Hello everyone:

What an interesting week it has been.  It was great to see so many people out for the all-candidates’ forum on Thursday night!  I hope that we have a high voter turnout tomorrow.

VOTE TOMORROW

For the provincial election tomorrow, you can vote at the high school between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m.  For questions about voting:  www.elections.ab.ca

HAVE YOUR SAY ON STREET LIGHTING

We’re working on a new street lighting policy.  You can find a link to the Town’s new GIS-based commenting tool here:
 http://www.banff.ca/business/planning-development/Street_Lighting_Policy.htm

Having said that, I just gave it a try, floundered around a bit, and gave up.  To me, it doesn’t seem very user-friendly -- I’ll ask about this tomorrow at council.  But, in the meantime, have a go – you may be much better at this than I am!

COUNCIL MEETING TOMORROW

Council meets tomorrow at 2 p.m. and – as always – you are very welcome to attend.   Every council agenda includes two opportunities for people in the gallery to ask questions about items on that day’s agenda.  You can see the whole agenda package for tomorrow at this link (it’s 9.8 MB, so will take awhile to open):

http://www.banff.ca/Assets/PDFs/Town+Hall+PDF/Council+Agendas+PDF/2012+Agendas+PDF/Council-Agenda-120423.pdf

Here are some of the highlights ...

2011 Financial Results

You can see the town’s year-end actuals for 2011, starting on page 24 of the package, and the town’s audited financial statements starting on page 45.  Yes, I know that most of you will avoid these like the plague, but this is important information.  For example:

• The town was almost exactly on budget in 2011 – there was an $8K surplus.  There is a lot of background noise behind this overall figure – you can see notes for these variations on each page of the report.  (For example, we had to transfer $255K from our budget stabilization reserve to cover the cut in provincial funding for our RCMP, the hiring squeeze saved $182K more than Council had asked for in the budget, etc. etc.) 
• The town’s debt – incurred through major projects such as downtown reconstruction (a $22 million project) and the recreation centre (a $31 million project) -- is being paid off quite rapidly.  At the end of 2010, the town had tax/grant-supported debt of $17.5 million.  At the end of 2011, the town had tax/grant supported debt of $14.7 million.  The figure at the end of 2012 is budgeted to be lower yet again.  It’s good to see these figures in audited financial statements.

So, if you want the straight goods on where the town is at financially, please peruse these reports.  If you’re interested in historical comparisons, you can see the town’s audited financial statements going back several years on the website.

Farmers’ Market

Starting on page 104 of the package, you’ll find a report on the plans for the Farmers’ Market for this year.  The market will operate on Wednesdays from June 13 to September 12, and I know we’re all looking forward to it.  Council is being asked to allow additional event signage on market days – I am generally OK with what is being asked for, with the exception of proposed signage on the high school field fence.

Legacy Trail bridge options

Parks is extending the Legacy Trail at the Norquay entrance to town, so that cyclists can stay on a bike path from town out to Vermilion, rather than having to go on the road and make that somewhat hazardous left turn.  To tie into this, a ped/cycle bridge is proposed across 40-mile Creek.  The report (starting on page 150 of the package) shows options using re-used Glulam beams, or concrete, or fibreglass, or steel, or new Glulam.  We’ll be exploring the pros and cons in the meeting.  At present, I’m inclined to support re-using the Glulam beams in this new application.

Tennis court re-build

As I’m sure you all know, the tennis courts at the Rec Grounds are cracked and need repair or replacement.  These are the last two free, public courts in town – when I first came to Banff, there were eight!  The report recommends that we do a surface rehabilitation for $130K, but it’s risky, because the ground under the courts is prone to heaving.  The report says that the life of a resurfaced court could be anything from 3 – 15 years, and there’s no way of knowing for sure.  There is another option.  For $400K, we could do a total re-build, producing courts with an expected life of 30 years.  I would like council to explore and consider this option.  How much have we spent on skaters in town?  Surely we should give some consideration to what might work best, over the long term, for tennis.  You can see the report starting on page 169 of the package.

Briefings

Starting on page 184, you can see a series of briefings to council about various programs:  the upcoming community social/recreational assessment, the grant funding for the Get Out program, and the work of the Bow Valley Learning Council (formerly the Bow Corridor Continuing Education Council).

ALSO TOMORROW – BANFF HOUSING CORPORATION SHAREHOLDER MEETING

At 4:30, council will take a break from the Council meeting to meet as the BHC shareholder.  You can see the package for the meeting at this link:
http://www.banff.ca/Assets/PDFs/Locals+PDF/Housing_BHC/BHC+Shareholder+Meetings/BHCS-Agenda-120423.pdf

As always, this meeting is open to the public.  We’ll look at the 2011 audited statements (starting on page 4 of the package), the 2012 business plan and budget (starting on page 17 of the package), review the overall value of the BHC’s equity share in housing (starting on page 25 of the package), and update bylaws and policy to incorporate some new direction from the shareholder to BHC.  This includes direction to pursue rental housing, and acknowledges that the Town may pay for activities that it asks BHC to undertake for the benefit of the overall community.

WHAT ELSE IS ON COUNCIL’S CALENDAR?

Council members meet tomorrow with the Banff Lake Louise Hotel Motel Association to discuss a range of subjects of interest to the association.  On Tuesday and Thursday, we’re involved with a social studies project with the Grade 12 students.  Banff Housing Corporation Board meets on Friday morning.

MUSING ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LISTENING AND AGREEING

It appears to me that sometimes the statement “you didn’t listen” is used, when what is meant is “you didn’t agree”.  It is possible to listen to someone, very carefully, even multiple times, and still not agree with them.  For example, any of you might have come to the all-candidates’ forum during the municipal election in 2010, you might have listened closely to what all the candidates had to say, and you might have decided not to vote for me (darn!).  That would *not* mean that you didn’t listen to me.  It would just mean that – taking into account what I said, plus everything else you’ve heard and experienced – you didn’t agree with me.  And that would be fine.

THE FINE PRINT

As always, this post represents my individual point of view.  This is not a communication from the Town of Banff or its Council.  I welcome your comments and questions. 

All the best until next time!  Leslie

Hello everyone, and happy Easter weekend!  The robins and the bluebirds are back, the snow is amazingly beautiful on the mountains (and a little daunting in our driveways) and --somewhere in the Bow Valley -- a prairie crocus is blooming.

Before I get to Council business, how about ...

THE PROVINCIAL ELECTION

As I’m sure you know, we go to the polls on April 23 for an election that looks livelier than any we have seen in some time.  If you’re having trouble deciding which party best aligns with your values and opinions, you might find Vote Compass helpful (  www.cbc.ca/votecompass ).  And if you want a chance to compare the candidates for our Banff-Cochrane riding in person, there will be an all-candidates’ forum at the Banff Park Lodge on April 19th, 7 – 9 pm.  Hold the date in your calendar!

COUNCIL MEETING ON TUESDAY

Council meets on Tuesday this week, because of the Easter long weekend.  The meeting is at 2 p.m. at Town Hall and, as always, you are very welcome to attend.  You can see the whole package for the meeting at this link:  http://www.banff.ca/Assets/PDFs/Town+Hall+PDF/Council+Agendas+PDF/2012+Agendas+PDF/Council-Agenda-120410.pdf

Here are the highlights:

Sewer siphon/pedestrian bridge report

If you would like the straight goods on what the two options for the sewer/water crossing would cost, you can see the whole report starting on page 10 of the council package.  Page 34 of the report shows you, side-by-side, the costing for the sewer/water plus pedestrian bridge option (as per the firm quote from the successful bidder) plus all ancillary costs, and the costing for the directional drilling option that is preferred by a group of citizens (as per the budget prepared by the contractor recommended by those citizens) plus all ancillary costs.  That contractor has now seen all the geotechnical and engineering information that the Town has, and has therefore been able to prepare a better-informed figure. 

The Town had examined directional drilling as an option last summer when we looked at the four options for crossing the river, but we have gone back and re-examined this option as requested.

In summary:
What you get:  ped bridge option:  sewer/water crossing, emergency vehicle crossing, ped/cycle crossing
                               Directional drilling option:  sewer/water crossing

What it costs:  ped bridge option:  $6,723,595.56
Directional drilling option:  $6,477,000.00.  This figure does not include the release fee to Parks Canada to allow construction of a building on the south bank – that cost is, as yet, unknown.  The release fee to Parks for the rec centre addition, for example, was $400,000.

Offsetting grants from the province:       ped bridge option:  eligible for a grant of $370,000, bringing total to 6,353,595.56.  This grant, however, could also be applied to other projects (sidewalks, road overlays) in town.
                                                                                Directional drilling option:  not eligible, leaving total at 6,477,000.00

What you will see when it’s done:  ped bridge option:  a bridge across the river – see a rendering here: 
http://www.banff.ca/town-hall/major-projects-banff/sewer-pedestrian-crossing.htm                                                                     
      Directional drilling option:  Nothing across the river, and a lift station building about the size of the Wolf Street washrooms on the south side of the river.  The directional drilling option would not be “gravity feed” – this is because the driller would have to go 9.5 metres below the river bed to find a layer that is geotechnically suitable.

Operating costs:  Similar for both.  Because of the 9.5 metre drop and gain for the directional drilling, both would be pumped systems.

But please, don’t just read my summary.  Take a look at the report.  Read the opinions of two independent engineering companies on the risk factors related to each option. 

And just a reminder:  Council is not choosing between this project and the Central Park/Rec Grounds ped bridge project.  No matter what happens on Tuesday with the sewer siphon/ped bridge discussion, the Central Park bridge project remains as is:  a project already approved by majority vote of Council, ready to go whenever the construction costs (in the range of $2 million) become available.  We cannot take money from the sewer crossing project and do the Central Park bridge with it, because the sewer crossing needs to be replaced.

Sponsorship policy

Starting on page 42 of the package, you’ll see an updated version of the draft Sponsorship policy for the town.  This update takes care of the concerns that I expressed in the last meeting.  You can see (starting on page 50 of the package) the list of the facilities and programs that would and would not be eligible for sponsorship opportunities.

WHAT ELSE IS ON COUNCIL’S CALENDAR?

This week, I have a workshop session on the transportation master plan on Tuesday morning, a meeting of the regional transit commission on Wednesday afternoon, and Banff Housing Corp on Friday morning.  Council is also doing its best to meet with the various candidates for MLA (if they wish to meet us), to ensure that they are up to speed on the municipal issues here in Banff.

THE FINE PRINT

As always, this post represents my opinion only.  This email is not an official communication from the Town of Banff or its Council.  As always, I welcome your questions and comments – and any new subscribers. 

All the best until next time -- Leslie

This week's Outlook provides a good overview of what's happening on this project, with quotes from all sides:

http://www.rmoutlook.com/article/20120329/RMO0801/303299997/residents-fighting-bridge-construction

Hello everyone:

First, a few notes about community items you may be interested in:

FIRST ROBIN CONTEST

If you have a BES or BCHS student in your family, you may be interested in this contest. The Crag is once again offering a prize to the first student to email a picture of a robin (taken this spring in Banff) to Larissa Barlow. You can read about the long-ago Crag tradition that inspired this contest at this link:
http://www.banffcragandcanyon.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3038794

I happen to know that there’s at least one robin out there, so enjoy the outdoors and keep your eyes peeled.

CONVERSATION CAFE

On April 4th, the Banff Ideas Bank is running their monthly Conversation Cafe.  The theme will be humour!  So bring your best thoughts about being funny, and join the community conversation.  The event starts at 7 pm at the WildFlour.

TRANSPORTATION SURVEY – Have your say!

There’s still time to do a quick and easy online survey to give the Town of Banff your opinion about transportation in town:  parking, driving, public transit, the bridge ...  From door—knocking, I know for sure that there are lots of opinions out there!  Your input will help shape the terms of reference for the transportation plan that the town is working on this year.  Go to:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/Banff_waystogo

Now, on to tomorrow’s business...

MONDAY FINANCE COMMITTEE

About  eight times per year, all of council meets as the finance committee, in order to have extra time to review the town’s financial procedures, policies and results.  These meetings are public – you’re very welcome to attend.  Tomorrow, we’ll be meeting at 10 a.m. in Council Chambers; you can see the whole agenda package here:
http://www.banff.ca/Assets/PDFs/Town+Hall+PDF/Committee+Agendas+PDF/Finance+Agendas/Finance-Agenda-120326.pdf

The key purpose of the meeting is to discuss the amount of capital reserve that the Town should put aside each year in order to be prepared for the future replacement of town buildings, when they eventually hit the end of their useful lives.  This is prudent management – making sure that future taxpayers won’t have to come up with large sums for the replacement of necessary facilities.

In the report, starting on page 4 of the package, you can see information on the current replacement value of various buildings, and on the assumptions made about how long foundations, building envelopes, roofs and services can be expected to last, and what those assumptions translate into in terms of annual contributions to capital reserves.  Finance committee is our chance to examine those assumptions.  For example, I’m thinking that we could responsibly estimate a 60-year life for building envelopes and a 25-year life for roofs – at least on our more modern buildings – and therefore lower the annual contribution somewhat, while still being responsible.

MONDAY COUNCIL MEETING

I believe that tomorrow’s agenda package may have set a new record:  433 pages.  You can see this weighty tome at this link:
http://www.banff.ca/Assets/PDFs/Town+Hall+PDF/Council+Agendas+PDF/2012+Agendas+PDF/Council-Agenda-120326.pdf

A few of the highlights:

Briefing on the pedestrian bridge project:

Because there is so much public interest in this project (both for and against), administration will be bringing us regular updates on what’s being done with community feedback and questions, and what’s happening on the project itself.  You can see the report starting on page 8 of the package.

Update on illegal dumping:

Town staff are working hard to deal with the consequences of “beside the bin” dumping of large items – through education, and through additional pickup services.  Starting on April 2, you can book large-item pickup not just on Fridays, but five days per week.  You can see the waste reports starting on page 26 of the package.

RCMP policing agreement

The province has re-negotiated the agreement with the RCMP on behalf of the municipalities that use the RCMP as their police service.  The province provided the detailed agreement to municipalities for the first time on March 9, and gave us until March 31 to sign.  Nice to have lots of time to review it!  The good news is that some provisions have been re-written to give municipalities a stronger voice in helping to set policing priorities within their boundaries.  The not-so-good news is that we don’t know the details of the financial implications yet.  If we sign on now, we have two years to withdraw from the agreement.  You can see the whole report starting on page 34 of the package.

Regional Transit financial commitment

As discussed in my last update, Council approved the business plan changes for regional transit at the last meeting, and is now being asked to vote the financial support for 2012.

Sponsorship policy

A draft sponsorship policy for the town starts on page 86 of the package.  This lays out the conditions under which the town would accept marketing style sponsorships – the kinds of things where buildings or programs are named for or logo-ed for the companies that pay to support them.  I am OK with this in principle, and I like what the policy says about not associating ourselves with businesses that do not reflect our values.  However, I think we need to identify the buildings, facilities and programs that cannot be named or logo-ed in this way, I think we need to decide what happens when companies that compete directly with our taxpayers want to sponsor a Town of Banff asset, and I think we need to lower the level of sponsorships that can be negotiated by staff without taking it back to Council. 

Street lighting policy

The planning department is working on a street lighting policy, to ensure that we work toward a street lighting system that is environmentally responsible, that provides appropriate light levels without glaring into people’s windows, and that is aesthetically pleasing.  You can see the full report starting on page 94.  This whole policy is going to go out for public review, and planning has some interesting ideas for letting people know what the different light levels mean, so that you can respond about what you’d like to see in your neighbourhood.  I’ll keep you updated as this progresses, and make sure you hear about the public input opportunities.

Land Use Bylaw

And finally, the Land Use Bylaw.  The report that starts on page 126 of the package (and goes on to page 433) details some of the proposed changes for home occupations, bed and breakfasts, housing and parking fees.  The purpose of having this on the agenda is so that Council can give first reading (which just gets it on the table for discussion) and set a time for a public hearing.  So I’ll be sure to keep you posted on that public hearing date.

THE FINE PRINT

As always, the opinions in this post are mine alone.  This post does not purport to be an official communication from the Town of Banff or its Council.  I welcome your comments and questions!

Hello everyone:

I apologize again for not being able to give you an update before the last meeting, and hope that you were able to keep informed on the town’s doings via banff.ca and the newspapers!

MEETING TOMORROW

Monday’s council meeting looks fairly straightforward.  You can see the whole package at
http://www.banff.ca/Assets/PDFs/Town+Hall+PDF/Council+Agendas+PDF/2012+Agendas+PDF/Council-Agenda-12-03-12.pdf

Here are some of the highlights:

Banff Community Foundation presentation

Lorraine Widmer-Carson and John Allard from the BCF will be coming to update council on Foundation doings.  You can see some of the highlights they will be presenting, starting on page 5 of the package.  It’s exciting to see the breadth of Foundation activities, and the background information on how the Foundation does its work.  One interesting fact that I had not known before:  65% of this year’s donations to the Foundation come from donors with addresses outside the national park. 

Regional Transit decisions

Council is being asked to approve updates to the business plan of the Bow Valley Regional Transit.  Because this is a joint effort among Banff, Canmore and ID9, all three councils are asked to approve key documents annually. 

The changes being proposed are:
• 12 hour service on the new Banff-Canmore route, rather than 8 hours.  This is to ensure that the route can function as a meaningful alternative for commuters.
• A lower expectation for fare revenues in the first two years of the new Banff-Canmore route.  The business plan laid out 31-33% fare recovery, but experience on similar routes elsewhere suggests that 25% may be more realistic for the first two years.  Of course, every effort will be made to substantially exceed that expectation.
• Changing the buses we’re acquiring for the Banff-Canmore route.  The business plan proposed two hybrid buses for the new route.  The amended business plan proposes two 40 ft and two 30 ft bio-diesel buses, for the same price that the two hybrids would have cost.  Hybrid buses are excellent for in-town use.  On the longer, highway-based routes, bio-diesel is the better choice for fuel efficiency and environmental responsibility.  You can see the research on this in the report, starting on page 19 of the package.  The Green Trip funding will still be available for these purchases, and regional transit is joining in Calgary Transit’s big purchase of new buses in order to get the best possible price.
• Upgrading the electronic fare collection equipment, to ensure that monthly passes and similar payment options can continue to be dealt with efficiently.
• Delay in the Parks Canada portion of the transit system (route from Banff to Lake Louise/Moraine Lake).  Parks Canada feels that they will be better able to undertake this new system with a 1-2 year delay.  In the meantime, the Regional Transit Commission will work with them on the planning of their new route and stops.

Canmore and the ID have approved these changes already.  Banff council had some questions at the last meeting, and wanted to see more information to ensure that the right choices were being made for environmentally responsible reasons.  The questions from Banff are covered in the report and research that start on page 19 of the package, and I am hopeful that Banff will endorse the new business plan on Monday.

In general, the research shows that environmental responsibility in transit services is not about picking one type of equipment and using it on every route.  On the contrary, each transit route needs to be looked at (minimum and maximum speeds, numbers of stops, normal road conditions, etc.) in order to choose the type and size of equipment that will minimize fuel use and GHG emissions.

Off-leash dog park

As you’ll see in the report that starts on page 79 of the package, Parks Canada has expressed some concerns about the Hawk Avenue location for the new dog park, and wants to see some further analysis of potential effects on the nearby wildlife corridor.  This may result in increased costs and a longer timeframe for the dog park.  I’ll keep you posted.

Community Services alternative revenues

Starting on page 87, you can see a summary of the grant revenues brought in by Community Services staff over the past year, and the projects that have been supported in our community as a result.  Hats off to these hard-working grant-writers for finding non-property-tax ways to fund services, to the tune of almost $275K in one year!

THE FINE PRINT

As always, opinions expressed in this update are mine alone, and do not purport to be those of the Town of Banff or its Council.  I welcome your comments and questions!

All the best until next time -- Leslie