Much has happened at City Hall and what follows are highlights of interest. Minister Coralee Oakes has informed that the City will receive a $50,000 grant to help with land use and planning related work resulting from the implementation of the West Fernie restructure project.

Six bids were submitted for the 2015 Sewage Treatment Plant Upgrade Project and it has been awarded to Cummings Construction Ltd for the tender price of $1,269,000.00 excluding GST. The sewage upgrade began in 2014 with construction of a building to hold the UV Treatment and controls, a building for Alum injections and controls, various piping alterations and a new outfall. These upgrades are recommended in the City’s Liquid Waste Management Plan and will provide the City with a higher level of treatment for times when discharge directly to the Elk River is necessary.

The lack of snow on Griz Days necessitated a change of plans that required an extra $5,500 to the Chamber from the Province’s Resort Municipality Initiative for services. Congratulations to the organizer for a very successful event that drew thousands despite lack of snow.

The Fernie Rod and Gun Club, the oldest one in the Province, is hosting an upcoming BC Wildlife Federation Convention and support has been provided to them through RMI funds for cost of City facilities.

Interior Health has informed that there is a phone line for voicing complaints, 1-844-770-5524.

The portable stage purchased with RMI funding a year ago has been requested to rent so a rental fee schedule has been established, call City Hall for pricing information.

An invitation was extended to Fernie by Calgary’s Mayor Naheed Nenshi, regarding the annual Canada Mayor’s poetry Challenge, Council accepted and is seeking interest from school aged youth and adults to come and read an original poem of their writing before a regular council meeting during the month of April.

A bylaw was initiated by the City specific C-HWY Zoned Parcels on the west side of Highway NO. 3 and adopted to allow houses used as residents to remain residents as previously if such a house was destroyed it could not be rebuilt as a residential unit.

Council passed a motion to have staff look into a program that would increase awareness of Local Government activities by inviting youth to participate regularly in Council meetings. A motion was also passed to assist Wapiti Music Festival organizers with street closures, use of Annex Park, barricades etc. on August 6,7and 8.

Development Cost Charge Bylaw No. 2276 was adopted that included a complete review of the DCC methodology that took a year to complete. Included are broad policy considerations, development projections, Project costs, timing of proposed capital projects, addition of new projects to the program, where necessary, and deletion from the DCC program of those capital projects that have been completed or are no longer required.

SSgt. Craig and Sgt. Thien attended a meeting to provide quarterly reports on the detachment and to discuss Council’s priorities for 2015. It was stated that police patrols for the downtown core had increased and disturbance issues have seen a decrease. Council stated that priorities for 2015 were Downtown Core patrols and speed zones, it was indicated that the Elk valley is a safe place to live with a very low crime rate.

IH representatives presented interesting stats showing that Fernie’s population count has ages 50-54 as the highest number of residents followed equally by the 25-39 and 35-39 age group and the 55-59 age following. Chronic disease rates are lower than BC numbers with Depression at the top at 27% and Fernie at 17 %. Elk Valley Hospital services include emergency, general medicine and surgery, lab outpatient, radiology, colon screening, ECG, maternity and postpartum care, immunization, palliative, mental health and substance use, psychiatry, telehealth, adult day services, caregiver support, case management, diabetes education, home support, rehab and more. There is also a “community health facilitator to bring health resources, assistance and expertise to municipal planning, policies and programming that can positively impact health”.

A request was brought forward to inquire if McDonalds Restaurant could extend hours of operation. The owner attended a meeting to explain with the labour shortage and lack of population this is difficult however he would consider implementing being open longer this summer. A councillor said he was questioned by residents as to why only this one venue was asked to extend hours of operation. The answer is that this was a request brought forward by one councillor, a motion was made in support of this request and passed, several other restaurants have since been sent requests for consideration of extended hours of operation.

Last year it was suggested by the Ministry that the Resort Municipality Initiative might not be continued after 2015. This program is intended to help small, tourism based municipalities to support and increase visitation. With a smaller tax base due to size it was noted that the demand of tourism activity can strain resources to provide infrastructure and event programming. RMI funding therefore allows improvement of the tourism based infrastructure and amenities to attract more visitors and encourage longer stays. At the beginning this was a provincial tax transfer but was changed to one funded by general revenues so that it has basically become a grant for the 14 communities with the resort designation. Extensive reporting several times a year replaced the annual reporting and the total amount has now been capped at $10.5 million with an extension to 2017. The formula is determined each year by using the 2% Municipal and Regional District Tax collected in the previous year. However if the total of all 14 RMI communities exceeds $10.5 million the amount will be reduced by an equal percentage to ensure the total value remains within the capped amount. There was a collected sign of relief from the communities however there is still the question as to whether this program will continue despite the Ministry acknowledging that this program works successfully and has been a tremendous help to the resort communities.