Committee of the Whole

Good afternoon, View Royal, and I'll call the meeting of the Committee of the Whole for Tuesday, January 14th, to order, and we'll begin with a territorial acknowledgement that we recognize the Quangwin speaking people known today as the Esquimalt Nation and the Songhees Nation, and that their historic connections to these lands continue to this day.

This afternoon we heard from the public during the public participation and question portions of the agenda.

I don't, colleagues, I don't expect our meeting to go beyond the supper break or seven o'clock.

That's why you have the bountiful nutrition in front of you.

Please don't eat it all at once.

But we may recess uh pending your call if the meeting runs a little bit longer than normally would.

For members of the audience, I've got about a paragraph of do's and don'ts, but I think suffice to say that we are not Langford here in View Royal, uh, so I know everybody will behave accordingly.

Um to provide comments virtually during the public participation period or ask questions during the question period, you will see a QR code or a URL for those tuning in at home on the live webcast stream or a URL on the town's website under live webcast.

You can scan the code or type in the URL.

Through the form that pops up, you can type in your comment or question to be read aloud at the appropriate time by a member of our webcast team.

You'll need to provide your name and your street name on the form, or if you are speaking in council chambers.

Public participation comments are limited to five minutes for each speaker and must be related to items on the agenda.

And you will be timed.

This meeting will be recorded by participating in the webcast.

You are consenting to being recorded, and the recording will be available on the town's website for future access.

I note that the uh the agenda has changed.

Um, and I note also that councillor Mattson has before you in your pile of agenda items a notice of motion that he's just submitting um that will be uh that I'll ask him to read in, but we'll discuss it actually the next council meeting that we have.

So, with that, can I get a motion to approve the agenda as stands?

Moved by councilor Brown, seconded by Councilor Rogers.

Um any comments?

All those in favor.

Okay, uh, if you have got a comment now, just quickly, I I really like the new format.

I others might have different opinions, but I I prefer it to anyway, just my opinion.

Okay, thanks, Councilor Brown.

And what he's noting is that normally we uh go um to chairs of our portfolios.

Uh the chair will now rotate.

Um uh who's ever acting mayor, I think that uh goes by the basis.

So I believe the next one up will be Councillor Brown, uh, who will chair the whole meeting.

Uh so it'll just be a a change in in doing things that way.

There'll still be a portion on the agenda.

I think it's a two that will allow um uh you to update your portfolios and anything that you wanted to address specifically with the match.

Um yeah, so uh all those in favor of approving the agenda.

Any opposed?

Seeing none opposed, motion carries.

And can I get a motion to adopt the minutes for the 12th of November Council of the whole, please?

Moved by Councillor Lemon.

Uh do I have a seconder?

Second.

Seconded by Councillor Rogers.

All those in favor?

Any opposed?

Seeing none opposed, the motion passes unanimously.

Uh chair's report.

I do have a few things to report.

I was expecting a quiet uh January and I was wrong.

Um so uh a few weeks ago, Ivan, our head engineer, met with uh uh transit around complaints of the bus on the shoulder portion that they're currently doing um along Old Island Highway.

Um and they have apologized for not engaging the residents as fulsomely as they should.

They've rectified the situation by putting a contact in that saves our staff time and and uh updates um the residents that are immediately affected by some of the work that's going on.

Um at the same time, uh I think everybody noted that they're uh they have announced um for the second time the bus on the shoulder um uh plan and that will mainly affect View Royal but I would arguably say it would probably have the least benefit specifically to View Royal.

But of course a number of our residents along the highway will be both impacted by the construction potentially noise.

So I've reached out for a special meeting with Moti to try to get ahead of our citizens' concerns and see what we can do to mitigate sound uh as well as the process of construction as well.

Uh meeting last week with our new MLA, uh Darlene Rochford, um, who uh was a counselor in uh Esquimalt and uh she uh seems very willing to take on our causes even though she is uh of the government uh she is very willing to represent us uh in our citizens' needs which many are are very similar to Esquimalt's uh so I I was happy to have that meeting I've also met with our new South Island Prosperity Partnership um uh a CEO who's the former mayor of Ladysmith uh and um I I think they're under um uh a position that they're now reviewing and trying to make their work uh much more aligned to municipal challenges for prosperity uh for the South Island.

Um and of course, we are partners with them in that.

From a recent CMHC report that was released for the last quarter of this year.

Everybody knows the tremendous amount of construction going on throughout the West Shore.

Normally, our vacancy rate is hovering around 1.2 to 2%.

It jumped to 8.9% in the last quarter.

The opposite note to that is not so good a news.

Even though we're increasing supply, our rental affordability is still going up by 2%, where the rest of the uh country is going down for their affordability.

So that is something that I know um residents and staff and council will pay attention to to see if increasing the supply actually makes it a little bit more affordable or actually stops through the increases, so that uh hopefully uh we can catch up to it.

Um yeah, on the and uh lastly, our uh first inaugural meeting of our OCP committee occurred last night.

Um the group seems absolutely great, uh, provided uh invaluable support to staff with um uh reviewing the survey and making sure it was right for uh citizens.

Um the group's working well together.

There's not a posted next meeting, it's gonna go by the milestones as staff advances their work to ensure there's enough uh work for them to review uh but they're already talking about being getting together uh uh kind of as a side to visit some of the sites get out around View Royal and um and and to make themselves more aware so I couldn't be more happy thanks Jerry for your support and in that um and petitions and delegations that brings us down to I think our CAO of West Shore Parks and Rec, Mr.

Brown.

I think I've done that all correctly.

Thank you.

And thank you very much for inviting me to uh present on our budget for 2025 and the financial plan.

Next slide.

Sorry, so on uh today's presentation, I'm going to cover the financial projections and what has led to that, the major variances for 2024.

We're not just doing it for our benefit, but for the benefit of the recording and people that uh are tuning in at home.

Thanks, Carl.

Looks good here.

Okay.

Okay, good to go.

Okay, awesome.

Thank you.

Um, so to the considerations for 2025, things that we had to look at in building the 2025 budget, what that then leads to as far as major expense increases for next year, an overview of our financial plan for the next five years, looking at both revenues and expenses, a summary of the capital projects for 2025.

New to this year is a five-year capital plan.

So we've always done that.

We've just now included that in the package for all of the uh member councils to be able to review and look what's coming up over the next few years.

Um, very pleased to to report back on where our reserve continuity shows.

Um, we've can had continual improvement on that over the last number of years as we've made a conservative effort into ensuring that we've got adequate funding for all of our capital projects or and which are the owners and the members' resources, um, as well as then, of course, the requisition impact to each municipality.

Next slide.

So for 2024, we've had another um successful year.

Uh, we're looking at coming at six percent under budget or a surplus of 358,000.

Um, surpluses from our operating budgets all go towards that general capital reserve, and has been one of the big reasons over the last few years why we've been able to get to where we are in as far as the capital funding.

Um, what you'll see in the next slide when we we um I look at sort of the major variances, uh unlike oops, sorry, previous slide still.

Um, unlike previously in uh 2022, and particularly in 2023, where we saw a really large increase in admissions, we are in capacity in most areas.

Um, we're no longer seeing 50 people waiting in the pool, but the pool drop-ins are still full when we do family swims as an example.

There's 80 to 90 people at night in the weight room.

Um, yesterday in the afternoon happened to be doing a tour, and there was 40 people in at one o'clock in the afternoon in the weight room.

So it's we're definitely still seeing um that growth there, but it's not like it was the previous two years where we had that big demand for recreation services, where we've got the increase in revenue this year, it has been spread out across the board.

Um, I'll point out onto those, but there's a few uh rental areas where we've increased.

Interest income is a big part as interest rates went up on those reserves that we're holding on to.

And of course, some of the expenses went up in association with those increased revenue as we added programs, added more required more staffing, more supplies, and so on.

Uh next slide.

So when we look into 2024, it made up that um that surplus has mentioned the biggest um in increase on the finance or on the revenue side was higher interest income due to interest rates increasing and holding on to those reserves for capital projects.

We also saw an increase in arena programs, in particular um with youth hockey academies.

So we've got there's a number of them now.

It used to be in in general the youth hockey use of the arenas was uh minor hockey.

Now we've got a lot of um attachments to the schools and different academy programs.

And the nice part for us is they're using daytime ice so historically um ice during the day said sat empty if we didn't have some sort of like duffer hockey or adult program they would say sit empty now they're um it's quite full so the Q Center for example is is basically full all day long all the way up until one o'clock in the morning and we're seeing the same thing moving up into the WandaFuca rec center or WandaFuca arena as well.

Indoor sports complex um we're fully realizing what the expectations were back when the evaluation was done to convert the curling rink into that where we're seeing an average of 70 hours of use per week as opposed to what was 20 hours of use per week with of course quite a bit higher expenses to run the uh ice plant for the curve for curling in the past so in the daytime we've got things like pickleball uh we've got partnerships where with um Brooks School actually comes down and and uses our weight room um outdoor facilities actually have a hockey program now as well and they're they're using us as a lot of their um physical education program as well as daycare our daycare and our after school care programs will go down and use it and then after about 330 four o'clock we've got have heavily um use of rentals and as well as on weekends between soccer baseball lacrosse and those in the spring uses as well fitness is the one area as mentioned in the weight room we're still seeing admission increases there most of that is on annual pass sales which is nice to see we've got um definitely seeing high high usage of of that facility.

We've made some changes last year on how we have the equipment or organized throughout the facility to try to manage some of that, but it's definitely busy, as well as we've seen a general increase in adult programs and yoga, Pilates, a lot of the specialty programs as well, are staying high in high demand.

And the golf course continues to do well.

We actually, um, due to some of the late uh changes in the weather at the end of the year, we didn't have quite as many rounds in 2024 as we did in 2023.

But historically, in a in 2020, as an example, or prior to in 2019, we had 25,000 rounds in a year.

Last year we had 39,000.

So there's a significant increase in use of the uh golf course through the year.

And so that's led to our revenue increases.

To do those, and to in particular on the program side, we've had to add more staffing in to handle those extra programs.

So we've had associated increases in wages, supplies as well as service contracts.

Some of those specialty programs aren't taught by West Shore staff, they're taught by contractors.

Due to the increased revenue, we have an increase in payment processing expenses, and insurance continues to be one of our challenges as far as the market being hardened.

Although I have some information on that coming up shortly.

Moving into 2025, we have a collectively bargained 3% wage increase this for this year.

And as I always mentioned, wages are 80% of our costs, so it's a significant factor for us.

So every 1% for 2025's wage increase is equivalent to 89,000 overall budgetary expense or 1.4% against requisitions.

So our that 3% increase for 2025 is equivalent to a 4.2 requisition increase on overall, if we didn't have increases in revenue expectations to offset some of that.

We've had a 10% insurance premium increase projection for this year.

Although, as I mentioned just previously, we recently met with our broker and who they've indicated they are starting to see new insurers come back into the public insurance market.

So hopefully we'll start to see some of that incredible increases we've seen over the last few years start to drop.

They're hoping that for this year we might see rates actually flatline.

And so the increase in our premiums premiums will be more related to the increased values of our assets and the insurability of that versus actually the rates going up as well.

So we should hopefully see that to start to drop back drop down.

A 5 to 10% utility rate increase.

Although I am happy to say that due to efficiency improvements we've done, such as replacing all of our air handling units, the gas fired ones into electric, as well as the replacement of the old chiller down at the Q arena, we've offset those completely by energy savings.

So there is no budgeted increases for utilities for next year.

And then with that is the increased workload on staff to manage growing service delivery.

So looking at staffing levels as well as our continued annual increases to the capital asset reserve, as mentioned previously.

Next slide.

So how these turned into increased expenses for 2025, we had non-discretionary increases for both the wage increases while insurance as insurance premiums increase of $325,000 for the year.

And then we had discretionary increases of just shy of $562,000, which were made up of $220,000 in increased transfers to capital reserve, which is varied.

We increased um by 10,000, for example, into our butt or bus replacement reserve due to the last time we bought one due to cost rising, increase for fitness equipment.

Um added in a reserve to replace the turf that's in the Bellodrome due to the relationship we have with West Shore Rugby.

That's due to be replaced in 2030.

So a portion of that 450,000 of that is covered by West Shore Rugby.

But we had an evaluation of the turf done last spring, and it's going to be roughly 600,000 to replace it.

And so the society needs to make up the difference for that.

So we've created that reserve as well as the um increase into uh was on the sorry on the general the 60,000, which we started in 2021 on an annual increase for the general capital reserve.

We created three new regular positions, a four-day week programmer in aquatics to help handle the incredible load on the aquatics department and demands for swimming lessons.

Added an FTE into the parks maintenance worker role for maintaining the facilities, as well as an administrative systems assistant.

And then previously, as we've been going going through, we've been relying heavily on auxiliaries for a lot of positions.

So we actually converted a number of smaller auxiliary roles into two full-time positions.

So no more hours, but we just by combining them, we've made them more meaningful, makes it easier for a recruit, a more fulsome job for someone.

And in there we created a program assistant in the arena events to help out with the arenas as well as looking after with food and beverage and so on, as well as a facility maintenance worker down at the Q center.

Overall, the total expense increase for 2025 is just over a million dollars, which is excluding the master plan project.

We've increased our fees and program offerings and performance expectations by just over 800,000, which has resulted in a requisition increase of 235 or 3.9 to compensate the difference.

2024 was 4%.

So we're on that look our goal continues to get that to drop, as well as that 3.9 is what matched the five year approved financial plan from last year.

So we were able to hit that target.

Next slide, please.

So as far as revenues go, um, looking over the next five years, we have a 10.2% increase in revenue expectations for 2025.

This includes an overall average fee increase of 4%, as well as increased expectations based on what we saw in 2023.

And then we've used a conservative 3.8% increase moving ourselves forward to project where we look to see.

Most of this will be based on fee increases.

As mentioned, we've got capacity in most areas.

And then using 3.8% as our conservative estimation moving forward.

One of the things I did want to mention is that our projections for 2024 had a cost recovery of 59%.

2025, our cost recovery is budgeted at 57%, which is 0.91% better than improvement over 2024 and a 2.7% improvement over 2023.

So as though we are is definitely a costly operation to operate, but based on that, we are doing our best at all times to ensure that we are making a significant dent in those cost increases by a combination of fee increases and increased performance expectations so that we're not fully relying on tax increases to increase those operations.

Next slide, please.

For 2025, we have a fairly heavy capital list spread out on a number of projects.

One thing I did want to point out we've on items that we knew we weren't going to complete, we've been indicated there as carry forward from 2024.

In particular in fleet, a lot of our specialized parks and golf course equipment.

We are finding that from time of order to time of delivery is taking well over 12 months now.

So a lot of the time when we go to order, we don't see it till the next year.

However, due to our capital projects being funded through reserves, it just doesn't come out that year.

So there is no tax effect on that.

So when something didn't complete last year, it's not a new new dollar amount we're asking for for in 2025.

It just didn't come out.

It stays in the reserve and will just come out when the equipment starts to arrive this following year.

As far as the five-year capital plan, this is a snapshot of the summary of the different areas.

You'll see it's still fairly heavy as we're looking through.

Um, the society maintains 120 million dollars in assets of owner assets related to the buildings, um, as well as the rolling stock.

And so there's a number of things in there.

So some of the big areas that would drive it up.

For example, we have the roof has to be replaced on the senior center in 2026.

All of the Q center Q Center seating is being replaced in 2027, which is 500,000 of that 800,000 there.

Um, fitness equipment is being replaced in 2028.

How that, however, there's a specific um reserve for that, those funds which you contribute to on an annual basis, so there isn't a tax effect on that piece on that specifically, as well as the JDF chiller is due to be replaced in 2029.

So it's just a bit of a snapshot to see with the the assets that are sitting under that facility that which are all of the owners, it's quite significant.

There's some very large machinery and mechanical equipment that's there.

Next slide, please.

And I mentioned earlier, looking at a reserve continuity.

When I first actually joined the society in 2017 and was doing these presentations for the first time, we were actually be out of money by now for maintaining our capital.

So very excited to show you that we continue to remain in the black.

And by the time we hit 2029, we're now very close.

And I expect by 2030, we'll actually be contributing to the reserve the same amount coming out.

So in essence, be a fully funded funded capital project or capital plan.

And so we will continue to look at at nominal increases going forward to stay ahead of inflation, but we should be in a good state that way.

So there isn't with that extra annual contribution that we're not asking for large tax dollars on when big pieces of equipment come up and so on.

On the left side of that, the equipment replacement.

So there's the general reserve, and then we have some specific ones.

As I mentioned, we've got bus reserve or bus replacements, IT replacements, Zamboni replacements, fitness, and so on.

There's quite a few different ones there.

What we definitely try to do now when we add new capital projects or new areas, for example, like the skateboard park, part of that process is adding in a reserve for the eventual work that will be needed to be done on that.

Thank goodness with the skate park, it should be well down the road, but we are contributing so that whenever some major reply work is needing to be done on there, it's not going to be a secondary ask for um the ownership.

Next slide, please.

And then converted assessments.

So this is what the information that were provided from all of your CFOs, and this is through the governance agreements, is how both the ownership of the society works between the the five municipalities as well as how the requisition is split up amongst them.

So moving into 2024, View Royals ownership was now 12.58%, which is a slight drop from last year.

And the drop there is due to the the overall average converted assessment increase of the five unit municipalities was 2.54%, whereas View Royals was 1.53%.

So due to that, lower than the average is what drops that ownership percentage.

The good part on that is for yourselves is then the actual requisition increase, which you'll see on the next slide, isn't the full 3.9% as how that moves working forward.

Next slide, please.

The overall requisition increase is 3.9.26% of that is related to operating.

So as mentioned, the increase for VROIL is 2.88.

So as I mentioned, the majority of this increase is all related to capital work prevention.

So 3.64% or 220% or 220,000 is contributed to capital reserves.

The requisition increases are in line with the approved five year plan that was presented last year.

Next slide, please.

And to put this into we our attempt to put into a little bit of perspective on what this means for individual residents, we'll see based on the population project BC government population projection as well as the budgeted tax income for VRORIL last year.

This is a dollar 76 increase per capita for VROL residents or a 0.18% increase over taxes.

Next slide, please.

And lastly, I'd like to finish off with some statistics.

So to what does this mean for View Royal?

So as mentioned, your ownership is 12.58%.

Although 14.1% of our clients are from View Royal, 17.2% of our memberships, 10 point of our registrations, 17.5% of our drop ins, 12.2% of our life clients, 16.2% of our visit passes, and 13% of our total transactions are from View Royal residents.

So just a little snapshot to show we're definitely having residents are using our facility.

We always like to see them using more, and we're doing our as through the master plan process, looking at how what will happen for the wet the society moving forward and how we'll push out into further into the the five um regions that look after us.

So thank you.

Great.

Um uh just uh before I turn to my colleagues, any questions that they might have, uh just want to thank you for uh your continued leadership for uh parks and rack on the west shore.

I think uh it it it has made me realize how much work that goes into planning, but also how able you are to pivot, including John Horgan's funeral, which was really an international event.

Um, but to host that on short notice, get it up, get and and uh really host a a world class event in a very short period of time so thank you uh thank you done start with you for questions just uh just a quick comment uh too as well thank you for the services you provide it's it's excellent I've I think I mentioned last time I've used every facility except the skateboard but one day I will try it the uh my my four grandchildren teenagers they all love the drop in the drop in nights and and their friends as well because I've had a chance to talk to some of them over the Christmas break.

So uh keep up the good work uh yeah they love it.

Councilor Rogers.

Yeah, thank you.

Excellent presentation.

Uh, just uh let me check as usual.

Um, you know, as as uh Councilor Brown is saying, the youth programs are are you know vitally important and a great service to the region.

Um do we need is there a budget increase or are we able to um you know appropriately fund this program um for uh for this year.

Um for this year we're still under the uh Building Safer Communities grant funding.

So that entire program, which has been phenomenal, we're seeing over 120 kids every Friday night go through that program as well as we've added Wednesdays skate.

Um there's a program on at uh Centennial Center as well in arts and crafts and and whatnot as well.

Um we're fully funded through 2025, and actually, we went through and the had a discussion at the uh director level with the board, and uh, we're going to include what is needed to continue that funding as in our funding for 2026, and so we'll probably package as a separate ask because it'll bub sort of be above and beyond what's in our normal five-year plan.

Um had that discussion with the um at an ownership meeting in the fall as well, and there was unanimous support for for continuing on with this program.

Excellent.

Thank you very much.

I know whenever I see this and and anticipate the the five years, but you know, the other thing we have is uh an enormous amount of growth in the West Shore.

And if I'm recall, uh there was some discussion about a regional context and whether um the one and fugu wish West Shore uh space and land that we have at this moment is sufficient to handle the growth in in the West Shore region as a whole.

Um is there um plans for uh increasing space and availability, say in the Roll Bay or uh throughout the other places in the West Shore?

Through the chair.

Yeah, that's the we're doing we're actually have embarked on a West Shore Parks and Recreation Facilities master plan.

And so specifically to the to the WandaFuca site, we're pretty built.

There's not really anything left there unless we want to actually go into the where the hill is but I also firmly believe in some green space too is beneficial.

And so we don't really want to go into that.

So we have embarked regionally into a master plan process of which we have a selected a vendor and tomorrow actually have a follow-up meeting with them as we're just confirming the um our approval of the schedule, which will include um public per public engagement beginning mid-February to run through mid-February to the end of March, with the um at the moment the goal is to have it prepared and presented back to the ownership for October and November.

Councilor Moxon, please.

I just wanted to express my appreciation for not only all the hard work you do, but to keeping our increase in our requisition to uh 2.9%.

It's something for council to shoot on and shoot at uh in terms of our increase to our population this year.

Thank you, Council Watson.

Council Lincoln.

Quick question, Grant, and thank you for your presentation.

Um your capital projects, I I think the very bottom line will be very exciting to a big part of the population, and that's pickleball courts.

How many how many courts will be established within this funding period?

Through the chair, six outdoor courts.

And so they were just finalizing the contract.

We did make we've um chosen a uh contractor for it, and there were just a couple changes due to the fact that it's the replacement of the volleyball court, so there's not as much um land remediation, as she would say beforehand, site or site preparation that is required.

And so there's just some a few changes going in there, but we should see um right now that part's been cleared off.

Shovel in the ground should be happening, I would anticipate, certainly by mid February, anyways.

And the goal on that project is have them ready and operational for the end of May.

That's great.

A lot of people will be very happy.

Uh a couple of questions from me if there's nobody else.

And uh first one is um when we get to that stage where we uh erode funding for the youth program and are looking for it, can you come back with an ask to the West Shore mayors?

Because I've been approached um uh on uh uh for private, both private donors and businesses wanting to be involved in something they could put a mark on, and I would think that would be most appropriate to fund a youth night that wouldn't be through requisition but through sponsorship uh of ways of local businesses uh in order to support the initiative.

Um, and my second question is have we ever looked at um offsetting potentially our operational costs with carbon credits from the green space that we have.

We haven't as a society.

We report all of our um carbon emissions and whatnot through to the ownership.

We it gets, I believe, because we sit, I'd have to check on this, because we sit within COWIT, it gets reported to COAD.

I'm not sure how that then fans out to the ownership.

So through our financial process, it runs through Langford.

Actually, they happen to take care of that for us, but there is a portion of all the assets, of course.

Some sit on our financial statement, some sit on yours.

And so that process happens there.

I'd have to check on that.

We are partnering with um COID right now.

They're submitting a grant to to do a re an entire um uh carbon footprint review of the site.

Um, because in particular, because of the the ice plants, we are a significant um energy consumer, so we are also a significant uh carbon output uh aspect to that too.

So we're looking at what changes can be there.

My understanding there are there, but some of them the technology is just not there yet for them as far as the payback on some of those pieces, but we are going through that process.

But I can look to find out if um we haven't done anything as far as the society goes for that before.

Thank you.

There's no other questions.

Thank you very much.

And uh colleagues, if you'll indulge me for something I forgot that was probably the most important thing uh that I was supposed to mention under my uh comments was that we have a new face in our staff uh that we can welcome in, Troy Ziegler, who's joining us as the uh financial officer.

Uh Troy's coming uh uh to us with uh a lifetime of experience in municipal uh finance and coming at the right time just before budget season uh so uh Troy welcome on board uh thank you for uh your application and I'm more than happy that you've joined the team and are already making tracks so thank you again uh and then we can move on I think to the Victoria Public Library.

There we are.

Thank you very much.

Uh good afternoon, Mayor Tobias, members of council and staff.

I want to thank you for inviting us to make the presentation this afternoon.

My name is Andrew Appleton.

I am the chair of the Greater Victoria Public Library Board, the outgoing chair.

This is one of my last official tasks, so it's my pleasure to be with you here this afternoon.

I am a council representative for the District of Oak Bay.

And with me to present this afternoon is our CEO, Maureen Sawa, and our Assistant Director of Finance, Melina Barnes, and our uh magician of administration, Erica, is there as well.

Um, I'd just like to recognize Councillor Jerry Lemon, who is your representative on the GVPL board.

I've worked with Councillor Lemon for some years now, and she is a consistent and enthusiastic and much valued member of our board.

Um, just always a pleasure uh and and with consistent and significant important contributions to the board and on a personal level.

Really enjoy working with Councillor Lemon.

And when I was first on the board, this is my sixth year on the board, worked with Councillor Rogers.

He was one of the first people that I met, so also recognizing my service with Councillor Rogers.

Thank you, Counselor.

The commitment from the town of View Royal to providing your representation to the GVPL just can't be understated.

It's such a significant organization, and we really, really appreciate the commitment that the town makes to the organization.

And we're committed to working with you as our municipal partners to build communities, and we provide citizens with equitable access to information services and resources to grow and to learn.

We're one of the few free accessible public spaces that are accessible to everyone, barrier free.

And we're not just a source of information and learning, but also a vital community hub.

We're actually at a very critical point.

We're acting as a critical and important frontline service delivery agency as well.

And we're committed to supporting the well-being of our communities, but we're under unprecedented pressure to adapt and respond to increasingly diverse needs and challenges that face the most vulnerable.

So, on behalf of the board, uh, the staff, and the community that we serve, I'd like to express again my sincere thanks to the town of View Royal for your continued support of the G VPL.

We're proud of the work that we do, and we open the door to what we like to call the community's living room.

And we very much appreciate your support.

So I'm going to turn it over at this point to Maureen for the remainder of the presentation, and we'll look forward to any questions you have afterwards.

Thank you.

Thank you, Andrew, and thank you for your service to chair an important portfolio.

Much appreciated.

Thank you.

Thank you, Andrew.

And on behalf of all of us, we're really going to miss him being sharing.

Look at the button he's wearing.

Our greatest fan.

I just want to thank Mayor, thank you, Mayor Tobias, Council, and Staff for the opportunity to be here again today.

It's always such a pleasure to have the opportunity to just kind of tell you what we've been up to over this past year.

Next slide, please.

Okay, I always begin my budget presentations.

It's always helpful to uh give a reminder that our library system does serve 10 of the 13 municipalities of the capital region district.

As illustrated in this map, we have 12 physical branches as well as one virtual branch.

Our shared service model, which is funded by our 10 municipal municipalities, enables residents within each municipality to have free and equitable access to a full range of services and resources that only a large urban library system can offer.

This allows us to provide residents with a standard of service that would not be possible for any one individual CRD municipality to offer.

We like to say where you're placed to connect, discover, and imagine GVPL's whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts.

So I have some statistics on the next slide, please.

How are we serving the community?

These are numbers from January 1st to November 30th.

We haven't quite got the full year compiled yet.

But I just wanted to point out a couple of things.

Digital circulation.

There's a growing reliance on online resources, and our digital circulation is seeing an impressive 22.4% increase this last year, highlighting the continued shift toward digital content and the increasing reliance on online resources and the success of our strategic investments in digital services.

Our physical circulation continues to be quite high, and our in-person visits to our branches has surged by 11.8% in this past year, reflecting a strong return to libraries as community spaces.

As our board chair has said, we are the community living room and do support community resilience and access to resources.

Our public computer sessions, this is a really interesting number, 34.8% increase in use of public computers.

We've actually added 35 points of service in our branches because you know, after COVID, it seemed like people were really reluctant to kind of come in and physically use any any equipment, but we're finding now it's just surged.

And when you come into the central branch in particular, there's rarely an empty seat in terms of a public computer.

I think a lot of that is a reflection of the increase in costs that people are experiencing.

Families are living maybe with just one device in their home that they have access to, and there's a real reliance on public access for computers.

We had a 7.1 increase in active library card holders.

And if the central branch, of course, which you you participate in in terms of your home branch, ranked number one in our system for new card creations.

Wi Fi sessions also grew by about 4.6%.

Next slide.

So we're very proud of the fact that we are committed to removing barriers and expanding access.

Our commitment to inclusive access was experienced by the fact that we did remove and eliminate overdue fines at the beginning of last year.

We made a significant move to go fine free, and as a result, this lifted restrictions on over 78,000 accounts, including 30,000 active users.

And my understanding is the percentage of increased library card holders is about 22%.

And we do attribute that to that that removal of that barrier um as i mentioned we are investing in digital equity um in addition to the 35 public computers that we've increased, we've also um really um ramped up our uh digital um holdings and we are going to be uh redesigning our website this year to be more accessible uh next slide please um again as i mentioned record breaking digital engagement um between april and september 2024 i think some of you are may are familiar we were the first uh library system in and british columbia to provide full access service to the new yimes um online um um information service that increased by over 40 percent in that period.

So in terms of the of the reliance on these resources, it really has been showing in our numbers um we are also um in terms of the our adaptable and inclusive accesses, we're working on our our spaces, both physical and virtual, to be more easily used.

Next slide, please.

Obviously, early literacy and youth engagement continues to be a high priority for GBPL.

In 2024, our summer reading club engaged over 9,000 children.

So we're well before, you know, we've we've exceeded our pre COVID numbers.

And I think it's just really a testament to the staff and to our public, how much we are supporting, you know, that reversal of the uh the reading slump that can sometimes occur over summer when kids are out of school.

Um, we have also ensured inclusive literacy access for all sorts of online tools, audiobooks, um, etc., so that children have access to the most current um resources.

Next slide, please.

Indigenous engagement and reconciliation.

Again, uh just a reminder that since 2017 we've partnered with the University of Victoria's Indigenous Education Department to host a virtual Indigenous stories book club.

Um, this has been incredibly successful, and we've expanded our story walk programs to include three new titles by Indigenous authors.

We've also reintroduced the Literacy Circle program in partnership with the Victoria Native Friendship Center, and our Indigenous Reads displays continue to be very popular.

Next slide.

In terms of diverse and accessible resources and spaces, just a reminder that early last year we launched a crucial initiative to promote health equity by providing free menstrual products in all of our washrooms and all 12 of our branches.

We run monthly ID clinics in partnership with the Community Social Planning Council.

And again, here's another thing that libraries are really good at is providing kind of environments that are not intimidating, that are not fearful for individuals who have lost their ID, they're changing their persona, and they're not really comfortable going into a kind of a bureaucratic government situation, come into the library, deal with you know, kind of people that are a little bit uh less intimidating to talk to.

So we're very proud of that initiative.

Uh we've also expanding our world languages collections, adding Arabic books to our collection at the central branch, and um expanding our commitment to uh cultural diversity.

As I mentioned, accessible resources, um, accessible formats such as large print books.

Large print books continue to be very popular, which kind of surprises me, but I also understand, particularly for individuals that are maybe not still quite comfortable with audiobooks, although audiobooks are also extremely popular.

There's a little bit of debate going on on whether if you've listened to an audiobook, is that really reading?

I would argue that it is.

But I think platforms like Libby and all of these other great services that we are able to really maximize our use of them in a in a kind of cost effective way because we are part of something called the British Columbia Library Cooperative, which is kind of a pool of all libraries in in the BC, 71 systems, and we collectively purchase licenses and products, so it really means that we can do more with more.

Next slide, please.

I mentioned again accessible design enhancements.

We're very, very focused on becoming, you know, being maintaining our role as a welcoming and secure space for all.

As my board chair noted, it is a challenging time right now, particularly in our downtown branch, but we're working very hard to kind of mitigate the impact.

We've uh added positions such as the safety and security coordinator, increased our security presence and a lot of training for staff, which is really, really important, updating our safety policies and working on such things as violence risk assessments for all of our branches.

Okay, next slide, please.

Looking ahead, um, we are looking at a new strategic plan framework for the board that that was approved in principle at the end of the year.

And we'll have more information about that coming with the new board, focuses on service excellence.

Also on our investment in people and culture.

Again, recruitment retention is challenging for all organizations these days, but again, particularly the changing environment and public libraries.

So we're we're working on that as our priority.

But while it's under construction, there is more pressure being placed on our other 11 branches.

While the Nelly McClun branch is closed for construction.

Next slide, please.

So just a few images of the central branch.

Next slide.

So now we'll get to the 2025 budget request and five-year plan package, which you've all received and I hope have had a chance to review.

Next slide, please.

Okay, so our 2025 budget request, and just to note that budget drivers include salaries and benefits, library materials, building occupancy costs, and other factors, which are described in the notes that are included in the package.

The overall system-wide municipal contribution amount increase requested for 2025 is 5.5 percent.

Next slide.

That's across the municipalities.

What that means for the town of U Royal is a per capita increase of $2.22.

The overall total is $671,890.

So that the um the increase, as they say, works out to $2.22 per capita.

Just wanted to end to note that we are continuing to operate efficiently and effectively.

Our budget, as as Councillor Lemon and I believe Councillor Rogers will remember, is scrutinized quite quite thoroughly by our finance committee in terms of what we present to the board for approval in October.

It goes through quite a lot of lenses, and our staff do an excellent job of kind of coming up with what we can do that is the most cost effective way of providing these services.

Next slide.

This is a quote that I think is more important than ever right now in today's environment.

This is something that was written up in a book that came out of the UK, and it was a book just called the Library Book, but it was a series of essays by various authors on what libraries mean to them.

And I think it's worth reading out loud because it's really moving.

A library in the middle of a community is a cross between an emergency exit, a life raft, and a festival.

They are cathedrals of the mind, hospitals of the soul, theme parks of the imagination.

On a cold, rainy island, they are the only sheltered public place space where you are not a consumer but a citizen instead.

I think that's it's worth remembering these days.

So next slide, final slide is just to say thank you very, very much for your support.

And Melina, our associate director of um finance, is here to answer any questions along with myself.

So if Melina would like to come up, we'd be happy to answer any questions you have.

Thank you very much.

And thank you, uh Maureen, and thank you for uh um doing your bit for affordability uh as well, because we hear uh from our residents that you know affordability is right up there with healthcare and and other concerns.

So I think everybody has a part to play in that.

So thank you for doing that also please uh you know accept my gratitude for your staff i know that there's reading the recent article on security challenges that you're having there that's uh that's a big issue for staff to deal with so thank you all for um you know doing what you can uh under difficult circumstances uh colleagues questions start with council mackenzie thank you i have two questions if i may uh the first I would ask what would you say is the top driver of the increase that we we saw, you know, with the West Shore Parks and Rec.

They explained that salary is 80%, and there was a recent negotiation that caused that to go up and that they were increasing capital reserves.

So for the library, I was wondering if you could succinctly say what are the main drivers of the increase.

Sure, I'll start and then I'll ask Malita way in because I sometimes forget some of the details, but primarily it's also salaries for us as well, but also infrastructure costs.

I've talked a lot about the investment that we've made in digital resources.

Um libraries don't get a break when it comes to licensing products.

Um, you know, we're very grateful that we belong to a consortium, but even then, um, you know, the what you would pay for an ebook is way less than what we would pay for an e-book to have it available for circulation.

I know it it's kind of counterintuitive because you think, well, you're not producing anything on paper, it's all you know, vapor.

But um, in fact, there's huge costs associated with that.

Um, you know, uh operating the building, um, the cost for cleaning, costs for security have obviously gone up.

Um, I'm gonna just ask Melina maybe just to provide a little bit more detail in terms of the increased costs.

Yeah.

Hi, thank you.

Um, some of the the increased costs, as we said, salaries are are large, 80% of our our um our costs, so increases to those.

The collections are increasing about 4.3%, so they're slightly higher than the overall increase.

And mainly that's in the digital area.

We've actually moved um a percentage of our collections from physical over to um over to digital.

And there's so there's increases in demand, but also in some of the licensing structure for that.

Security is is an increase in cost.

It's increased to $138,000 very large percentage because we basically had to double our security that's required in our central branch.

It's another security guard plus we're offering some additional security services to our other branches in Greater Victoria.

There's also some increases in our digital our IT licensing that we need infrastructure.

We've had to do some developments over over several years over that area.

We are funding though from reserves, we have been saving into our reserves to fund some of these IT infrastructure changes as well.

If I could just if I could just add to at the same time we have been achieving some savings in terms of um you know efficient um more energy efficient kind of lighting and and retrofits and things like that.

But I think for me what what's really telling too as Melina talked about the collection costs the demand for print is not decreased right you know so so that's you you'd think that maybe okay well we're investing more in digital therefore the demand spending less on print and that's actually not the case.

So so costs are going up cleaning.

Cleaning's a big one.

We're so heavily used.

So I think there's quite a myriad.

As I say, we do have a breakdown in the package in terms of some of the specifics, but I hope that kind of gives you an overview.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Yes, thank you so much.

And my second question, it's I believe the same one I asked last year.

Is it possible to get a breakdown of the users by municipality?

Yeah.

I know you asked that last year, and and we're we're we're trying to come up with a way that that's accurate.

It's it's hard again with the use of online resources and the disparity.

So many people are kind of using different branches at all times.

So I can tell you that um we have uh we have a project management office and and and we're working on business analysis to get better numbers.

And I'm sorry I can't give you anything more than that, but I I I am aware that that would be a very helpful number.

Thank you.

Yeah.

I had a quick one and i'll go then i'll go to you uh counselor rogers um one is can i um get my library card now entirely online or do i have to go somewhere at some point to pick it up at some point you do we we um one of the uh priorities for our new um website is is to have a more seamless um um um access point to do an online we were able to do that for a while and then again we have some legacy systems and that's one of the reasons we're um replacing the website it's just so that we can accommodate more online direct services.

Yeah.

Okay, perfect.

And uh I don't think right now, Scott, that we have an interface there like how you get a library card.

My concern about this is um uh is there a linkage it could be simply a page with a link to your site on it.

Um but my concern is just getting the message out there of availability of services that the town is you know uh providing uh resources to so that our citizens can get to you quicker and may and uh the one my motivation for saying this as well is that with all of our new construction we're inviting a lot of people that live in apartments that aren't necessarily as connected with the community.

So we we would love to work with you on that.

I I it wouldn't be that difficult.

And even if we can't do direct online, like it's we, you know, we um we had great success with the University of Victoria this past fall for their Thunderfest.

There, um, and we were there in person, um, interacted with thousands of students because interestingly, um the uh library was very um keen to have a presence from the public library because many of their students are looking for materials to read to maybe kind of take a break from learning.

And so that kind of thing we're we're very open to do.

And I'll make a note to talk to our comps person to talk to your admin because I I would love to do that.

Yeah, thank you.

Cheers.

Uh Councilor Rogers.

Yes, thanks, Ab.

As we do a drive to bring more um individuals to the library, we will be also bringing greater demand for the ebooks and the longer holds that will take 18, 20 weeks to finally get that gone with the wind or whatever.

So, you know, I that's what I noticed is that there's a huge demand, a very long wait list for books like James.

And um what's the um you know that's that's one of the things.

More people come on, the longer the wait list, the more demands to shorten that wait list, the more we have to invest in in the uh in the ebook realm.

How do we fix that?

Well, again, as I said, we do have the benefit of working with a provincial consortium.

Um, as you may remember, we we were um we received some kind of one time enhancement funding from the province, and I know I might ask uh our board chair to speak to the advocacy efforts that are going on right now um to to kind of advocate to the province to to support um more of what we're delivering.

Um would you like to speak to that, Andrew?

Because there was something at AVIC that came up that was quite cool.

Do you want to yeah?

Absolutely.

Uh thanks for the question, Counselor.

And and yeah, as as chair, one of my priorities has been to advocate for more sustainable core funding for public libraries.

Um it's worth reminding council and reminding the public that core funding for libraries has stayed static, has stayed for over 10 years.

Uh so as Maureen has described, and as we've described through the presentation, some of these new resources that are so in demand, you're you're absolutely correct, counselor.

We create demand for these these great new resources and these great things.

We need to have the resources to be able to continue to provide them.

Um, and as you've heard, uh, the complexity of operating the facility in terms of security and those types of things is also costly.

So that's been a priority for myself as chair.

We have taken it through the Association of Vancouver Island Coastal Communities Conference and right to UBCM for those of you who are there.

I'm going to continue to do that.

I'm stepping down as chair, but I'm committed to still doing that as a council representative on the board.

And you're absolutely right.

We need additional resources to be able to shorten those wait times and provide more of those services.

So I'm I'm committed to continuing to do that, and I know the board has heard from me on that.

Thanks.

Yeah, if I may, um you know, and indeed, the the astonishing thing about um the G VPL is the um uh enormous range of uh materials like your your periodicals are astonishing.

And um, you know, it's a great resource to to pick up um on that I appreciate the budget your breakdown on pages um seven and eight are really important very useful uh helped put con things into context um you know we just um uh last year um decided to um terminate and say goodbye to our volunteer library which adds up to about the same amount that you're asking for in in the increase about 2000 20 uh eight thousand dollars um uh per year which is I think is a uh when you consider the per diem and the per capita uh rates is is entirely reasonable.

My big question, just like I asked the um uh West Share Aparch Rec, where the region West Shore is really growing.

Um what I don't see is a library in the Machosen Royal Bay area.

Is that being contemplated?

We'd love it.

Over to you.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, you know, it's uh certainly um it it is a meet the the call of the municipalities.

Um certainly one thing the board has also looked at is um you know are there some alternative service delivery uh options that could be um um provided through partnerships?

And I know Councillor Lemon has been very very keen on on promoting that um notion, so I think that there's an opportunity, if not a full service bricks and mortars branch.

Is there is there a way we can have a a physical presence in in the West Shore in addition to the, you know, we have the um the two branches in Langford and one in Calwood, so we do have, you know, pretty pretty good profile there.

But um certainly, yeah, always open for new thoughts.

And again, I don't want to speak on behalf of the board.

Uh well, let me if I if I may, one of the uh key points is that we're we're also really pushing for arts and culture in the West Shore.

So that might be a very interesting partnership that would be most convenient, most useful, and and certainly reduce the driver frustration having to go downtown where the streets, who knows where you're going.

And I I I really appreciate the comments.

And just if I could uh just add to that, in terms of of branches, what we have seen, I think uh uh, you know, as a council representative myself, we're all well conscious of how much you know capital, you know, these things are expensive.

Large facilities are expensive and going up all the time.

One of the things from the West Shore perspective that I think I would reflect on in that case would be that one of the most popular and just consistently almost oversubscribed and very, very busy branches is the Gowdy branch, right in down essentially downtown Langford, right in the core of Langford, which is not a large, you know, physical space.

Um, often we could use it to be a bigger space than it is because it's so popular.

So I would also reflect on the idea of in terms of adding a branch, and a lot of times you can f uh provide a smaller service point as long as it's accessible to people, people will use it and where it's located is is significant.

So I think there's some really interesting lessons to be learned from a smaller branch like Gaudi in the West Shore that's really present in the community and people have quick access to, but not a huge standalone building.

So while I've you know, while I need I wanted a coffee, I needed a coffee, oh you know, maybe I'll I'll browse for a book before or after.

So you know that kind of service in conjunction with I think is maybe a possibility, you know, perhaps further down the road when we or when we get to Councillor Matson's motion later later in the agenda, you know, that that something like that could work.

But I I just want to say we are so fortunate we're so fortunate in this region to have the the leadership in the library system that we have in Maureen and her team.

You are you're just you know you're such professional and you're just such a such a blessing to the whole um to the whole region.

And Andrew, I'll just say that I I might say something again, she's your last maybe but he has been a fierce advocate of the of library funding.

And uh I I saw him at UBCM, just go for it.

And uh because it seems to me the funding, the core funding from the province hasn't increased since tw 2009, is it Maureen?

That's correct.

Yeah, so that's you know, 16 years now.

So that's that's just just wrong.

So it's on everybody else's back to to you know continue to have a growing, thriving, um, diverse, interesting um system.

Anyway, um, and and Andrew, you know, was a has been a really involved chair.

He he with the vice chair, um bicycled to every branch and spent time in every branch in the region over a period of a couple of weekends, I think it was.

That was all in one day, Councilor.

The goal was to hit all of the branches in one day.

We we managed to do it on the rainiest day of the summer.

Yeah.

Anyway, you good job, Andrew.

Um and I'm so glad that you're continuing on the board.

Thank you very much, Councillor.

Thanks again for your presentation.

If there's no other questions, uh we very much appreciate you coming out.

Maureen, Andrew, thank you again.

And uh we'll see you next time.

It's not before.

Next year.

Well I'm I'd just like to thank you for your support.

It really means so much.

And your your your words um will really resonate with the staff.

I will I and I think I would just like to end it like the staff is amazing.

Like we couldn't do what we're doing without the staff um at GBPL.

So I I think they also appreciate the recognition.

So thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thanks.

And I think next up in our last uh petition and delegation is Mr.

Giroux from CRD Admiral uh Animal Control.

Or am I wrong?

Oh sorry, I am, I skipped you.

Uh Kathy Kathy Easton from Foundry.

Um Kathy, please.

How was your vacation?

Last time we talked, you were on your way out to a vacation, and and now you're back.

My vacation was uh fantastic.

Thank you all.

I'll maybe make mention of it during my presentation.

Happy New Year.

So thank you for having me.

I think this is your first meeting of the year, and uh great to be a part of your um your meeting today.

Um I'm Kathy Easton.

I'm the director of implementation for the new foundry for Westhor Souk and Port Ramphre.

With me today is Sabrina Magnus, uh UVIC Practicum student, who's working on this uh foundry project with me over the next few months.

Really excited to have uh Sabrina with me, who has been taking training in public health, and uh which is a topic of interest to all of you because what keeps a community healthy is much of what you do as uh city counselors and and city staff.

So um my appreciation to you for all that you do to keep this community healthy.

Um regrets today.

Yes, uh next slide, thank you.

Regrets today from Scott Bradford, our uh executive director of Thrive.

I work for Thrive, they are the host agency for the foundry.

They're the uh I'll tell you a little bit more about the role of of a host agency and and about what a foundry is.

Um next slide, and we can go on to the next slide thank you for acknowledging the territory in your meeting earlier today uh foundry is part of a provincial national and international network of best practices uh that serve youth it uh aims to transform access to services for youth and brings together and integrates those services so that young people can access the services they need in one location your takeaway today, this is a one-stop access for youth, a safe place for them to uh come and get services uh for whatever they may need.

Thank you, Mayor Tobias, for uh asking about my vacation.

I was recently in Australia and had opportunity to visit Headspace.

Headspace is one of those international organizations that Foundry is based on.

And I went to a small community, Morwell in South East Australia, outside of Melbourne, where a Headspace has existed for over 10 years.

Youth in that community don't know a time when Headspace didn't exist.

And they will walk in there with any question that they have about their life, about their health, about their mental well-being, and they don't think twice about asking their questions.

They know that they'll be accepted and welcomed there.

And if the people that aren't that are on that day don't know how to help them, they know somebody who will, but they'll walk them through that.

So it was just an amazing opportunity to look at uh what is possible.

And so I have a vision now for 10 years from now when foundry is long established and our youth know they can go there and it's a safe place to be.

Foundries integrate services that currently exist.

So we work with all of the nonprofits and service providers in the region to bring all of that into one location.

That includes physical health, mental health, and substance use.

Often people talk about Foundry in the context of the substance use crisis and the toxic drug crisis as being one of the upstream solutions.

But it's more than that.

It is really a service, anything that youth need, we intend to have housed at a foundry.

We do receive funding for employment services and so all kinds of social services are offered through Foundry.

Next slide.

Like you, we all want our citizens to thrive and be prosperous.

And this is an opportunity to start that and engage youth and let youth know they're an important part of our community and that we want them to be successful in life as well.

We know one organization and one municipality can't do it all.

We all are responsible, but we can't do it alone.

So we and we know that youth from equity deserving communities need additional supports, particularly our Indigenous youth in this community.

We do have a foundry already in Victoria, in downtown Victoria.

It's very busy.

Lots of youth from the across the entire region do access services in Victoria, but what the what has been recognized is we need another foundry in the Western communities to serve our youth because the youth that are able to get downtown from our communities are very small in numbers.

Next slide, please.

And I'll ask the digital team if they can get the video to play.

I think we sent the link in, so it's there uh for you to follow along at a later time.

Um foundries are designed by youth for youth, they're designed by their families.

We get a lot of community input.

And what you would see in this video is a very beautiful facility that respects youth and their importance in the community.

This one is one an example from Kelowna, but most of them have a similar look and feel.

They're very spacious, they're very welcoming, there's hangout space.

Uh, when I was in Australia, they had ping pong tables in the waiting room just in case they didn't youth didn't feel like talking, they could come in and play ping pong with one of the staff members.

Um, it's very, very youth friendly um space.

Um next slide, please.

Our foundry um application was one of the strongest that BC has seen.

Uh they provided that feedback to us, and it's because of the work of the Village Initiative.

Uh, the Village Initiative has been working together for many years now.

We have about 60 organizations that are a part of the Village Initiative.

It's a collaborative initiative where uh nonprofits, societies, service providers, health, municipality uh partners.

Um I would acknowledge West Shore Parks and BREC and the GVPL moorings, Maureen's a part of our village initiative and a strong advocate for youth.

The partners, when the call for a foundry came out, the partners quickly were able to come together and submit an application.

And those partners chose Thrive to be the host organization or the lead agency.

Next slide.

That we need to have some elements in place in our governance.

One of them, uh, and our first piece was to start up the youth advisory council and the youth advisory circle.

Uh, we have 15 youth who participate monthly in a youth advisory circle, and they advise on all aspects of the project.

They have uh provided some very strategic uh advice around the location of a hub in the West Shore, as well as satellite clinics for SUK and Port Renfrew.

And specifically, they would like to see the larger hub be located in downtown Langford or Calwood close to the bus exchanges, or potentially a third neighborhood up around Belmont where there's also really good bus service.

And these are neighborhoods that are friendly for youth.

There's a reason that youth might be in that neighborhood.

It's non-stigmatizing for them to come to that neighborhood.

It wouldn't be like people would have eyes on them and they're, oh, they're going to the foundry to get help.

They already are using those neighborhoods.

So most of the service providers who are interested in providing service at the foundry also agree those three neighborhoods are the location.

That started up in November.

The next meeting is coming up next Monday.

Leadership advisory is what we call our barrier buster table.

So we uh invite a representative from View Royal Council to participate in our leadership advisory.

There are participants from Langford Colwood, and every service provider who is intending to provide service in the foundry, their executive director or their delegate is also attending leadership advisory.

We have several working groups.

We've got a very specific working group on space.

We've engaged with uh Wiser Projects, Kaylee Wiseman to lead the capital work.

Um as you have noted several times tonight, West Shore is a very fast-growing region, and so to find a location for a foundry is going to be one of our most difficult challenges, and we'll set the timeline to opening of the service.

And we have added an Indigenous advisory table to our advisory and governance structure.

It is important to ensure that we have space for Indigenous health and healing practices.

And without having Indigenous advisory, we couldn't possibly do that appropriately without them.

Next slide.

As a host agency, Thrive is fiscally responsible for the Foundry.

We participate on meetings with Foundry BC.

So we're responsible for the capital project as well as fundraising, any other aspects of the project, making sure the governance and all the infrastructure is there, making sure we have youth and family engagement at every step along the way.

And we're responsible for communications as well as when the center opens, operating the center.

Next slide.

Foundry is a provincial initiative.

We're very well supported.

It starts with some federal transfer dollars coming to the province, flowing through the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions, and the employment funding coming through a poverty reduction strategy and BC.

So we have multiple ministries funding and supporting foundries across the province.

Open and they're planning to open 10 more.

So in our phase, which is phase five, the fifth round of announcing foundries, they're expecting 11 more foundries to open, and they have a mandate to open a certain number over the next few years, and that number escapes me.

We did get 200 up to $200,000 in year one for startup funding to start the project off, hire me and get the advisory tables up and running.

We uh receive will receive up to $1.5 million in capital to build the to tenant improvements or invest in a building.

And then once the center is open, we should receive a million dollars a year in operating.

They say up to a million for a community of our size.

We anticipate that operating budget will be a million.

That will pay for our leasing costs or other infrastructure as well as potentially an admin or a coordinator.

It doesn't pay for as much staff as we know we need in the West Shore, but over time with some fundraising and the partnership of the of the service providers, we anticipate a strong fundraising campaign to fill the gaps in need in across the West Shore.

Next slide.

So it my purpose today is just to introduce the project to you to let you know this exciting service is coming to the West Shore for your youth and ours across the region.

To let you know that you're welcome to our leadership advisory table.

We know that View Royal Youth View Royal Youth will likely choose a West Shore location to receive services, anticipating that the drive into Victoria is probably going to be more challenging for youth than coming to a Calwood or Langford site.

And to let you know that we are looking for space.

We have are leaving no stone unturned in looking for that space.

On the slide deck, there is um we are looking for through up to 30,000 square feet for not just the foundry 10,000 for foundry as well as um all of the partners in the village are looking for space.

Many of these nonprofits actually have capital to invest and so um we are like I said no stone unturned we are looking for a lease of up to eight to ten thousand for the foundry potentially more space up to 30 000.

And we are exploring with a partner an opportunity with BC builds uh to do a housing and service build.

That timeline um could be quite lengthy, but you know, given the landscape of West Shore and the building that's occurring, uh we may have to build in order to get uh a site for a foundry.

Um I am open to hearing any questions and uh comments.

I know I brew I breeze through that.

Um so if you haven't heard about foundry I'm I'm happy to answer any other questions.

Thank you.

Uh Kathy and uh uh colleagues, we've um counselor Brown has accepted kind of adding youth to his portfolio.

So I think one of your first milestones is to get a municipal leadership um organization kind of together.

So um so counselor Brown will be the conduit for us to kind of the foundry and get them started.

Counselor Brown had a question, comment?

Yeah, thank you for that.

Yeah, it's hard to believe someone old as crusty as me to be the youth person, but I've always been really involved with youth throughout my policing career because I was a school liaison officer, really involved with school boards for 12 years.

So uh by all means, please keep in touch and and uh be advised, like like to be sitting on that group, uh the your advisory group.

Fabulous.

Welcome.

Okay, thank you.

Any questions at all for Kathy?

Counselor Rogers, please.

Yeah, thank you very much.

Um really good information that you provided.

The uh the YouTube videos for uh what is it, Langley, Surrey, Kelowna.

Um, those will be useful for the context.

I also understand that you're um down on Yate Street.

Uh so uh one of the issues for some of our view of residents, it's not worth their time and effort to go west.

Uh the transit service is quite pathetic in that regard.

So um, you know, yeah, I would hope that um the young people that can go downtown are aware of what you have in terms of facilities there and and participate with that.

I'm also interested that you've um you're, you know, we have the foundry, but you also have the village initiative.

So I'm still trying to get orientated as to who does what, where, and when.

Uh fabulous.

Um I the village initiative is one of those things that it's hard to wrap your head around.

It is a network of 60 organizations, primarily nonprofits, but also municipal partners, government, health, MCFD, public health, within Island Health.

And it is a network of people who commit to collaborating and not competing for scarce resources.

So for example, when the foundry opportunity came up, that network quickly came together.

They said, okay, here's the people who know what they're doing with youth.

They submitted the application together.

That uh submission committee said who's who's most able to take this project on.

And a number number of participants, Boys and Girls Club, Pacific Center Family Services, others said, okay, no, we can't do it.

Thrive Year Uh to take the lead on this.

So that's where the village provides that um kind of support and and uh network across the region, but uh where Thrive actually is responsible for the foundry.

Another comment.

Um I I'm again, I'm looking at what the Foundry for Victoria and and H Street and the uh partnerships that you have.

I'm really pleased that MCFD is a is a partnership for that.

One of the huge problems with MCFT and and youth probation is that they go to exile the youth over to Burnaby whenever they uh they are have to go to remander in custody or so forth and uh to tear those in youth away from their families and their support networks.

Um I really hope that the the foundry is able to address that critical shortage and and uh uh let's say um vacuum.

Thank you.

Yes, MCFD's um at the table for our West Shore Foundry.

Uh in fact, I think three of them showed up at the last meeting of various departments within MCFD.

Uh we are I am responsible for the West Shore Foundry.

We maintain a a relationship with Victoria because it is the capital region.

People don't recognize boundaries um other than you know where it comes to bylaws and taxation.

But and our youth actually, even within the West Shore, don't recognize, you know, the boundaries of Collit or Langford.

They they will go where they need to go to get help.

There is also Foundry has virtual services.

So in the meantime, while we work to build the West Shore Foundry with satellite hubs in Souk and Port Renfrew, there are virtual services available, and they they were not adequate when they first opened, but we're hearing really good things about them.

Youth, you actually get to talk to human uh families can call the virtual services and get supports as well.

And that's a broad sense of family, not just parents.

Thank you.

Uh Councilor Rogers, if there's no other questions, Councillor Lemon.

Just a quick comment.

My six years in council, it's the first time I've heard a presenter say we are very well supported.

So it was wonderful to hear.

I I thought you might enjoy that after the last two requests for funding.

We're not we're not seeking funding, but we are seeking your partnership and support.

We know we know that View Royal youth feel as much a part of the West Shore as other youth and Calwood and Langford and and across the region.

This is this is an example of a service that is a regional service.

Um so really important to have have you aware that this is coming.

Thank you, Kathy.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Um and now I think it brings you brings us down to uh Officer Trulu uh for the CRD Animal Control Update.

Thanks, Officer.

Thank you, Mayor Tobias, Memory Council.

Thank you for having me.

And again, I reiterate happy new year.

We're all here to enjoy this next year.

I know I'm gonna be here for your stuff with me for another year.

Anyways, I hope that you have um a copy of the stats that you normally get.

I did ask to have the font increased, but uh as I see here today, uh I I don't know if it's enough.

So I apologize for that.

And I'll and we are we are looking at maybe changing this sort of this entire stat sheet for this year.

So I'll I'll I'll hopefully next time I I come before you there'll be something a little bit more presentable and easier to read.

Um again, that's the they reflect this the the stats for the year, uh last year 2024, and of course the final quarter from October to December there.

Um I guess the highlights, uh obvious highlights for this, you'll you'll notice at the the last column, the the hours, total hours uh that we spent in View Royal uh exceeded what the contractual obligations are but of course the comparator the year before we were a little bit lean so and I think I mentioned to you uh sometime earlier in 2024 that you know I would crack the whip and we would change this and obviously it did so which is nice to see um okay um what I normally bring to your attention is I've got probably three sort of highlights are are the of course the dog attacks in the last quarter there was there was all there were only two which was nice to see if I if I was standing before another municipality that number would be double for some so uh View royal's doing well which which I I don't know can I don't know why I don't know if it's because we're around a lot uh but um out of those two attacks uh one was in a park uh dogs being off leash obviously contributing factor to this uh fortunately both attacks were dog on dog and uh minor injuries to the animals and I believe uh in one case of course the the two the owners of the two dogs you know got together and they sort of amicably worked it out which is good to see we don't often see that and uh another one was um where uh yeah where some yeah somebody didn't have control of their dog and uh had a bit of a history.

So of course we ended up having to issue some process, a ticket normally, and and ensure that that dog was licensed.

The other dog attacked, both dogs were licensed, which was nice, nice to see.

Um and the only other significant thing I thought I would mention today is uh we were called uh back in I think it was the end of December to assist uh the fire department, I believe, reached out to us because there was a fire in View Royal, and unfortunately one of the uh pets was found deceased.

So uh and and we often get called to help for that, and we respond and and we we we took that dog away um after the firefighters brought it out, of course, and um, you know, we liaised with the owner, and the owner asked us to hold on to the dog so that they could, you know, get their life together.

It's because their house burnt down.

Uh so after a short period of time, um, you know, we have to eventually reach out and say, you know, what do you want to do with this dog?

Right?

I mean, cremation or what have you.

And of course, we were met with the the challenges that they they would obviously have financially.

So uh my uh my senior admin clerk, which who have you met before, Coral, who's been spoken before you here before, she reached out to some agencies and explained the situation and um was fortunate enough to get those services, which can be that comes at a cost, you know, you average $200 just to just to cremate your animal and of course get a memento.

So we did that.

We went ahead and did that for uh for the the owner.

So so it's kind of a it's you know it's a feel good kind of story, but it's uh it does reflect um certainly that young lady that works uh with me, or sometimes I think for me, or you know, I work for her, but um that is a reflection of what we like to do.

Uh not always giving people tickets, but you know, we we've got that other other side because I'm sure you've heard uh, you know, there's uh the the role of a bylaw officer, uh, the landscape is changing daily.

And that's kind of the tough side of the story is that you know, we we are actually going through a change at the office.

We're we're we're kind of going through some growing pains and hiring more staff because we have to.

We we have to to keep up with the expectations of society and and of course to manage all our contracts with the different municipalities, but um also trying to look at a way to mitigate having to call the police all the time to help us deal with you know uh contentious issues in parks because someone doesn't want to license their dog or lease their leash their dog or what have you.

So that's that's what we're going through.

With that came again, change, as I said.

Uh so we've had uh last year we had three officers who had been working for us for sh just somewhere between a year and a half and two years.

Three of them have all moved on to policing.

So uh you know I I I sort of take pride in that that you know they were able to cut their teeth in bylaw and secure some pretty good careers as Counselor Brown knows and myself.

And I'm very proud of them.

And but we got new people coming in and we got some great uh candidates and we're hoping to hire them full time and become less dependent on auxiliaries and and have uh people who are hired full time and therefore raise our bench strength so that we can deal with issues in a more timely manner, which is better overall for all these contracts.

Um short of that, um we did add you, I think one of the counselors asked in the uh someone asked for dog licenses we've added now on the on your sheets on the back.

Um, and we added the um the dangerous dogs.

I think somebody wanted to know, inquired about how many dangerous dogs do you have at any given time.

So those numbers are there.

Um again, uh it's it's nice to see that they're only three.

Trust me, in some of the other municipalities that those numbers are far greater and and they are very onerous for us to investigate.

Um, and of course, the licensing kind of holding steady, but you know, slowly um we're slowly increasing the compliance um we are all we're evolving this department's evolving so we're we're uh I think somebody else some one of my predecessors talked about online payments and that kind of stuff this is what we're we're working towards that end to make it easier if we can sell a dog license out in the field we'd like to be able to do that because strike while the iron's hot um and short of that I think unless you tell me about questions I'm I'm here to answer them feel free.

Thanks for your report and I note that there's been some kind of the opposite going on too.

You've had police officers that have become animal bylaw.

We might know some of those folks.

So maybe that might be a recruiting venue for you to look at.

Uh yeah, oh, retiring police officers that want to be involved with the animal control.

Very good point, huh?

Counselor Brown, go ahead.

If if I remember right, I think I negotiated the last contract Bureau Royal has for animal control.

Now I'm well, not exactly on the other side of the table, but uh obviously people are gonna ask, you know, I we I kind of have an idea of what we pay last year.

So how much more are we going to be paid in 2025?

And when is the contract up for renewal?

Must be soon.

End of 2027, and it is a good question.

Uh, I will be approaching um the CAO probably this year to have start those discussions because yeah, absolutely the um the cost of business.

Well, you heard it here already uh this afternoon everywhere is going up.

So we're we're we're just working out a model so that everything is apportioned appropriately based on the community and you know what what your expectations are what the stats reflect and we'll hopefully have a number for you and and I'll and I'll be happy to certainly present it uh when the when the time comes sir please yeah I noted you've impounded 14 cats uh how do you catch cats we we actually have a uh cat cat trap program so we would loan out a or you gent officer will attend the location and turn over the trap, loan the trap to a citizen, explain how it works, and then they put it out there and and they just we just say call us when the cat's there and we go and sometimes people often people bring it to us.

They come right to my office and here I got the cat and away we go.

Counselor Roger.

Um thank you for the report.

Really useful.

And the breakdown per park uh is also very useful.

And I do note that there was a substantial increase of of uh investigative hours, you know, for the VRL as a whole.

Again, excellent breakdown.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

Uh any other questions from colleagues?

Seeing none.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

Appreciate your time.

And I think that brings us down to public participation period.

There's anybody here that would like to address council.

Carl, we got any um forms filled out of questions or comments for council.

Mayor Tobias, we're showing no comments on the form board at this time.

Excellent.

Thank you very much, sir.

And I think that brings us to our public uh safety report.

Is that you, Paul?

Good afternoon, Mayor, members of council.

Before you, the public safety report for November and December of 2024.

Things I just want to highlight on.

Um fire prevention.

Nice to see that Jeff and his crew managed 100% completion of all their inspections this year.

The one reportable fire was the Island Highway fire, which displaced a total of 11 residents from two families.

That family unfortunately had been displaced about a year earlier from another fire on Songheese Nation, and then were displaced again with this fire.

Thankfully, they were looked after through our ESS team and then the uh food drive that the association and the uh local 5419 did this year.

Um $7,500 and a couple hundred pounds of food.

So that was a welcome donation at the West Shore Food Bank.

Umergency Management Program, just want to recognize the uh some awards for some of our ESS and radio volunteers, as well as our radio group.

Uh Ed McCarthy did several years uh running that group, and he's now stepped down.

Uh that was um he was part of the integration of the Callwood and View Royal municipalities into one uh organization, uh, one radio group.

Um, touching on bylaw, um, a fairly steady year for bylaw.

As I mentioned in some of my previous reports, some of our challenges were mostly surrounding our um our homeless population, which seems to have uh balanced out as we move into the winter.

We do have uh one group that's posing uh a bit of a workload for Brad right now.

Um, but he's working with the ICF.

They're they're located on ICF and MOT property uh near Atkins and Bryden.

Uh Brad's been working with ICF.

They're under new leadership there, and they're far more responsive to cleaning up their property, installing signs, and and working with the police to uh have those people move on.

It's a challenge.

Um it's like anything if you move a homeless person from one location, they simply move to a different location, and it becomes either our problem again or it becomes another community's problem.

But Brad seems to be uh doing well in in moving these people along and then uh working with them to find uh accommodations.

Uh statistically, um a record year for View Royal, uh just shy of 1,300 emergency calls, which is um is higher than last year at just over a thousand.

That can be attributed to our new logic in working with uh Callwood, Langford Nisquimalt, where we've uh responded in their area uh several times.

And conversely, as you know, with the uh the two recent fires, um we received their services.

So working with um Chiefs Aubrey and Chief Irwin over in Callwood and Langford, we balanced, we we reviewed the numbers and and we're almost on par at a reciprocal agreement where they're responding into View Royal as much as we're responding into the West Shore.

And of course, uh with the addition of a squimalt into the West Shore Matrix, things are going very well.

So we're meeting all our our response logics and timings for uh delivering a number of firefighters to emergency scenes within the uh the recommended guidelines.

Um pretty good year, 2024.

Um several of our members were hired full-time uh with mainland and local departments, which is always encouraging but disappointing.

Our paid-on-call numbers are solid.

We just uh finished a recruiting class, we're taking on uh six new paid-on-call members.

Uh as you know, we're um at strength with our career staff, and uh we'll have a new career assistant chief starting on February 3rd.

Um he joins us from the Oak Bay Fire Department.

His name's uh Chris Malinowski.

He was born and raised in View Royal, spent the first two years of his uh firefighting career as a volunteer in View Royal, three years as a paid member, and then 23 years in Oak Bay, where he's leaving.

There is their assistant chief in charge of administration.

Uh he'll be coming over and starting with us on February 3rd.

So we're uh we're pleased to have Chris coming back into View Royal.

It's uh it's a very exciting time for us and for him and his family as well.

Um other than that, uh busy couple of weeks for the fire department.

Um I would comment on the uh the Damon drive, but that'll fall into January.

But I want to thank our partners with the RCMP.

That was a very complex file, and it's still ongoing with uh many tentacles and and leads that they're working on.

Um and they've worked closely with our investigators to conclude obviously the cause, but uh moving forward, hopefully we can um they can uh formulate some arrests and we can put that behind us.

So I'm open to any questions and uh more than happy to answer.

Let's go with counselor rogers and lemon and brown, please.

Yeah, thank you.

Um first off, Paul, uh very impressed with the uh the report from Bilo giving us the perspectives on how matters are being dealt with, and particularly the uh organizations and agencies by uh that uh uh that are involved with and and uh teaming up with and and addressing these issues yeah so um very helpful to see that that huge list that's quite amazing um second point is um as you know um on the new business we have a resolution with respect to uh uh to go to a b i cc will you be around to uh to speak to that or i wonder if your worship you can i'll be I'll be here for that all yeah perfect thank you well that reduced my two questions to one so so thank you um Paul I totally outside of your presentation here.

I think the catastrophe in Los Angeles has made us many of us, perhaps all of us, feel you know, it can happen anywhere, you know, there's there's there's no there's no um as surety that you know you that that a firestorm can't just take over the region.

Do we have an evacuation plan?

We do.

I mean if you if you look at what happened in Los Angeles um I mean you're you're probably dealing with one of the largest organized fire departments in in their country you know next to the east coast that happened so quickly I even their evacuation plans didn't work.

I mean people just there was just too many people and nowhere to go.

And it happened so quickly.

I mean, it'll be interesting to see the debriefs on this and and and where where the successes and the failures were.

Um, I mean, that's that's one of the keys.

When when when emergency officials say it's time to evacuate, that's when it's time to evacuate.

And I think people tend to not heed those warnings.

And then there was the circulation of false information and people weren't sure if there were legitimate evacuation alerts and whatnot.

So we do have an evacuation plan.

We have evacuation routes.

Um, but you know, like anything, if it's uh if it's not practiced or it's not uh if it's not known, then then people don't know.

So I mean that's something I can I can look into.

But yeah, it's it's it's a complete mess down there.

Yeah.

Thanks.

Sir Brown.

Kudos to your group on your food drive.

It was awesome.

The uh I had some items to take there.

I needed to freezer.

So I went to talk to the manager on Monday after, and she said she's amazed.

They could barely open the door that you guys pick up so much stuff.

And it was just great.

Yeah.

Great generosity.

The kids the kids in the neighborhood just love it when the fire truck comes across to pick up stuff.

That was awesome.

No, it was a it was a it was a good day and good work between the association, the volunteers, and the uh the career members.

It was uh it was a good year.

The the money, I think they get two or three to one spending power on their money, so 7,000 is probably 14 or 15,000.

So great day.

Great day, yeah.

Thanks, Councillor Brown.

Uh Councillor Matson, please.

Yes, again, thanks for all your good work.

I won't go on any more on that one, but I'm just curious, the island highway fire.

Did yes, did was there a cause?

Do you know the cause?

Yes.

Can you tell me the cause?

No.

I I I'll I'm more than happy to share it with you in camera.

Yeah, there's just some there's some nuances, and I'll I'm more than happy to share it with you.

Thanks.

And the last uh point I had, I note uh under your annual statistics for 2024, you actually have a category for dumpster fires, which which is impressive.

But it more uh concerning though is they've doubled since last year.

I never knew even knew we had sixteen dumpsters in View Royal, but uh that could also include miscellaneous organization.

I mean, if I if I'm if I'm copying my colleagues in the police, I can say that's a that's a two hundred percent increase, and we're gonna be looking for funding because the uh call volumes are up so substantially, two to three hundred percent increase in some of our I mean boat calls went from one to three.

That's a Damian, could you help me with that percent increase?

It's huge, I know.

And so I believe you coined the phrase dumpster fire for another event, another group of the year.

I think it was for America e com 911, but uh but yeah, specifically.

Uh I didn't include that stat.

17 dumpster fires.

Yeah, I would I wouldn't mind if we were tracking um, you know, any service challenges we've got with 911, because that will come under scrutiny.

Like if you could call any dropped calls, uh anything associated with uh any delay, because uh as my colleagues aware, that there is a pending and significant increase in uh requisition to the town, which would work out to about $90 a household if it's uh passed.

That's a download from the provincial and federal government.

The concern is, of course, the governance structure uh that's associated with it is still centered around the founding municipalities in the southern mainland, one of which Surrey is no longer participating, uh at least for its uh RCMP in it.

So we don't have much say in it.

So uh the mayors got together for uh everybody affected in the South Island and uh did up a letter, and there'll be a press release kind of following that.

And the specific ask is we're not gonna pay anything until um the study is done that the provincial government has ordered on e com and uh that the ask is they continue to fund until governance and other challenges are sorted out.

Great.

But I thought I would add that to this part because I think it's uh it on its own would represent about a two percent or more tax increase for our folks.

Yeah, good.

I'm I'm glad that letter's going forward.

I sat in in a meeting with the CAO and other mayors, and it was disappointing to hear the lack of accountability and and lack of projected vision and expenses.

Well, at UBCM and and before that, the uh then minister responsible said um you know there there would be a surprise um that would um you know pleasant news that would be occurring after the election.