WL Council Meeting - September 8th

Present: Mayor Cook with Councillors Rathor, Montoya, Zacharias and Bourdon

Absent: Councillors Walters and Barr

Staff Present: CAO A. DeFeo, S. Moxey (Director of Corporate Services), G. Goodall (GM of Planning and Operations)

Delegations:

1) Council gave permission for the "Take Back the Night" walk on Friday, September 25th, 2009 at 5pm starting at Boitanio Park

2) 3 "Community Spirit" Awards were presented to:

i) WL Stampede Parade Committee
ii) WL Stampede Queens Committee
iii) WL Central Business Improvement Area Association

Business:

1) Council agreed to award a contract to McTar Division of Lafarge Canada for the provision of Road Salt to the City for the winter months

2) Council will be sending a letter to UBCM (Union of BC Muncipalities) advising of Council's position from 2006 on Industrial Taxation which is that the Province should not restrict how a Council may tax Class 4 and 5 Property Owners (Light and Heavy Industry)

3) Council agreed to install 2 Pedestrian crosswalks - 1 at Barlow Avenue/Fairview Drive and 1 at Rife Road and Country Club Blvd. Also the speed limit at the City-owned park land will be decreasing from 50km/h to 30km/h. It is hoped that these measures will reduce the potential for an accident between vehicles and pedestrians (adults + kids)

4) Staff were directed to work with BC Housing to prepare an information flyer regarding the Rental Subsidy Program for distribution through the school system to ensure families are aware of this important resource.

5) Council authorized the Mayor & Corporate Officer to sign the Northern Development Initiative Accountability Agreement for the Trails Feasibility Study grant from NDI (North Development Initiative Trust)

6) Council gave 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Reading to Bylaw #2101, 2009 which deals with Permissive Property Tax Exemptions in the City for 2010. Also, Staff were asked to bring forward a policy that will set criteria on how/when permissive property tax exemptions are issued

7) Mayor Cook, Councillor Bourdon and a City Staff member will be travelling to Guangdong Province, China to complete a BC/Asia Twinning Mission in November of 2009. Council approved a budget of $15,000 for this Mission. Staff were requested to bring forward a recommendation to allocate the remaining $7,000 for local twinning initiatives that would comply with the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding with the Province on Local Government Twinning Relationships

8) Council gave permission to the local MADD (Mothers' Against Drunk Driving) chapter to establish a memorial garden at Boitanio Park on the corner on 8th Ave + Borland Street

9) Council will proclaim the week of November 15 to 22, 2009 as "Restorative Justice Week" in the City of Williams Lake

10) Late Item - Council agreed to appropriate an additional $40,000 from the General Surplus Account to complete additional works for the Spirit Square project. These works including replacing the stairs from Haines Office World to the Spirit Square site itself (I'll be blogging on this item later)

11) It was announced that Alberto DeFeo will be leaving the City in October for a new job with the District of Lake Country as its' new CAO (Chief Administrative Officer) which Mr. DeFeo will start in November of 2009

Meeting adjourned at 8:30pm