Loading...
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 Tel: 604-463-5221 Fax: 604-467-7329 Website 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.