Creston Town Council has voted to continue working with WildSafeBC, a conservation foundation, that will again use a community coordinator to help reduce human-wildlife conflict.
The decision was made at Tuesday’s regular Council meeting. WildSafeBC and former coordinator Trish Drinkle had each made presentations recently, with Drinkle indicating she would like to take on the work independently.
With no firm proposal or business plan from Drinkle, however, Council chose to continue funding the WildSafeBC program with a $4,000 budgeted discretionary grant for 2019.
The existing program provides tools to residents and visitors to reduce human-wildlife conflict; promotes compliance with wildlife attractant bylaws; develops partnerships with other organizations to achieve mutual goals; and continues to develop and promote community initiatives such as school and group presentations and education workshops (including electric fencing demonstrations and bear safety training). The end result is fewer bears, cougars, deer, coyotes and other wildlife in the community, increased public safety, decreased potential for human-wildlife conflict and a subsequent reduction in the number of bears destroyed, according to the WildSafeBC proposal.
In other Council news:
• Town Council has approved an agreement in principle to work with the RDCK to provide curbside collection of organics by 2021-2022. The plan is contingent on the RDCK getting a Federal/Provincial Organics Infrastructure Program funding to cover up to two-thirds of the cost of constructing a compost facility.
If current planning plays out as expected, Director of Engineering Colin Farynowski said that Creston residents will see curbside pickup of organics, recyclables and waste within three years.
“There is still a lot of work to be done,” he said.
• Council passed first and second readings of a new Clean Air Bylaw that would prohibit the smoking of both tobacco and cannabis in the majority of public spaces within Creston, and provide penalties for contraventions.
CAO Mike Moore told Council that, like most bylaws, the Clean Air Bylaw would be primarily complaint driven, “Although if our enforcement officer is out and sees infractions, she takes action. Our focus is more about compliance than punishment.”
After some discussion, a fine of $100 is being proposed. The intent of the bylaw is twofold: to reduce exposure of non-smokers to second hand smoke, and to reduce the negative role modeling of smokers to youth.
• Couns. Arnold De Boon was named as the Council representative to the Trails for Creston Valley Society.
• Toyota said that the Town has an agreement in principal to purchase the Cook Street property prioritized as the location for a new fire hall. Toyota and CAO Mike Moore travelled to Toronto earlier this year to begin discussions with Choice Properties REIT, which was spun off from Loblaw Companies Ltd. last year.
“The price should be considerably less that we have budgeted for,” Toyota said. “The agreement is now in the hands of our legal teams and the purchase should be finalized next month.”
• Toyota announced the appointment of Mike Moore as the Town’s permanent Chief Administrative Officer, adding that the choice was made by a unanimous vote of Town Council.
• Following the regular meeting, Council adjourned and then moved into a Committee of the Whole meeting to hear a presentation from Steffan Klassen, Director of Finance & Corporate Services. He presented a summary of the budgeting process to date, which includes a five-year plan.
Council appears set to approve a 2019 budget that includes a municipal tax increase of just under five per cent, more than half of which will increase the fire hall and general reserves for construction and infrastructure improvements in the coming years.