Town Council June 26, 2017 regular meeting

Significant updates from the June 26 regular meeting of Peace River Town Council are below. You can view the agenda and all Council items here.

Debenture Bylaw

Peace River Council gave Bylaw 2002 first reading. The bylaw would allow the Town to borrow up to $9.45 million to help pay for the construction of the Peace Regional Recreation Centre. The Town hopes to find alternate funding sources as the project progresses, however, this will ensure that the construction is completed. Full details on the borrowing bylaw are available here.

 

Council Grants, Donations & Funding

Attracting and retaining quality events and activities for the Town of Peace River is a key mechanism in promoting tourism, economic and community development Council’s policy on Grants Donations and Funding aims to help achieve that.

This year council has budgeted $50,000 for these types of groups and programs. The plan is to disperse the money in equal quarterly installments where possible.

These events and activities have a positive effect on the quality of life of the community as a whole. Council wishes to ensure that budgeted funds are allocated to events and activities that will enhance the Town’s reputation not only as a tourist destination but also as an attractive place to reside and to conduct business. At the same time, Council recognizes its duty and responsibility to the ratepayers of Peace River to ensure its funds are used in the most productive and meaningful manner.

This meeting council weighed requests from each group. Below is a list of each group, whether their application was approved and so for much. To view the complete application please click on the name of the group.

Click for more info and instructions on how to apply for the Council Grants, Donations & Funding Program.

Peace Country Sports Club – $0, did not meet the criteria
Peace River Air Cadet Squadron 124 – $3000
Peace Regional Business Action Group – $3500
Peace Regional Atom Football League $1000
TriRiver Triathlon – $2000
Miserable Miles Committee – $3000
Peace Playland – $0, did not meet the criteria
Underground Music Society – $2500

Community Satisfaction Meetings

In order to improve the way the Town of Peace River plans strategically for the future, a pilot project was initiated to solicit feedback from the community.

Comprised of two components, a survey and physical meetings, the Community Engagement Survey sought to gain additional insight into community priorities. The survey was developed with the goal of producing a formalized and repeatable process that would allow the Town of Peace River to access community feedback on an annual basis. Part of the process is informed by the 2014 Inspection Report conducted by George Cuff and Associates. While the Town of Peace River has already satisfied the recommendations of that report, Council remains mindful of the benefits of ongoing public dialogue.

The community consultation process took place during the spring of 2017 and afforded numerous opportunities for residents to offer input. These included:

  1. Informational displays and a short feedback survey, conducted at the Trade Show in April 2017.
  2. A survey, which was accessible online for May and June. The same survey was direct mailed to over 2500 utility customers as well as made available for pickup at town facilities. Four community meetings were held between May 24 and June 14, 2017. These meetings complemented the survey and provided an opportunity for face to face conversations between residents, staff and Councillors on neighbourhood-specific concerns.

A “shotgun” approach to advertising was used to draw as much attention to the survey and meetings. This included traditional media (print and radio ads and news coverage), digital media (social media, our website and online banner ads), as well as direct mail. This was done to ensure many residents as possible were made aware of the opportunity to contribute.

View the report and survey responses here.

Offer of Reward

An award of $1000 has been authorized by the Town of Peace River Council to encourage anyone with information leading to the arrest and conviction of a vandal who has graffitied several locations in Town over the last few weeks including Rotary House. For more information click or tap on the link below.

Graffitti

Audio

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Live Council updates

Council updates are posted live during meeting to Twitter with the hashtag #YPEcouncil