HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil this Week 2014-04-07.pdfJohn Bastaja, Director of Corporate
Support, presented Council with a ver-
bal summary of his report outlining the
status of work to develop a District
owned Fibre Optic Network in Maple
Ridge using infrastructure that is cur-
rently in place and leveraging future
work.
Maple Ridge currently has a fibre net-
work that connects Municipal Hall with
Fire Hall No. 1 and the Operations Cen-
tre. This capacity provides backup in
the event of a natural disaster and of-
fers business efficiencies for our com-
munity. The concept is to expand the
network to give local businesses the
ability to access services using this ca-
pacity. The report outlined a process
whereby Maple Ridge will seek interest
from the private sector to partner in this
enterprise.
A consultant, Mr. Roel Coertt, Director
of Operations for QNet, will be working
with us to evaluate proposals that will
come back before Council.
Mr. Coertt has been working with a
number of communities over the last
decade assisting them to develop ‘Fibre
Strategies’ to create capacity and es-
tablish programs that enhance econom-
ic development in their cities.
Council thanked Mr. Bastaja and Mr.
Coertt for their presentation and moved
that the report be received as infor-
mation.
Fibre Optic Network
Council This Week
Maple Ridge
11995 Haney Place
Maple Ridge, BC
V2X 6A9 Canada
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Fax: 604-467-7329
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Enquiries Email
April 7, 2014
Inside This Issue:
Fibre Optic
Network
Financial Update:
Reserve Funds
Noxious Weed
Strategy Update
Proposed Sign
Bylaw No. 7008-
2013
Council Review
of Advisory
Committees and
Commissions
Please Note!
Council This Week is an informal sum-
mary of the reports and discussion of
Council’s work at Workshop. This docu-
ment will provide links to all reports and
presentations that were provided to
Council as part of their deliberations.
The comments are not the official minutes
of the meeting. These notes are intended
to capture the essence of the discussion
so that citizens can keep in touch with the
work of Council in this public meeting.
This version of Council This Week has
been modified to a more accessible ver-
sion that better meets the needs of our
citizens with visual impairments.
Financial Update: Reserve Funds
Catherine Nolan, Manager of Accounting, made a presentation to Council highlighting some of the
key information from her report that was part of the agenda.
Ms. Nolan noted that the comparisons were based on the December 31, 2012 Reserve Fund bal-
ances and the December 31, 2013 balances. She was quick to point out that while the report com-
pared numbers from that one year period, the ‘untold story’ was the way that funds may have been
used in the categories within the fiscal year to fund projects and work that was part of the financial
plan.
She explained that the overall concept of Reserve Funds is to build financial capacity for the District
to fund long term projects, and that some funds are used to ensure that citizens are protected from
extraordinary expenditures in any one year. An example of that is the Snow Removal Reserve Fund
that helps protect us from a bad winter, whereby the funds in the annual operation budget were ex-
ceeded and the resulting shortfall might impact other areas of service delivery. In a bad winter, the
funds from this Reserve can be drawn on to protect citizens from a ‘one -time’ budget hit.
Ms. Nolan reviewed each of the funds and fielded a number of questions from Council. After dis-
cussing the report, Council decided that the Finance and Audit Committee will look at the status of
the funds and make recommendations if there are any changes that are required. In addition, as
various departments come before Council there will be a discussion relating to any reserve funds
that are part of their budget and financial plan.
Council thanked Ms. Nolan for her presentation.
Council This Week Page 2
Noxious Weed Strategy Update
Geoff Mallory, Manager of Parks & Open Space was joined by Laurie Kremsater, from Madrone En-
vironmental Services, to provide Council with a presentation outlining some of the key information
from the draft Noxious Weed Control Strategy.
Ms. Kremsater reviewed the BC Noxious Weeds list and discussed how the strategy would be prior-
itizing the work to deal with the most serious plants on the list. The overall strategy involves identifi-
cation of where these weeds are located, implementation of a control program, education that will
result in prevention of re-infestation or new infestations and finally restoration of properties to make
them more resistant to noxious weeds.
She noted that the strategy for the containment and eradication of some noxious weeds will be eas-
ier than others, and for the more aggressive weeds that the coordination of all agencies and public
land owners will be critical. ...cont’d
Proposed Sign Bylaw No. 7008-2013
Liz Holitzki, Director of Licences, Permits & Bylaws, made a presentation designed to get feedback
from Council on issues relating to the draft update to the Sign Bylaw that is under development.
The report outlines some of the issues that need to be more tightly defined before the Bylaw is
presented to the public for comment.
Council provided Ms. Holitzki with feedback relating to election signage, sandwich board signs,
temporary signage and banners as well as other details of the proposed update.
Council thanked Ms. Holitzki for the report and she indicated she will incorporate their comments
and suggestions into the final draft of the Bylaw.
Page 3 Council This Week
Council Review of Advisory Committees and Commissions
Ceri Marlo, Manager of Legislative Services and Emergency Program, presented a report to Coun-
cil recommending that an Advisory Task Force consisting of Mayor Daykin, Councillor Dueck and
Councillor Hogarth review the Advisory Committees of Council and make recommendations to
Council on each committee.
The report notes that this work is coming forward from a discussion that was part of the 2013 Busi-
ness Planning discussions. The scope of the project is outlined in the report. The policy relating to
Committees of Council was presented as an attachment to the report.
Council passed the recommendation.
Noxious Weed Strategy Update ...cont’d
For a species like Knotweed, she spoke about the importance of a multi -year approach to deal with
the outside edge of the infestations and then work inwards so that this weed is contained and eradi-
cated in a very systematic way.
In the coming weeks additional information will be posted on the Maple Ridge website to help area
residents locate and identify invasive plants. In addition, the mapping in 2013 of invasive plants will
help more fully determine the scope and approach to the control program.
Council thanked Mr. Mallory and Ms. Kremsater for the presentation.