CAO UPDATE

CAO UPDATE

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT the report dated December 9, 2021 from the Chief Administrative Officer titled “CAO Update” be received for information.

PURPOSE OF REPORT:

To provide Council with information from the Office of the CAO regarding material events and happenings at Town Hall.

BACKGROUND:

An Administrator’s report for the Committee of the Whole meeting to apprise Council of the highlights of significant activities of the Town over the past month.

INFORMATION:

Administration:

Administration staff have been busy at the front counter processing secondary suite renewals, sewer utility payments, and dog tag renewals. Business licence renewals have recently been mailed out, adding to the activity at the front counter.

A public open house was held on November 15 to gain feedback on the topic of a potential increase to council size. Seven people attended the event that evening though numbers may have been impacted in part by inclement weather and power outages in the region. To provide more opportunities for public feedback, a second open house is scheduled for January 17, 2022. An unaddressed mailout will take place to improve public awareness.

The Town’s annual United Way campaign finished in November with staff surpassing our goal by raising an amazing grand total of $8,477.50 in donations for 2022!

Two fireproof filing cabinets have been purchased to safely house permanent and vital records. The permanent storage room is being reconfigured to accommodate the cabinets and provide more storage space for these important records.

Work on the digitization project is proceeding. A successful test project has been completed offline and more material is being identified and prepared for posting online in the near future.

A Remembrance Day display was highlighted in the Town Hall foyer. This display included some family items loaned by Archives volunteers.

Finance:

Finance staff issued 2021 sewer utility invoices in October and received payments throughout November as the due date for payments was November 30. As indicated in the chart below, approximately 73% of payments to the end of November were made online. This is an increase from 72% in 2020 and 70% in 2019.

UTILITY BILLING CUSTOMER PAYMENT METHODS

Staff finalized preparation for the 2021 interim audit (to be done virtually) which is scheduled for the week of December 6 and will continue focusing on year-end accounting procedures. In preparation for the February 2022 budget workshops, Finance staff also continue working with each department toward development of the 2022-2026 Financial Plan.

Development Services:

Development Services continues to be busy with policy projects including the Official Community Plan update, Community Climate Action Strategy, and the Parks Signage Strategy. Reports pertaining to these projects are on this agenda. The Department is seeing rezoning and subdivision proposals, a small sample of which are outlined below.

The Approving Officer has issued a preliminary statement of conditions for a subdivision to create one additional detached residential lot at 148 Atkins Road. A modular dwelling on the site has been removed and the septic field is set to be decommissioned shortly. A certified arborist has provided instructions on how to protect trees on adjacent land (including the Galloping Goose Regional Trail) from construction impacts.

Ten townhouse units, the first phase of the “West Park at Thetis Lake” development, adjacent to Thetis Lake Regional Park, have been completed. The applicant's plan is to construct the overall 178-unit apartment/townhouse development over several years. A development permit application for a forty-eight unit apartment building is in the submission process.

The Director of Development Services was once again the Master of Ceremonies for the Planning Institute of BC celebration of World Town Planning Day in Vancouver on November 6th. In addition, she was an invited speaker at the PLACE21 virtual conference on November 5th, speaking on the topic of ethics and professionalism.

Engineering:

During the inclement weather, the Engineering and Parks Departments received over 120 individual requests for service, just shy of double the average volume of monthly calls during 2021. Of these requests, forty-eight were related to November storms.

Severe rain events in November put drain and sewer systems to the test. Fortunately, View Royal emerged with no sewer overflows and with minimal drain flooding.

The above images show the effectiveness of the new drain swale at Beaumont Park and drain ravine next to Helmcken Bay Pump Station during the heavy rains.

Above are pictures of Marler Drive and Highland Road which – due to their proximity to Craigflower Creek at its banks overflowed – were the areas most impacted by flooding. Both roads were closed and traffic rerouted until water receded.

Festive lights, banners, and baskets have been installed throughout View Royal. New this year is the Sequoia tree at the Watkiss Way roundabout which has been decorated for the holiday season.

A new water fountain has been installed at View Royal Park next to the playground. The fountain features a conventional drinking bubbler, water bottle filling station and a dog bowl. This installation location will allow all users to access the amenity.

A sand bagging station was set up at Helmcken Centennial Park to support residents with flooding issues experienced during the November extreme weather events. The station was well used and appreciated.

The Fire Department has been in discussions regarding the creation of damage assessment routes highlighting “areas of interest” to target during future weather events and natural disasters. Currently one route has been determined and more will be decided in the new year.