Committee of the Whole

Okay, thank you very much.

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the first part of the committee of the whole meeting for today.

I'd like to start by acknowledging the Lakwangan speaking people, known today as the Esquimalt Nation and Songhees Nation, and that their historic connection to these lands continue to this day.

Um so I need a motion to approve the agenda, please.

Second with the uh late items.

Yeah, I think they're probably already in there.

I'm just looking.

Yes, they're already in there.

So um okay, everyone's good with that.

All in favor, opposed, that's carried.

And then minutes from October the 12th.

Move adoption.

Thank you.

Second.

Moved and seconded by Councillor Rogers and Matson.

Any comments, corrections?

They're all good.

All in favor, opposed, that's carried.

And um just for any public who's watching, because I missed that part.

There is public participation after we have three petitions and delegations today.

So those will take a little while.

I suspect probably a good half hour.

So after that will be public participation.

If anyone would like to speak to any issues on the agenda this afternoon, and then for this evening's portion, we will do public participation again then.

And at the time, staff will ensure that the phone number that you need to call is on your on the screen so that you can phone in.

Okay, and and with that, we will go to our first petition and delegation, which is C Vanderhorst from region.

Well anyhow stew with our audit welcome well I was trying to read the company name but I wasn't sure what it was.

Hi there.

Hello thank you Mr.

Mayor and Council.

Thank you for inviting me here today.

I believe you have a copy of the audit service plan in your uh in your reading package there.

Um I won't take you through it line by line it's great reading material if you have trouble sleeping.

Um just uh uh a chance to to um have a quick chat and to uh give you the opportunity for questions so um we're we're gearing up for the 2021 audit.

Uh we've been talking to your staff and and getting ready for an interim visit coming up here.

From the audit perspective, no major changes to the audit approach and to the financial statements for this year.

We are, of course, rolling through into year two of an audit under the pandemic and circumstances where we're limiting our in-office visits as much as possible to keep uh your staff and our staff as safe as possible.

Um your staff is very accommodating and very good with with sharing information digitally and safely and securely.

Uh the audit service plan does talk about a um a materiality number of $750,000.

So that is a number that drives our audit work.

We are we are looking at everything over that amount.

We are sampling and looking at documents on a sample basis underneath that dollar value or underneath that threshold.

And if we found something that we disagreed with with management on that is our threshold for being able to give you a clean audit opinion or a qualified audit opinion.

So it's a couple years away but it is a potentially big one for for the municipal sector in having to record liabilities around its assets, things that would need to be not just uh from a contamination perspective cleaned up but um actually remediated uh no matter what scenario so we've already had some uh discussions with staff for the town there probably isn't going to be um a lot of impact uh just given the nature of some of the uh capital assets that you're managing and and and working out of um but we'll continue to have those conversations uh as we go as we get closer and closer to adoption um which is still a couple years off.

But since it's such a big ticket item, um, I wanted to make sure it was um addressed.

So that that's all for uh formal um me talking to you, but I'm happy to answer any questions on the audit service plan document or or anything um that's audit related that the council may have.

Okay, thank you very much.

Councillor Manson.

Yeah, thank you for uh anyways.

Good job.

I'm quite happy with your the firm and the job you did last year, but I do have a question about the 750,000 uh for materiality.

Do we have any items that are greater than $750, and and and maybe uh uh elaborate it's uh the we're using a ratio of four percent of your annual revenues.

Um so that that uh is a rough estimate of of um the estimate for twenty twenty-one.

We will of course adjust it if twenty twenty-one revenues uh aren't aren't similar to twenty twenty.

And we know that this is a year that might have had some adjustments.

Um the what we usually get into when we see transactions at that level is large capital projects, um, large grants.

Um I know some of the COVID funding that that came through the province was larger last year.

Um some of the casino funding can get into that range, but you are right that the majority of the yearctions are not going to be that large.

Uh the theory behind that number is is it's a the threshold which would change your decision that you're making a council.

That's sort of the logic behind it.

If if there was something in the statements that was off by $750,000, that's serious enough that you would be concerned about it.

And you may argue that a smaller number would be would be serious, and that's that's a fair argument.

Um we're striking a balance in our in our audit approach between the amount of work we're doing and where um and where we're getting comfortable with the numbers.

So for example, when we set the materiality that high, we are looking at some of your processes that have a lot of what we call low dollar value but high volume transactions.

So utility billing and things can be like that.

There might be an uh, you know, every resident gets a gets an invoice, but they're not large.

So we're using various techniques because they're under the $750,000 amount.

We're using various techniques to sample to do an analysis and to get comfort even over those smaller numbers.

But we're just making sure that we look at everything that is large because it could have a potentially large impact on the financial statements.

Okay thank you.

Thank you counselor.

Anyone else?

Counselor Rogers?

Yes uh again thank you very much for the presentation.

Um under issues and summary um uh which I think is about page five uh you talked about the new reporting developments and uh a few of them aren't uh due until uh April 2022, uh when they come into effect i are is your your intention to uh uh give some cursory review of what we have in anticipation as we uh ramp up to ensure we meet the those standards.

Yes, our our view every year when we come into the audit is to also look to these uh issues that are that are coming and these accounting standards changes that are coming um to make sure that uh your staff is aware of them, uh that they're thinking about them.

Thank you, counselor.

It's a great question.

Some of them will be um potentially a large-scale project to to uh to go through the um the records and and come up with the numbers.

Some of them on the um, you know, I'm I'm looking at the in the middle of the page there's one that talks about revenue.

We don't anticipate that being a large project, if anything, for staff to have to go through.

So we're wanting to be proactive, have those conversations with staff, make sure they're aware of it.

Um if there's gonna be time invested to give them um enough heads up that they can look at whether there's you know, some uh actually I'll take a not for your organization, not for your town necessarily, but a lot of the region districts that asset retirement allegation project is going to be big.

Some of them will be looking at actually staffing up to um to be able to calculate their numbers and and get that project done.

So we want to have enough lead time on that discussion that your team can budget appropriately.

Um thankfully we don't anticipate large impact for the town.

Um, but we always want to be proactive with those conversations.

All right, thank you.

And uh give again, yeah, really helpful and thanks for doing that.

Um, on page eight, uh, there's appendix B, which talks about the control reliance level.

And and you identified that you're planning to place um low reliance on uh the town's accounting systems.

Can you give more details and explanation of that?

Absolutely.

So in our audit approach, there's two ways that we can approach an audit.

We can test the controls at the town and then do some uh testing of what we we call substantive tests at the end of the year, which is looking at the balance sheet and income statement numbers and testing just those numbers, and so that's a combination.

Or we can, for lack of a better word, skip the controls testing piece and just focus on the year end.

So when we look at most municipalities that we work with, the most efficient audit approach is not to do the control testing.

What we do is we do a risk-based audit approach.

We look at what your assets, liabilities, revenues, expenses are, focus in on where we think the risk areas are.

And by virtue of the fact that most municipalities, and and you're you're uh included in this as well, have very strong controls, good control framework.

We get an understanding of how your controls are designed.

We do check to make sure they're implemented properly, but we don't test if they're effective.

Uh, and the the decision to not do that testing is purely an audit efficiency this uh decision.

Um it's uh in an effort to keep the costs down and in a reasonable amount to the town um and to not have increased costs in the audit.

Well good.

Okay, yes, thank you very much.

Much helpful.

Okay, thank you very much, and we look forward to seeing you after January, I suppose.

Yes, sounds good.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Great, thank you.

Bye now.

So moving on, we're going to Christine Jackman from the View Royal Reading Center.

Welcome.

Hello.

Um, I'd like to thank the council for your continued support of the V-Royal Reading Center.

Um it's been a rough year.

I'm pretty sure uh everybody's going through a rough year, but um our woes really began back in 2019 when the program that we were using for our library catalog was discontinued and the support was just cut off.

So we had to find a new program.

And so well, we did, you know, we we found a new program, but then that kind of killed the rest of the money that we had in our budget.

We had some money in a contingency fund, and that's now empty.

And then we found out that we couldn't transfer our catalog to the new system because they locked it out for us, basically.

So we've had to re enter all of our books by hand, and we're still working on that.

But so in February of this year, we went live with the new program and it's working really well for us.

But then this past year we were closed for a total of five months because of our 18 volunteers, 17 of them are over 60, and they did not want to come to work until they were vaccinated.

So we waited until we were vaccinated before we opened up again.

But despite being closed so much, and all of the difficulties that we've had over the past couple of years, last year we actually signed up 38 new members.

And so far this year we've signed up 50 new members and we're circulating roughly 80 books a month in in that range.

So I just wanted to to let you guys know where we are right now, how we're doing.

Most of our patrons are seniors so they were reluctant to come back but now they're sort of trickling back in again.

And it seems like this is their their place to go every week.

They it's their socialization every week.

And it's true for our volunteers too.

They really love the library.

Volunteering is really good for retirees, especially.

You get out and meet people.

So that's basically what I wanted to say.

And then we applied for an increase in our budget this year for grant and aid and were denied it, and I understand why.

But I'm sort of going to try to appeal to you again because not only did we have this new program that we have to pay for, but our rent is increasing every year now.

So it when we first moved into that location, we were paying $1,500 a month.

We're up to uh $1,700 now, and then this actually this month it increased to $1,837.

Next year it'll be $1,947, then we're going up to $2,000.

So we're seeing an increase every year, and then our hydro bills going up every year as well.

And this year we're going to squeak by.

You know, we've cut back a little bit now, but um I just wanted to let you guys know that's where we stand.

And again, thank you for your support.

Thanks, Christine.

Do you do you have any idea how many active members you have?

I know it's hard.

Yeah, it's hard to tell.

Um, probably in the range of 200.

Um, but you know, some people come in faithfully every three weeks, some people come in maybe once every couple of months.

Um, and uh we have statistics on our computer, but it only tells us the circulation, it doesn't tell us how many patrons are coming in.

Right.

Okay, thank you.

Council?

Questions?

Councillor Lemmon.

Hi, Christine.

Thanks for thanks for coming tonight.

Um, or this afternoon.

Um a couple of questions.

One one is revenues for the Reading Center.

Is there any other source beyond the Grant and Aid?

Or is it your dollar a book sales?

Yeah, we've got our book sales.

We've applied to so many other places, like the Victoria Foundation, and we attempted to get um what was it, the the gaming commission uh branch.

Um yeah, we've just and we get some donations from the public, um, but it really doesn't add up to a lot.

Okay.

Um, you know, you've had such an extraordinary year, it's been such a difficult year.

You know, it it you know, it's it's it doesn't even seem fair to, you know, categorize it among the norms of how things are going for you.

Um, but I I had a conversation, it was a brief conversation uh a couple of years ago, um with the GVPL.

And their question was, is there any way that and and I don't know, I really don't know if this would still apply or if there would be interest or if I you know if it's just blown away.

But the question was, is there any way that we can help the reading center?

Would would you would you with the volunteers be open to any kind of input from another jurisdiction sure yes I think there was a meeting with the G VPL back in I think it was 2009.

He actually had a representative come and I wasn't on the committee at that time so I really can't tell you the culmination of that um I believe that we were trying to join the G VPL or have some sort of support from them.

So I don't know but yeah I'm I mean I'm open to any input from anybody.

Okay, that's great.

Okay, I'll I'll take that forward.

The other question is is, is there I I with with the rents going up, any other options, any other possibilities of venues?

Where you are is so local for for your immediate clientele.

Although, you know, when you were down down at um Admiral's Walk, that was really convenient for a whole different um part of our population.

Um are you looking around for someplace where you know might be just a little smaller, a little cheaper?

I don't know.

Well the the biggest issue with that is um yes, we might be able to find a cheaper locale, but then we'd have to move.

And we don't have the money in our budget to for the move.

The last time we moved, it cost us $7,000.

Okay.

Yeah, all right.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Anybody else?

Anything?

No, Councillor Rogers.

Thank you very much for uh present presenting.

It's it's helpful to get an update, and and um you're no different than G VPL for the uh five months being closed.

Um it was it was across the board.

So um, and again, I suppose much for the same reasons uh seniors.

How many of your volunteers are back again?

You say they were 17.

We we have 18 volunteers.

Um we lost eight last year.

Um six retired and two passed away.

Um so we are, but we've got some new volunteers now, so we're back up to 18.

We had 23, I think, and now we're back up to 18.

So 17 of those are over 60, and eight of those are over 80.

Wow.

So yeah.

They're wonderful ladies though.

Wow, that's yeah, that is impressive.

Um tell me how how do you w acquire new books?

Uh we purchase them.

We have um I do my best to get the cheapest books possible.

So I will go online and look there, um, second hand books or secondhand shops.

Um, and then new books that are out that people really want.

We get them from Boland Books, and Bolum Books gives us a 20% discount.

Yeah.

Um, because I I am wondering aside from the new books that everybody wants, the most expensive, really, really expensive, there are, of course, the TC book sale.

And you know, I just volunteered for the Cobble Hill book sale and they were a dollar a book and and just you know really great, great um opportunities.

Is that something that would be uh of interest?

I don't know how much space you've got for any more new books.

How do you and I guess you you'll have to all the labor intensive work of doing a turnaround.

Yeah, yeah.

When we uh when we bring new books in, we we do a purge probably once a year.

Um when we have books that are donated to us, if they don't circulate in the first six months that we have them, then we we purge them.

Um but mostly we we keep books that are um about 10 years old.

So anything that's older than 10 years, we get rid of.

Um I have been to the TC book sale.

I have picked up a lot of books there.

Um, and anytime there's a little book sale somewhere, you know, church basements and that sort of thing, and uh and thrift stores, I will pick them up there as well.

Yeah.

Okay, and thank you.

Last question.

It seemed like you uh you had to go from one system to the other.

Uh again, another very labor intensive word.

Uh why was that necessary?

Um the program that we had was called L4U.

It was a company based in Vancouver, and they sold their company to um someplace in California, and the California company decided this was an um offline system.

The California company decided to go online and discontinued support for the offline system.

And so we got to the point where it just it stopped working completely.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay, well, thank you very much.

I appreciate um the challenges that you have and the work that you're doing.

Thank you.

Uh I do.

Okay, go ahead.

Hi, Christine.

Thanks for sharing that.

Hi.

Thanks so much for uh for being here.

And it sounds like there's been a lot of challenges recently.

Christine, uh you are obviously in the the library, the book business.

I'm just wondering, are there any other local libraries uh exclusive of the Greater Victoria Public Library in Greater Victoria, such as the View Royal Reading Center?

Not that I'm aware of.

Okay, okay.

Um, it sounds like you're having some staffing problems too with volunteers.

Um we're fully staffed now, yeah.

Okay, okay.

But yes, we're okay now.

Mentioned uh some of the the tenure uh and experience of some of your volunteers.

Uh do you see these uh these individuals being able to sustain their positions for the next couple years?

Where where do you see the View Royal Reading Center in five years?

Um well the the volunteers are are in it for good.

Um some of them refuse to give up.

We've had some we've got three, I think, who have been with the library since the 70s.

Um so we refuse to give up.

We're now getting volunteers who are much younger.

We've got a few that are in their 20s now.

Um and uh as long as we can keep going with volunteers, I think we can keep going indefinitely.

What kind of planning for the future have the ViewRow Reading Center staff and yourself done in the last year looking forward to the future?

Well, we with the update to our computer system, we're now online.

We've um you can access our catalog online now.

I'm starting to get the word out through social media now, so we're starting to come into the 20th century or the 21st century.

And I think that that that's uh the biggest thing is is getting out um the word out to people.

Christina, do you recall?

I think it was maybe last year or the year before, some of the members of council asked if there were ways that you could potentially expand your customer base by communicating with uh the the youth in the community uh you've got a very close elementary school you just mentioned some social media uh advances that you've made what else would be done to try to expand your customer base uh we've got there's um um daycare center just down the hill from us so we've communicated with them and um we've um there was another daycare center near near Admiral's walk um or the the next plaza over, and we've communicated with them.

We're trying to get more children in, but it's really a hard sell.

And I think our location is a hard sell too.

Um so we just keep communicating with people that we're here, and though not last year, I think it was the year before we sent out flyers to the new buildings in the area.

Yeah, we're we're working on it.

That's all I can say, really.

Okay.

And I recognize that it's a very unique service that you provide being a local library, exclusive of the GVPL.

And I think this is something that I have to ask.

Yeah, that's that's been something that's come up many, many times before.

Um the only thing I I can say is that location is a little more convenient.

Um you know, if you live in View Royal and you want to use the GBPL, you have to go to Wannafuco or downtown or Isquimalt.

Um, so it's just further away.

Um for seniors in this area, they don't necessarily want to go that far.

A lot of our patrons come in, they um come in by foot.

They go out for a daily walk and stop in at the library.

Um that's that's the best thing that I can say.

And and we do offer um, we get the latest fiction, and there's no wait list on our books.

When people come in, they're available, or they're they only have to wait, you know, a couple of weeks to get a book.

Whereas with the the G VPL, sometimes there's wait lists on books for a year.

Um we we do accommodate our our patrons and get the books that they want to read.

Um and we just we have like a personal touch with the people.

We know them and um they sit and chat with us every day.

And uh I just feel like that's a little bit less institutional than uh the GBPL.

Thank you.

I know these some of these questions are challenging and that um it can be somewhat uncomfortable, and uh unfortunately it is it is the responsibility of uh some of us on council to ask these kind of hard questions on behalf of the community.

Thank you so much for being so open and answering those questions that I asked.

Thank you, Councillor Rogers.

Oh, I and I just want to make a comment on some of the history.

So um when many years ago when I was on the library board, one of the things I did find out was the Victoria the reading center was once view rolls public library because we weren't associated with the G VPL.

And in fact, they were a public library, they had been designated such, and it was a province who just stopped funding them as opposed to any sort of conscious decision of view roll asking that you know library funds not be given to them.

And in fact, we fought for and didn't succeed in getting the province to continue on with that funding.

So at one time again, they were our public library.

Well, I think since 1943, something like that, right?

I mean, the the it it was a long incorporation.

Um and then when I was involved in the meetings, when you because the province, I mean it's all, but the province was very anxious for you to give up your library status.

Yes.

So they offered the olive branch of when you became a reading center that they were gonna continue to fund us for, I don't know, they promised fifteen thousand dollars a year or something like that, and then promptly the next year took it away.

Yes, actually our budget from the province was $70,000 a year.

Was it that much?

Yes.

That much, yeah.

Yeah.

And yeah, they did.

I believe this happened in 2008.

So it was just before I joined, but my mother was volunteering there.

Um, and they did defund it and they they forced the library to become a reading center and then decided they weren't going to fund reading centers.

Yeah.

Bad province.

That's right.

Yeah.

Councillor Rogers.

Um, you know, we if pigs could fly, we could move the reading center to the new handy dart facility and get free rent.

So there you go.

And then we could have a book bus uh helping us out.

Um yeah, so much for that.

So I'm curious with the um uh the dedicated volunteers and um and the patrons you have.

Have you uh considered uh or discussed the idea of a membership fee and and what do you do for late fees?

We do charge late fees, we charge 10 cents a day.

Um that does not generate a lot of revenue because our patrons are very good.

Um for people who don't live in View Royal, they pay ten dollars a year uh to borrow books.

Um we have probably a dozen uh patrons outside of View Royal.

Um we hadn't considered charging a membership fee to our patrons.

I don't know uh that's something I can bring up with our committee and see if that would be a feasible idea.

Because, you know, if it's something small like 10, 20, 30 dollars a year, I'm sure people would be happy to uh to pay it.

Especially if you don't they don't have to wait a year to to get the book they want to read.

Yeah, yeah.

Absolutely.

Thank you for that suggestion.

Buy that $50 book and you get a free membership.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you, Christine.

Thank you for coming.

And hopefully next spring we can have our our banquet and we'll see you all in person.

That would be lovely.

Yeah, but in the meantime, thanks for all you're doing, and thank you for continuing on your your mother's work.

Take care.

We were sorry to see her.

Yeah.

Just before we go to our last presentation, I wonder if Director Rosenberg or Chief Hurst could um put that clock behind you back an hour.

Just so I don't keep getting confused.

Or hungry.

Well, I was thinking a happy hour.

Thank you.

And with that, we'll go.

I thought you'd be able to figure it out, Chief Hurst, being the practical sort of next we will go to Mr.

Harris from the CRD, who's going to talk to us about climate change or climate action strategy.

Welcome.

Thank you very much, Mayor and Council.

I appreciate the time to come and speak with you and present present give this presentation.

So hopefully you can see that up on the board.

There we go.

I'll get to the top of the patch.

So thank you.

Hopefully, just a few minutes to present a few slides.

The presentation is to support the referral from the CRD board of an establishing bylaw and an increase to the maximum requisition limit in order to support climate action across the capital region through the Climate Action Service.

This service is part of the overall requisition for CRD services proposed in the recently approved provisional budget at the board.

The CRD is committed, along with all the other local governments, to taking action to address climate change, not only within our individual corporate operations, but also across the region.

And that was highlighted in the board's declaration of a climate emergency and the accompanying commitment to take a leadership role to pursue regional carbon neutrality.

So, in response to all that, staff led the development of a renewed climate action strategy, and that was adopted unanimously by the board last month.

This strategy replaces the 2016 corporate climate action strategy and the 2017 Regional Climate Action Strategy.

The new document reflects current board priorities and provides a clear path for how the region will show leadership on climate action over the next five years.

And to leverage and maximize these region wide benefits, the document aligns with federal and provincial, sorry, federal and local initiatives and policy directives.

We recognize that the success of this strategy relies on our collective commitment to bold climate action at all levels of government.

And to facilitate the strategy, we had quite a comprehensive consultation process.

I just want to acknowledge and appreciate the contributions by Councillor Lemon, who was a member of the Intermunicipal Task Force.

It has representation from all 13 municipalities in the electoral areas, and also from staff member Jeff Chow, who sits on the Intermunicipal Working Group that operates at the staff level for coordinating and cons and working to speak just quickly the service.

I mean, just to mention that the emphasis, I think, is on the supporting role of the service.

It really is there to be collaborative and complementary to the efforts of local governments to achieve climate action in the region.

It's intended to enhance local government efforts and initiatives by bringing plans, programs, and grants to the region that benefit your citizens and ultimately across the region, all of our citizens.

In the updated climate action strategy, we had a new vision to come through.

Essentially, we're trying to get our emissions down, achieving the net zero, but getting our emissions down as much as possible, as fast as possible, and then really building the adaptation or the resilience of the region to anticipate any changes that we we expect for our region.

So we established some targets.

There was a greenhouse gas reduction target for the corporation of 45% below 2007 levels by 2030.

That's consistent with the province's reporting framework and aligns with the regional regional growth strategy target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 61% by 2038.

So that was a 25-year document, and that's why the number seems a bit funny.

That's all in alignment with the UN's international panel on climate change, which is trying to limit the increase in temperature on the planet by 1.5%, and we need to achieve net zero by 2050 to achieve that.

And on the right, this essentially the priorities that we've identified to focus on.

And I'll go into a little bit of detail as we talk about this five-year plan of the strategy and the basis for the request for the uh increased uh requisition lift.

So clearly, we want to make explicit climate decisions, our climate focus in our decision making.

We're looking at sustainable land use planning and preparedness that comes through in the regional growth strategy and broader planning.

Low carbon mobility speaks to active transportation, that mode shift to uh to walking and cycling and transit, as well as a shift to the electric vehicle uh market.

Low carbon and resilient buildings and infrastructure, both in the step code and new buildings, but also a real effort on the existing housing stock and an effort to make us more energy efficient and resilient to change.

Clearly, an effort on the community and the natural landscape and making sure it's resilient and abundant and sustainable, and then obviously a commitment to minimize waste and the consumption patterns of the region and the disposal.

And so on the you see, I'll just go through quickly and then there's a little bit more detail in the next couple of slides.

But essentially, we have sort of regional emissions on the x-axis on the left.

Um, we're sitting at about 1.7 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalents across the region.

It's been fairly stable since 2007.

That y-axis is the time frame.

I apologize for the first number in the corner.

It should say 2007, not 2017.

Essentially, our emissions have been stable as this region has grown through the last uh 13 years.

Um, we're sitting at 2020, about 1.7 million tons.

And here's the path forward, and we've identified that pathway uh to try and reach to 2050 and that net zero goal.

Um so this is a regionally coordinated and subsidized.

Oh, I've got the wrong note, sorry.

So I just want to emphasize that um you know there's a fair number of things that need to come together, uh, but we have a clear path to try and achieve the goals, and the strategy is really trying to make this come forward.

I just wanted to mention a couple of key things.

The regional energy uh retrofit program that's aligned with the federal and provincial priorities.

They're gonna put a lot of dollars in the next few years into promoting regional retrofit.

So of the mostly residential houses.

That's part nine of the building code.

That's where they want to emphasize.

They really want to get a lot of uh conversion of energy efficiency in those buildings, and there'll be a lot of dollars coming.

And the purpose of our service is really to sort of coordinate, facilitate, and bring that those grants and those fundings to the region for our citizens to take advantage of it.

I just want to point out a couple of things just for specific to View Royal.

So while not eliminated, there are fewer oil heating systems than in many of the other communities across the CRD.

Our goal is to eliminate these systems in the region.

And we have our conversion, our oil heat to uh heat pump conversion program and granting program that's in place, and we're seeing a lot of success and have extended that program three or four times over the last few years as we continue to see uptake on that.

We will point out that gas is one of the major heating systems in the region.

There are opportunities to improve efficiency with building envelope improvements via the Fordest incentives, most recently installed systems, and then changes to heat pumps for those systems at their time of replacement.

And finally, I just point out that heat that baseboard heating does uh is still a dominant source of heating in the in across the region, not just in View Royal.

Um it is one of the most expensive ways to heat a home, but there are opportunities for cost savings, substantial efficiency gains, and increased resilience through the conversion to heat pump retrofits.

The CRD retrofit program will support View Royal homeowners realize the to realize these benefits while providing the capital region a pathway to achieve our emission reduction goals across the residential built community.

So that's one of the key aspects of the program and where we're gonna be focusing on the next few years.

This is the second one.

Like the regional average, approximately 2% of the vehicles registered in View Royal were EVs in 2020.

This number is growing, and with that demand for public charging, we need to make sure the infrastructure is in place.

So the CRD coordinated an electric vehicle infrastructure roadmap.

So with the goal of 25% of the light duty vehicles on the road at 2030 to be electric, we need to have the infrastructure in place to achieve that.

We've identified that roadmap.

The next step is then to secure and receive infrastructure grant funds from the provincial and federal governments and to coordinate, not just in private but also in public settings to put the infrastructure charging in place.

So you can imagine in Victoria in View Royal, 34% of your population lives in multi multi unit buildings, either strata or rentals.

Those people may not have direct access as you would in a single family dwelling to put in a charging station.

So we need to look for public opportunities to put charging charging infrastructure in place so there's opportunities for those people who wish to can charge their vehicles.

And so that's a big part of the other emphasis of the service in the coming years is to receive those grants.

We've done a lot of work aligning with the provincial and federal goals and their promises of infrastructure funding, and then working with service agreements to get that infrastructure in place over the next five years.

And that's a big priority for us.

The third third leg of the uh of the requisition and the increase is to go towards uh supporting a corporate energy manager.

And so that role is going to be looking at the energy systems of our organization to really reduce our emissions, our energy costs, look at it from a business case point of view, and really promote uh energy efficiency across the organization, whether from housing to wastewater to uh to our recreation facilities and beyond.

This uh slide, and I think I've just got a couple more for you, so thank you for your indulgence.

Really summarizes where we're going for the increased lift.

So we have an existing program, it's small uh right now.

Right now, the program is about $450,000 requisition.

We attract a lot of grant money and we work with a lot of partners to try and leverage our impact and what we do.

But moving forward, we identified the regional building energy retrofit program, the public EV infrastructure program, and then the corporate energy manager as three key areas that we need to expand the service.

We do have the blessing in the board, but we need to come and get two thirds consent from the participating local governments.

So that's all 13 municipalities and the three electoral areas in order to implement this in the coming years.

So there's the foundation of it.

And I will just say depending on how much money we can attract, we can actually do more.

So that's going to be a function of us uh working with the federal and provincial agencies to attract that grant money, show that we've got a system in place, a program in place to leverage that dollars and actually implement it across the region.

So there is some flexibility, and so the grant potential we know is there, the scale of it is yet to be defined.

And this is the budget invocations.

As I mentioned, the Climate Action Service is part of the overall uh CRD requisition to the local governments.

Um, the priority for the board has been to climate action, and so the fairly significant increase.

This is uh what it looks like in the in a nutshell.

And I just wanted to put the context of you know, the overall CRD requisition, and I can always defer to uh Mayor Screech as director of Screech can maybe speak to the conversations at the board table around the budgets.

So um with that, I'll end and I can answer any questions or uh or or come back to with any information you might require.

Thank you very much.

Okay, thank you, Councillor Matson.

Yes, thank you for your presentation.

So, one of the things we always hear, and certainly one of the issues I always have is you got 13 municipalities and the CRD, and and right now all of them are working on climate action.

So I'm just wondering how is what are you guys doing to ensure that there's or are you doing anything to ensure there's some sort of coordination?

And you know, we aren't everyone isn't sort of reinventing the wheel and each going off in directions, which may or may not be the most effective.

No, that's an excellent question.

So when I started with the CRD in 2008, we were just starting this service, and one of the first things we implemented with is this intermunicipal working group.

So we identified champions with each of the local governments.

So in this case, Jeff Chow sits on that working group where they share information, they work on collaboration, they make sure we come up with a work plan that complements and not competes with the initiatives that you have at your local governments.

We also wanted to establish a task force.

There was enough interest from the councils to participate.

So we have an elected official representative, and counselor Lemon speaks or sits on that task force, I believe, currently, to come together and do the same thing, but at the political level to talk about leadership, talk about direction, make sure that they understand what we're doing.

So just reinforcing that it's collaboration and cooperation and that we're not competing.

And then what the CRD does with our services, we'll want to go out and look for those services where we can actually provide a regional service.

So the the conversion of uh oil tanks to heat pumps, we provide that on a regional scale.

And the new initiatives around the the um well, I can speak to the research too.

So we did climate projections work that benefits you at the OCP level and in your land use planning efforts to take that information of what climate change is gonna look like for your region and your area and be able to implement that into your plans and your policies.

And so it's trying to create research that supports you, programs that support your initiatives, and really complement what you're trying to achieve at the local scale.

Okay, thank you.

Okay.

Anybody else?

Councillor Rogers.

Yes, uh, thank you very much.

I I certainly support the um uh you know the the ask here.

Uh that's entirely reasonable.

Um some questions.

Um there's the page that had visions, targets, and priorities.

So um I'm I think I hear you saying that um the uh targets that have been set are consistent with the current uh global um debate and issues uh that we heard from from uh our world leaders uh to ensure that we meet the um um the the goal of uh 1.5 percent um temperature increase.

Is it are that's what you're aiming here for the targets?

That's correct.

So the the goal of net zero by twenty fifty aligns with the direction we hear at the provincial, national, and international level about what we need to do to limit that 1.5 in to a 1.5 increase.

Okay, thank you.

And um I'm very pleased to see the priorities that you've listed, number five, uh, resilient and abundant natural uh nature ecosystems and food systems, but I do not really see those on the following screen that talks about the regional scenarios where you have on the right uh the various uh categories.

I I don't see uh uh an investment in um protecting our uh ecosystems and forests.

Fair enough.

So that's covered by a bunch of other services as well.

So we have so the CRD provides, I think, just over 200 services across the region, some regionally, some sub-regionally.

And so we have, for example, harbor services uh for the core area and for the Sanch Peninsula.

We have stormwater integrated stormwater programs, we have our regional parks.

We have the watershed, the drinking watershed.

All those services will be incorporating climate goals and perspectives into their individual services.

The what the Regional Climate Action Service does hopefully is provide the research and the foundation to inform those services.

So we're also working through those programs to coordinate, for example, uh urban forest strategies, uh biodiversity strategies, invasive species strategies to try and tackle those questions you just spoke to.

Yes, thank you.

Uh certainly uh one of the remarkable accomplishments of the CRD is um uh the parks acquisition trust Fund, and we've seen so much uh uh protection of extremely valuable and uh sensitive ecosystems.

Um isn't it uh with with uh as you're suggesting here, um an increase um uh to uh pay for uh all these things.

One of the major uh problems for the CRD is the uh the high cost of protecting those ecosystems.

Shouldn't we raise be raising the um um park acquisition fund?

So that's outside so it's not not really a fair question, I don't think, to ask Dr.

Harris.

I think he's very much on the other side of it.

Um there's but there's certainly a commitment from the CRD board to expanding the land acquisition.

To to increase it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, no, absolutely.

Okay, yeah, good, and I'm sure Dr.

Harris would be fully supportive of that, right?

Absolutely.

So I support and take direction from the board for sure.

But that's a political decision.

But as Mayor Screech would say, that's a bit there's a healthy conversation and uh and a fairly strong support for that direction for sure.

Right.

Can you uh then um somehow give me some idea how uh CRD is going to be um achieving the priority of food uh systems and particularly food security?

Yeah, that's a challenge too for the board as well, because although they have um through the planning protective services, they have a mandate to investigate the role of that.

Uh there's not a direct service for us to pursue that.

So I know uh the Planning Protective Services department is looking at policies and bringing things forward as part of the food security conversation, but that still lies, I would think, and humbly would suggest that still lies with local governments to manage and control that.

And what's happening is the CRD is facilitating a regional conversation around that.

And I guess my last point is the uh column where you talked about the various initiatives.

I see those initiatives are something where uh collectively as a region um we're able to achieve that much more.

Uh, if you like the the sum of the parts is greater than uh parts individually, wherever that saying is.

So um I I certainly understand and and uh um support the acquisition initiative.

Thank you.

On my left, Councillor Lemmon.

Hi, Glenn.

Thank you for coming today.

It's good to see you.

Um, just a couple of quick questions.

There we have a local um climate um coil climate coalition.

One of the questions that often comes up at their meetings is how do we know how many oil tanks there are in Bure Oil?

And and you seem to have a handle on that.

Do you actually have the numbers?

So I know they've tried to do surveys.

Sanich has tried to do their own survey in their their district.

Um typically the fire departments are the ones that we learn to we lead to um um to try and get that information.

There is some error bars around those estimates.

Um, I know when I worked at the province in the contaminated sites program for a while, um, we knew that there was a lot of uncertainty around that.

There's certainly a lot of liability and risk with those tanks for sure.

But no one has really taken ownership of that decision.

But in terms of the inventory, Councilor Lemon, it really tends to lie with the fire departments.

They seem to have the the best information on that.

Well, the fire chief is here.

I'll ask him about it.

Sorry to put him on the spot, but that's yeah, that's definitely our experience.

Um and uh just uh the role of the task force and the working group.

Um, do you see those continuing into the next year or two or three?

This the the strategy, of course, has seemed a long time coming and it's wonderful.

Um but is is will there be continuing roles?

Absolutely, yeah, absolutely.

With the um with both of them.

We we continue to need uh political leadership.

I call it job ow boning, but political leaders like yourself and the council to speak to this in the community and make sure that we're we're driving the conversation and encouraging that.

So by having those conversations at the task force, we're not only sharing what's going on in the individual communities, and I think there's a value for understanding how different municipalities and jurisdictions are handling some of their initiatives and their priorities, but also then just reassuring having the messages, understanding what the region is doing collectively to be able to promote that and at the working group level with the staff, the chance to actually be implementing the programs we're bringing to the region.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Glenn.

I'm just gonna check with staff.

So do we have a separate letter, Director Jones from the CRD asking us to consent to buy?

Thank you, your worship.

Yes, uh we do that will be on a council agenda as the group that will be able to have the authority for that so that can bring it to council.

Yeah that will be on next week's agenda.

Thank you.

I'm just respect to that can we also just find out what the whenever you have C RD numbers we find out what the cost is per yeah I I can look it up in our budget.

I mean it's our overall increase was absolutely minimal it was like 2.3% or something even in including this that always makes it easier to say yes yeah and that's and thank you, I just to say, yeah, I think the number is actually 0.4% overall for the provisional budget.

But I appreciate your uh your consideration of the overall context.

Thank you.

Great.

Good thank you, Dr.

Harris, for coming to our meeting.

Thank you for your time.

I appreciate it.

All the best.

Thanks.

Bye bye.

So next up, we have public participation.

If there's any public out there who would like to speak to items on the agenda either this afternoon or this evening, but more likely this afternoon.

So we'll pause just for 30 seconds because I know it's taken a while to get to public participation.

So the number is 778 402 9227.

And when prompted, enter conference ID five nine six three seven eight four four pound.

So we'll pause there for 30 seconds just to give anyone the chance to call in who would like to.

So quiet.

Is anybody out there?

Yeah.

Did we have any damage in the town from the wind last night?

Some trees.

Was there?

What some trees went down?

Yeah, nothing.

Yeah.

If we have a moment for Paul, I'm just curious where what happened to all the fire trucks from heading down on the highway.

That's a secret.

Today's really very well free beer in the topic.

That sounds good, yeah.

Okay, well I think we'll carry on.

Do we have any callers on the line, Stab?

Your worship, we do not have any callers at this moment.

Okay, thank you very much.

So we will carry on and I will hand the chair over to Councillor Lemmon for Protective Services.

Thank you very much.

No report from me nor business arising.

So um we don't have the RSVMP here, but we do have the fire chief.

Welcome, Chief Hurst.

Good afternoon.

Superintendent Preston sends his regrets from Hawaii.

You said that any additional funding that you were going to approve for police could be diverted to fire the 2022 cycle.

So I'm pleased with that.

Thank you.

And uh good afternoon.

Uh before you is our September-October Protective Services report, I'll go over some of the highlights, and of course I'm always available to answer any questions.

Um just one small fire of note uh in the month of October up on Evelyn Heights.

Uh fire in a garage was quickly contained.

Um just with respect to uh bylaw, you'll notice uh just for a year to date total we're just about at 700 files, the predominant uh being streets and traffic issues and parking issues, as the two uh main contributors to the file.

Um next are our zoning issues.

Um we're on course probably for about eight to nine hundred files uh this year for the bylaw office, which is a little heavier than than last year, uh, but still a little still manageable.

I'll be meeting with the bylaw in the next couple of weeks to see what their plan is for 2022 and some of the projects uh they've identified in the town that they want to focus on, some of their problem areas and some blatant uh bylaw violations that they would like to get a handle on, you know, specifically shipping containers, temporary structures, that type of stuff.

So, in an effort to address some of the problems that are starting to creep, the bylaw officer will be exploring some options there.

Um, we took on five recruits in the month of September.

Uh they'll begin the training in November, and that should last for about 12 months uh before they're able to respond on calls.

Um, we are always reviewing our our intake program, and it is becoming a little more challenging.

Langford ran into this problem a couple of years back in that attracting community members is becoming more and more difficult, and the costs of training are increasing exponentially.

So we'll be exploring options for attracting recruits from outside of Veroil with previous training.

So they're fully trained when they come to us.

And then, of course, members who live in the district who don't have training, we would we would fund that training and train them as members of the community.

But we're looking at all avenues to maintain our composite model.

And if that means exploring members outside of Veroil, we'll do that.

Now that would exclude any of our volunteer partners.

We don't want to take any members from Langford or Calwood or Highlands, or they're in the same boat.

So we'd be looking at more of the core on the peninsula if there's people interested in coming to View Royal.

I need to bring to council's attention some incidents that occurred in October.

There were three significant events in View Royal that have raised concern.

Two were medical related, a third was a motor vehicle accident.

In all three cases, the callers to 911 voiced concern that they were placed on hold after calling 911.

In the case of the two medical calls, one event was potentially life-threatening, yet the resident indicated they were on hold with BC ambulance for nine minutes before being transferred from e comm to BC ambulance.

In the second medical, the caller was on hold for 11 minutes for a cardiac issue.

And the motor vehicle accident caller indicated they were on hold for 31 minutes before they were transferred to BC ambulance.

In discussing the issue with the callers, they indicated that the initial 911 call was answered in a timely manner.

So they called 911, the phone was picked up.

However, the 911 dispatcher has been unable to transfer the calls to the ambulance dispatchers.

Now I know you've probably read in the colonist stories throughout Greater Victoria.

And I wanted to bring these events to you because it's happening in View Royal, and I'm pretty confident these are just three of many incidents in the town.

The three events are obviously troubling, and these calls may only be a small percentage of what's happening in the community.

I've learned in some cases that between five and nine call takers are on shift for the entire province for BC ambulance.

So to give you perspective, if there are one or two call takers in Victoria and one or two in Vancouver or Cologne or if if one of those call centers gets overwhelmed, those they're unable to take the calls, and then our residents are put on hold.

I think for all residents and all British Columbians.

We're finding that the ambulances wait times in the field for us is not excessive.

We respond to medical emergencies when we're called by the British Columbia Ambulance Service, but we can only respond once we receive that information from British Columbia Ambulance.

If the calls aren't being answered, then we can't respond.

We've had cases where people have said, Well, can we call the fire department for a medical emergency?

The problem there is what'll happen is the fire dispatch will transfer the call or they will be put on hold with BC ambulance while they wait in the queue.

So significant problem.

I can't imagine calling 911 for a for a medical emergency and nobody picks up the phone.

So I'm not sure what to do.

And I wanted to bring this to your attention because it's it's a critical issue.

And I I've been reading about it in the papers, and now we're starting to see it in VRL and we're starting to hear about it.

And as a course of action, I'm almost inclined to start asking people when we attend medical aid calls, you know, were they put on hold?

What was their wait time?

So we can try and generate some sort of picture about what's happening in our community.

If it's happening in this community and we're a small community, then I can't imagine what it's like in other parts of British Columbia where it's extremely busy.

We held that remotely over at the Canadian Tire.

It was a drive-thru event where people drove through in their cars and members of the association tossed or placed or gave candy as they went through.

We're hoping by next year, of course, that we'll be back to our regular uh Halloween events.

And uh that, of course, then will bring in uh the other events, uh, any other ceremonies, open houses, uh, appreciation banquets, preschools.

So hoping by 2022, we're able to reopen some of our functions and uh get back to some form of normal.

Paul, can I just ask a question?

Yes, council Halloween.

Um, there was an outrageous amount of of fireworks on on this Halloween out right across the region, I understand, but you know I only heard what was going on here.

Was was that your experience too?

On were was there an increased uptake in people taking the course?

It's my I'll give you the exact numbers.

My understanding that the course numbers were on par with with previous years.

Okay.

Um I don't know the number of permits that were issued in View Royal.

It wasn't an excessive amount of permits, but permits are only issued to people who are responsible of course we've seen a decrease in the sales in the area, but of course, if you drive up to Coombs or past the Malahat or even Costco Online, you can you can obtain fireworks.

I'm pleased that there were no there were no outlets selling uh in View Royal or on Songhees or Squamel.

Uh but there were just there were some displays.

But of course, uh if I check the records, I'm pretty confident we didn't receive any complaints.

Um, but I don't know if that's just from people not complaining just because it's Halloween and they're exhausted and they're not going to complain.

But I would I would sort of check with the RCMP and see how their evening was in View Royal.

Yeah, okay.

Thank you.

I'm just curious on the buying them.

If you if you drive to Duncan, I mean, do can you go to a Walmart there and buy them, or are they outlawed in that sort of uh outside of the CRD, you can buy them.

So you can go up to Bamberton, as close as Bamberton.

And I know on the peninsula there are some opportunities on the peninsula to purchase that haven't been regulated.

Um so it is a little bit a little bit frustrating.

I saw an article in the paper today about Vancouver that banned, I believe they banned the discharge in Vancouver, and they found their instances of fires and emergency calls were were cut dramatically in Vancouver, and that was in the paper today.

It did seem like, I mean, who knows because it's all anecdotal, but it did seem like there was a lot going on in the community.

And certainly on social media, there was a lot of people complaining about you know pets and all that sort of thing.

Yeah.

So yeah.

The um couple other ones that aren't on the report that I just that came to me this afternoon.

Um there there is an issue in View Royal with um with motor homes parked on View Royal Streets and abandoned motor homes on View Royal Streets.

The challenge we're having is um the the removal of a an abandoned RV is one thing.

However the companies that tow them away um have no avenue to recoup the costs for the tow the storage and then of course the disposal the disposal of an RV is anywhere between three to nine thousand dollars depending on the state of the RV and those costs are directly borne by the municipality, unfortunately.

So if somebody abandons an RV at the Thetis Overflow, and we call up West Retoy and have a towed, we have to pay the bill, we have to pay the storage, and then we have to pay for the uh disposal and remediation of the RV.

And again, that can be anywhere from three to nine thousand dollars.

So I've asked our bylaw officer to start looking around the region to see what other municipalities are doing.

Um I know when an RV is abandoned on MOTI MOTI LAN, there is some partial reimbursement for tow companies.

However, if it's a local street right now, we're we're on the hook for it.

Um so I'm asking uh Jim to look into what other other regions are doing, and I'm I'm seeing this more as a this is very similar to uh derelict vessels and abandoned vessels.

You know, people are just leaving these RVs on the side of the road and they're gone.

There must be a mechanism, obviously, there's a VIN and a registration, and these vehicles can be traced back to people and that is uh that's probably an initiative at a council or UBCM level to to try and engage other municipalities in how we can recoup some of these costs because they they will become excessive for a for a community our size counselor chief uh as part of my responsibilities as the vice chair of the West Shore Parks and Rec Center we've also uh had some issues with RVs that have been parking there for extended periods of time uh and kind of to your point, they they kind of get moved along throughout the CRD and and park where they can for as long as they can.

Uh some of the problems that we've been experiencing, I'm not sure if you have uh West Shore is uh dumping of uh waste, uh human human waste garbage.

Um they spliced uh into a um into a lamppost to get power.

So there are some uh there are some issues that go along with it.

Of course, we're also sensitive to uh the affordable housing crisis, so there's uh many things at play uh involving uh unhoused individuals.

Absolutely.

Yeah, it's it's a del it's a delicate issue.

Yeah, absolutely.

Just following up on that, there's there's one motor home in particular that's been living on or around the CRD parking lot on Atkins Road for many months.

It's now in the Thetis Overflow off of uh Atkinson Six Mile.

It's there now.

It's move.

Oh, is it?

Oh so our our bylaw officer was dealing with it for the past couple of days.

Um uh tickets, notice of tow.

Um, he came to me today and said, Okay, this is a a frequent flyer, he's he just moves from spot to spot.

He hasn't made contact with them.

However, he says if I tow the vehicle, then I pay the tow, we pay the storage, and then if he doesn't claim it, then we're on the hook to dispose of it.

So I'm reluctant to this point to to actually tow the vehicle until we can figure out some strategy.

Um you've got lots of room under the fire.

We could build a small compound at the back.

Yeah.

He could stay there.

Why don't you wait until he goes through I don't know, Langford?

We'll have it towed to another jurisdiction, perhaps.

Yes, and then it'll be towed back.

So it's uh it's I think it's I think it's a problem that every municipality is experiencing right now.

Yeah.

Um I understand there's there's Instagram and website pages showing the glamours of hashtag van life and living in RVs and moving about.

So it's a it's a bigger problem than than just View Royal.

Um just wanted to mention a fire we had on the weekend uh at the area across from Adams Storage on the MOTI Land, the Burnside Trans Canada Triangle.

There was a there's two large structures in there, uh made out of pallets and roofing and quite established camps.

Um they caught on fire, I believe it was Monday, and there was a significant fire.

Um, this is the second large fire we've had on that property.

Our bio officers contacted MOTI, that's their property, and I put it in a request to have that property cleared out.

Uh, not dissimilar to the Pat Bay uh Mackenzie after the fire they had there on that property.

The area we estimate is probably 15 to 20 dump truck loads of garbage in that site, and it's all very well hidden by the brush and the trees, and it's buried.

So it's going to be an extensive cleanup to remove that, and then the MOTI, it would be my expectation, the MOTI go in, do some clearing to eliminate the opportunity for housing in there where you can't see them.

We need to clean up that spot.

We receive probably three to five complaints a week about that particular area.

So on that one, if I I can, because it ties in with the next um agenda item.

So while you're speaking, I'm actually typing an email to Janelle Irwin from MOT, and she's the supervisor for the Southern Island.

Um, and she she tells me, um, and I'll just read it out.

Um, I I wrote to her that it's for the rest of council.

I I wrote to her about the long-standing encampment, which Paul is talking about, but also what is happening now in the land directly behind Adam's storage.

Correct.

Is there's new encampments and there's also a bicycle track of some sort being built in there.

Um and it's in close proximity to Craigflower Creek.

Correct.

So John was there.

Um it's a good thing he managed to get out alive and took took photos and um and provided them.

So Jenna, I wrote to Janelle.

Janelle was the the the staff member for Ministry of Highways who actually found a solution to the rabbits years ago.

And she and I established quite a rapport during that time.

So I reached out to her.

So she has answered um this afternoon saying, hello, Mayor Screech, further in my email below.

I've been in touch with my team and I've been advised that our roads area manager, Sean Haley, will be meeting with URL staff tomorrow, deter the site and discuss the issue in more detail.

Um with any encampments within provincial right-of-way, our ministry is always very thoughtful about the approach and ensures we involve BC housing, um, etc.

etc.

etc.

So John Rosenberg's nodding his head, so you know that meeting is set up.

Yes, your worship Kevin has a meeting with uh Sean, who's who's the one that usually deals with the two are kind of figures with regards to the two relationship.

So yeah, and he has a meeting tomorrow morning.

So, how do we ensure that?

I mean, they because we've written to the ministry at least twice about these encampments, and basically we've got letters saying um they involve homeless people, we can't take any action and we don't choose to, but and that's kind of what this email is saying now a thoughtful approach.

I mean, so how do we make sure that Paul's concerns about life safety issues also get communicated strongly to the Ministry of Transportation?

You know, I think there's actually the two different veins here, right?

One is the encampment issue, but I think the bike park issue, if you look at what's being built in this, I haven't seen the site myself, but just looking at the pictures, that is something that's uh locally done here.

That's something that I think is being done on an ongoing basis.

The work that's been done there is Kevin figures it it looks like it's just based on some of the layering of the work and that that's not like two, three months, that's like a couple of years' worth of work.

And they're just slowly a group coming in and just methodically working at it.

And he doesn't even think there's a lot of signs of actual activity of biking going on, like they're trying to complete it and then say, now that we're done, let us keep it, kind of thing.

I think it's really different than the encampment issue.

Um, I think it's two different peoples.

I I think that the bike issue is probably some kind of collective organized group that's trying to put together an informal bike park of some kind.

Um, so I I I can't really speak to the bylaw enforcement issue of it, but when Kevin and Sean go out tomorrow, I'll probably be able to give you a little more information on our thoughts and that.

So can we connect Sean with the chief or Sean Sean is Jim's contact.

We're we work with Sean.

Okay.

We've worked with Sean on several other projects and homeless encampments at Helmcken, Burnside, uh Thetis.

So Sean is is well aware.

Jim was in contact with Sean yesterday, and I believe they spoke today.

So he probably will be involved in that meeting.

The the challenge, you're absolutely right.

Um there is a there is a definite cost attached to uh our response to that area.

Um when you go into that area, there's 20 to 30 propane tanks.

Um there are sanitary conditions in there, life safety issues.

Um I too am sympathetic.

One of the long-term residents in there, we've known for several years.

Um, we've been contemplating what do we do with this individual.

Um he wasn't involved in this fire, however, he is going to be a direct um, he's going to receive direct, you know, disadvantage from this fire because he's in proximity to the fire.

So that that has come into consideration.

Um, you know, where does this individual go once he leaves this area?

And and we're hoping to explore those options with BC housing.

And we are sympathetic to that, absolutely.

But the the the life safety issue now is is significant.

These fires are these these are significant fires, and uh it's just a matter of time before a resident gets really seriously injured or or killed.

And the the amount of garbage in there and and bikes and stolen materials is unbelievable.

It's it's quite a quite a large pile.

Well, and there's also been not to belabor it, but I really do think it's important that highways twig into the fact that we have a problem because I mean I've certainly, and I know you have to take them with a grain of salt, but I've I've certainly had reports from residents of you know, just for example of I'm seeing someone walking up the street with a lawnmower and pushing it into that camp.

So I mean, I think it's creating all sorts of difficulties from our for our community on all sorts of levels, and I I really think the province needs to come to the table and help us solve it.

Well I appreciate your connection with with Janelle and and we will be looking to you for that connection.

It's important it's this needs to be pushed up to a higher higher level.

And yeah and uh Sean's been very helpful.

But any support for Sean and Bila would be appreciated as well.

I think Director Rosenberg is sorry.