:39] like an

[6:40] inventory of all the tourism businesses

[6:42] along the corridors so that we can

[6:44] hopefully go to the next stage which

[6:45] would be attracting and developing more

[6:48] tourism-based businesses for the corridor. So, that's that's an

[6:52] ongoing weekly meeting right now just

[6:54] till we get to the grant. Um, and

[6:56] Destination BC is looking after the

[6:58] grant process and everything for us. So,

[7:00] um

[7:03] Then,

[7:04] we had a regional district meeting.

[7:08] Um, we had a special

[7:12] in camera meeting to bring us all up to

[7:14] date. Last Thursday, tomorrow we have

[7:16] another regional district meeting and

[7:19] then he'll bring us up to date on that

[7:20] as well. So,

[7:21] as everybody knows the fire in

[7:23] Summerland area F holder Meadow Valley,

[7:28] Garnet Valley, all those areas. Pretty

[7:30] devastating fire.

[7:32] Roughly 20,000 evacuees um, all within a

[7:36] 5-hour process.

[7:38] Um

[7:39] You know, I've heard mixed things. We

[7:42] have We have people over there

[7:44] at Maureen or over there working.

[7:46] They're still there as far as I know.

[7:48] There's been a fire protection or fire

[7:51] structure protection unit that is a

[7:53] joint between Aris, Princeton, I think

[7:57] Hayes Creek has people on it. Um have

[8:00] all been on scene.

[8:02] Um

[8:03] Yeah, so it's it's been a really uh

[8:05] a regional approach to to supporting

[8:08] this.

[8:09] The far end of uh area H over in the

[8:12] Tro- over by Thirst Lake, that is on

[8:15] evacuation order right now. There's an

[8:16] evacuation alert that goes all the way

[8:18] to Jellicoe.

[8:19] Um

[8:20] so there's

[8:22] it's still advancing, just not as fast

[8:24] as it was. It did take a little bit of a

[8:26] turn.

[8:27] But uh

[8:28] we continue to watch that fire and uh

[8:32] um Dave Stringfellow's back from working

[8:35] on

[8:36] the Was it the Boston Bar fire I think

[8:38] he was on?

[8:39] Um so he's back and uh they're

[8:42] coordinating some efforts up there right

[8:43] now with Cindy, the fire chief from

[8:45] Hayes Creek, and and whatnot. So the

[8:47] whole area's kind of on on alert right

[8:49] now just to keep an eye on what's going

[8:51] on there.

[8:53] Uh everything will be weather dependent

[8:55] between now and when the snow flies, so

[8:57] how that fire progresses or does not

[8:59] progress.

[9:00] Um

[9:04] so

[9:07] Who else do we speak with? Uh

[9:10] I've had some Through all that, I've had

[9:12] some conversations with the Minister of

[9:13] Forests, the

[9:15] emergency management office, the ALC.

[9:19] Um just doing what we can do to help. We

[9:22] did open a

[9:23] uh ESS center for two for a couple days

[9:26] here in Princeton. Um that was to

[9:28] support the evacuees that were coming

[9:30] out of the the Tro- um

[9:32] the side of Tro- Creek.

[9:34] And um we end up servicing

[9:37] members of the Summerland community as

[9:40] well from here cuz they got dispersed

[9:41] everywhere.

[9:43] Um

[9:44] yesterday?

[9:45] Yeah, yesterday

[9:47] Lyle and I met with the Minister of

[9:48] Transportation about the Copper Mountain

[9:51] Road intersection with Highway 5 or

[9:54] Highway 3. Um

[9:56] presented them with that. They're going

[9:58] to work with our staff on

[10:01] some planning and some research on that.

[10:04] Um asked them to extend that all the way

[10:06] to Sand Hang

[10:07] so that way we we look at a gradual

[10:10] reduction in speed and then also bring

[10:12] in the uh

[10:13] the intersection at the golf course and

[10:15] uh

[10:16] campground cuz it's 90 km/h there as

[10:18] well. So, also the Sand Hang

[10:20] intersection and the Taylor Mill, the

[10:22] three

[10:24] intersections at Taylor's Mill now. So,

[10:26] um just have them look at it all as one

[10:28] big unit. Um so,

[10:30] they're going to do a traffic study and

[10:33] bring their engineers over and work with

[10:35] the I'm guessing Jared and his his team

[10:38] on that.

[10:39] Um

[10:42] Yeah, it's still everything's still

[10:43] going busy on top of everything else.

[10:46] Um

[10:49] one of the things

[10:52] that

[10:53] Oh, and then I was in Clearwater also

[10:55] during this last while for uh Silga

[10:58] meeting. So,

[10:59] um the day that the fire Summerland

[11:01] broke out, we're on our way back from

[11:03] Clearwater when we got the phone call

[11:05] that it had happened.

[11:07] So, um

[11:08] kind of been super busy.

[11:10] One of the things that has come up since

[11:11] then is we had uh three fires in one day

[11:15] in town.

[11:16] Uh one was a um

[11:19] RV camper trailer that

[11:21] burned down

[11:22] on private property.

[11:24] Um another one was um an industrial fire

[11:28] that And then the last one

[11:31] was actually um

[11:34] I guess

[11:35] I don't want to call it arson, but it

[11:37] was a criminal. They arrested the

[11:39] guy. Um

[11:42] unfortunately, he's been let out on

[11:44] conditions.

[11:45] Um he deliberately lit a fire down in

[11:47] the tunnel area and walked away from it.

[11:49] He did appear in front of a judge and he

[11:51] was let out on conditions.

[11:54] So, something I want to ask council

[11:56] is I want

[11:59] um

[12:00] I'd like for us to write uh

[12:04] a victim impact statement on behalf of

[12:05] the community

[12:07] cuz they've put the entire community in

[12:08] a state of

[12:09] uh fear

[12:11] and panic. And also

[12:14] something that I've been discussing with

[12:16] uh

[12:17] the RCMP

[12:19] and I think it's something we should

[12:20] attempt to do is I want to write a

[12:22] letter to Crown prosecutors

[12:25] asking that

[12:27] they um

[12:30] try to get the maximum sentence on this.

[12:34] But also

[12:35] I think we should be asking for a

[12:38] um

[12:40] What do they call it?

[12:42] It's where they say you can't come back

[12:43] to town. So they can uh

[12:46] the a judge can make a decision to keep

[12:49] you from coming back to a community for

[12:51] a certain amount of time. And I think if

[12:53] somebody's willing to try to burn our

[12:54] community down, then uh it's uh the

[12:57] least we can do is ask the Crown counsel

[12:59] to

[13:00] push for that as part of the ruling.

[13:03] And just show people that if you're not

[13:04] going to be part of our community, then

[13:05] we don't want you

[13:06] in our community right now. So

[13:08] um

[13:10] I guess we can add that as a new

[13:11] business item.

[13:13] Carrie?

[13:14] >> I'm just writing it all down.

[13:15] >> Okay.

[13:17] And then uh

[13:19] And if uh we're successful, then I think

[13:21] it's something that we can ask for in

[13:22] the future as well. Um

[13:24] I think if you break the social

[13:25] contract, then you need to be

[13:27] dealt with as such. And uh

[13:30] We have a

[13:32] I think we have people in positions of

[13:35] authority right now who will support us

[13:36] on those requests. So,

[13:39] we just need to get Crown to convince a

[13:41] judge of that.

[13:43] >> Yeah, I was just going to ask if you had

[13:44] any idea of what the temperature in the

[13:47] RCMP office would be related to this.

[13:50] >> I believe I could say with certainty

[13:52] that we have full support of our uh

[13:55] current RCMP detachment to uh

[13:59] try to get the maximum sentence on

[14:02] everything that we can get on. It's It's

[14:05] really not up to any of us. I mean, this

[14:07] is a new approach. Um

[14:10] if council wants to go that way.

[14:12] And I think it's I think it's needed. I

[14:14] think the certain individuals that are

[14:17] doing certain these things um

[14:20] need to be

[14:22] It needs to be shown that

[14:24] the community doesn't want

[14:27] If you If you're not going to

[14:28] participate in our community, then we

[14:29] don't want you as part of our community.

[14:32] So.

[14:33] >> I would make that motion.

[14:34] >> Well, we'll do that in the new new

[14:36] business.

[14:36] >> For the new business?

[14:37] >> Yes.

[14:38] >> Okay.

[14:38] >> This is just a report. So.

[14:39] >> Right.

[14:40] >> Yeah.

[14:42] » Is there any

[14:45] Carrier, Lyler, and Spencer, is there

[14:47] any notification of what court cases are

[14:50] coming up prior to?

[14:53] >> Sort of.

[14:56] Go ahead.

[14:58] » There's monthly court lists, yeah.

[15:00] >> Yeah.

[15:01] >> But usually the docket's not confirmed

[15:03] right away. Like it's not months in

[15:05] advance.

[15:05] >> We wouldn't have advance notice of

[15:08] What I'm getting at is that we years ago

[15:10] we instituted a court watch

[15:13] so that

[15:14] there was an observer there on behalf of

[15:17] council just to bring back

[15:20] uh information about the what cases went

[15:23] on and what the

[15:25] penalties were and whatever, just so

[15:27] that

[15:28] we could do exactly what he's talking

[15:29] about in terms of

[15:31] um

[15:33] giving information.

[15:35] What we were going through at the time

[15:36] was high drug problems. And so we tried

[15:39] to

[15:40] um

[15:40] put pressure on um

[15:43] you know, fines and whatever with regard

[15:46] to drugs.

[15:47] And to me,

[15:49] if we're going to keep going through

[15:50] this summertime

[15:52] fire thing every year, it seems like,

[15:55] then

[15:57] I couldn't agree with you more in terms

[15:58] of

[15:59] um if we had an idea of what if any fire

[16:03] ones were coming up, that you'd have a

[16:05] court watch person there to to observe

[16:07] it and then bring it back to council and

[16:09] say and then we would then

[16:12] pass on information

[16:14] to if you're going to do it through the prosecutors or you're going to do it

[16:18] through the judges, whatever.

[16:21] >> Well, and I think we should extend it

[16:23] not to just fires, but to repeat

[16:26] offenders.

[16:27] Um to

[16:29] other things as well. Like,

[16:32] you know, like we need to

[16:34] I think we need to make make it very

[16:36] clear to judges that the community is

[16:40] tired of certain things

[16:42] and try to convince them

[16:44] that

[16:46] one, we don't have the resources to keep

[16:48] throwing at this. Right? Like, we we

[16:51] know when we have a a a a rash of, you

[16:55] know, these small crimes like where

[16:57] people are stealing from yards and

[16:59] everything else,

[17:01] the RCMP know who they are. They pick

[17:03] them up, they're put them they're let

[17:04] back out. So they're trying to get as

[17:06] many charges as they can on these people

[17:08] before they they get them in front of a

[17:10] judge.

[17:11] But if we know these things are

[17:12] happening and then when they do go, like

[17:14] they go to Oliver for a for a while,

[17:16] Oliver everything just comes goes quiet.

[17:19] Right? And then they get out and then

[17:21] they come back to the community and what

[17:23] do they do? It all starts up again. So,

[17:26] I think if we get involved, the council

[17:28] gets involved, and we write these impact

[17:31] statements, and we start sending letters

[17:34] requesting for the maximum or for these

[17:37] I forget what they're called, but the

[17:39] restrictions to the community. It shows

[17:42] that we're tired of it and it's got to

[17:44] be dealt with and maybe maybe then

[17:46] judges will

[17:48] work with us a little bit more cuz right

[17:49] now

[17:50] I mean, Kelowna's done I don't know how

[17:52] much money they've spent on on research

[17:55] and

[17:57] like the the the prime or the majority of the crime is being

[18:02] caused by a small handful of people

[18:06] who have like

[18:08] rap sheets longer than

[18:11] all of our

[18:12] you know,

[18:13] everything that we have here. Like it's insane and why are we doing this?

[18:16] Like why is this an ongoing thing? And

[18:18] if the if the government isn't going to

[18:20] change the laws to to protect us, then I

[18:23] think we need to start standing up in a

[18:24] way and we have I think we have a

[18:26] sergeant that will work with us and and

[18:29] ask for the same

[18:30] you know, work with us on on trying to

[18:33] do this thing this stuff because

[18:35] it's

[18:37] something's got to give here.

[18:39] >> So, it's important to note that there's

[18:41] different levels of um

[18:44] offenses too. Right? You've got your municipal offenses that we can do

[18:48] under the offense act and and that we do

[18:50] with our bylaws. And then there's the

[18:52] criminal offenses and then and then

[18:55] determine on

[18:56] the criminal code that can be charged on

[19:00] it goes to prosecution like to crown

[19:02] council. But I think the biggest thing

[19:04] is if it [clears throat] comes to a

[19:06] where it is a criminal offense and the

[19:08] RCMP

[19:10] are able to charge them, then we have to

[19:12] do like you were saying,

[19:14] support the local RCMP and and I agree

[19:17] with writing a victim impact statement

[19:19] because it's a I think that's a great

[19:21] idea. Um there's a not a lot that we can

[19:24] do to

[19:25] I I wouldn't

[19:28] think we could um

[19:30] ask for exclusions, but if there's

[19:33] history and they've got the the cases of

[19:35] the repeat offenders, then supporting

[19:39] the RCMP is the way to go for building

[19:41] their case to give to the prosecution.

[19:44] >> I I think we should ask for exclusions.

[19:45] I think we we're the we're the ones that represent the

[19:49] community

[19:50] and our community is asking for

[19:53] something to happen. So, I don't think

[19:55] it's unreasonable to ask Crown

[19:58] prosecutors to try to get those

[20:00] exclusions. Maybe the judges won't go

[20:02] for it, but if they keep hearing that we

[20:04] have certain people that we don't want

[20:06] here

[20:07] and it's for what? 6 months or whatever.

[20:09] >> going to charge

[20:10] >> It's not forever, but we're sending this message that we are

[20:14] we're tired of it, right? We just wrote

[20:16] a letter to um

[20:18] the um

[20:19] Attorney General asking for more court

[20:22] time because bylaw has been told that

[20:25] court time's at a premium and the only

[20:26] way we're going to get court time is if

[20:28] we

[20:29] you know, get the Attorney General to or

[20:31] yeah, Attorney General to approve more

[20:34] court time for Princeton. So, we're

[20:35] asking for like one extra day per

[20:37] quarter just to deal with, you know,

[20:40] civil and and and municipal stuff

[20:42] because

[20:43] the court services are like, we don't

[20:44] have time for you guys. So, all the good

[20:47] work that we're doing, like now it's

[20:49] stuck in the queue somewhere. So, I

[20:50] think it just needs to be shown like you

[20:52] have to invest in this stuff and you

[20:54] have to start working with communities

[20:55] cuz

[20:56] I don't know. I'm I'm tired of it. I've

[20:58] been tired of it for ages.

[20:59] >> I'm I'm agreeing that we the biggest

[21:02] impact you can do is supporting the RCMP

[21:04] and that's the way to go, right? Like

[21:06] showing that that what the impact is,

[21:08] especially if there's a history of

[21:10] damage that that our staff can prove,

[21:13] too.

[21:16] » Okay, there's no more questions on that.

[21:17] We'll go to correspondence receiving

[21:19] file.

[21:20] We have three letters there.

[21:23] The Ombudsman

[21:24] update from April 1st to 3rd June 30th.

[21:28] The Corporation of the Village of Slocan

[21:32] asking for a continuation of the local

[21:34] government climate action program

[21:35] funding and the City of Salmon Arm BC

[21:38] government climate action

[21:40] program funding continuation.

[21:43] Get a motion to receive. I'll move for

[21:44] receipt. Thank you. Councillor McLean,

[21:46] second.

[21:47] Councillor Gold, any questions? All in

[21:50] favor? Carried. And then we'll go to new

[21:52] business and that's

[21:54] the

[21:56] to write a letter and then a victim

[21:57] impact statement for Crown.

[21:59] >> Can we amend the agenda? Can I get a

[22:01] motion to add it?

[22:03] >> Sure.

[22:04] Motion to add it?

[22:06] >> Please.

[22:08] >> Sure. Thank you. Councillor Elliott,

[22:10] Councillor McLean, all in favor?

[22:12] Okay. Now, a motion to

[22:14] >> I've already made that motion.

[22:15] >> Okay. Councillor Elliott's making the

[22:17] motion. Second?

[22:19] Thank you. Councillor McLean, all in

[22:22] favor?

[22:25] No, he was I He was fast [laughter] on

[22:27] that one.

[22:28] Okay.

[22:29] So, that passed. And then a motion to

[22:31] adjourn.

[22:32] >> So moved.

[22:33] >> Thank you.

[22:34] >> [laughter]

[22:35] >> Yeah, you want to get me You want to get

[22:37] my attention?

[22:37] >> the jeopardy button.

[22:38] >> Councillor McLean, all in favor? All in

[22:40] favor? Carried. Thank you and good night

[22:42] everybody.

[22:44] We close at 5:30.

Regular Agenda - 19 Aug 2026

Transcript