Thanks to an alert reader for letting me know that the Banff Public Library will host an all-candidates' forum at the Max Bell Auditorium at The Banff Centre, 7:30 pm on April 20.  Great to know that we will have this opportunity right here in Banff to be better-informed voters!

Hello everyone: 

Sorry to be so late this week, but I was down on the coast for a few days, walking on green grass and sniffing flowers.  Now that I'm back at work, here are some highlights from today's council meeting.  It's at 2 pm in council chambers at Town Hall, and -- as always -- you are welcome to attend!

TODAY'S COUNCIL MEETING

Here's the link to the overall council meeting package:

http://www.banff.ca/Assets/PDFs/Town+Hall+PDF/Council+Agendas+PDF/2011+Agendas+PDF/council-agenda-110411.pdf

Highlights include:

Bow Valley Regional Housing update

Starting on page 4 of the package, you can read all about the services provided by Bow Valley Regional Housing.  They are a separate taxing authority that runs seniors' and social housing here in the valley -- places such as Cascade House and Mt. Edith House.  Their executive director is coming to give us an update on their organization. 

Recreation fees

You will see a report (starting on page 19 of the package) recommending a range of fee changes, both up and down, for recreation services.  The Town's policy is that adult recreation is at full cost recovery, while youth program fees are set at 50% of what it costs to provide them, with the other 50% picked up by the taxpayer.  I'll be asking whether we can charge more for non-locals.

Council gifts policy

Starting on page 22 of the package, you'll see the draft policy about councillors accepting gifts.  In summary, it says that this must never be done in exchange for "favours", and that, when gifts are presented as a memento or for ceremonial purposes, councillors must declare aanything received over a value of $25.  If the item is worth more than $100, it automatically belongs to the town, not to the councillor who happened to receive it.

Banff Winter Festival

You'll see the participation statistics in the package, along with a recommendation that we just support the Loppet and Mountain Madness next year.  I continue to think that it's a good idea to maintain the Banff Winter Festival name as an umbrella to include popular local events such as the Jon Whyte Spelling Bee and the Cardboard Sled Derby.

Water consumption update

Starting on page 28 of the package, you'll see a report providing information about the water conservation results achieved when we subsidize the installation of dual-flush toilets and similar items.  It looks like these changes are having a very positive effect.  If you haven't taken advantage of this program yet, and if you're thinking of a new low-flow or dual-flush toilet, an energy-efficient dishwasher, or a solar hot water array for your roof, you'll want to read this report and also take a look at the town's web pages about the rebate program:

http://www.banff.ca/town-hall/utilities/water-conservation/toilet-rebate-program.htm

http://www.banff.ca/locals-residents/environment/rebates-incentives/residential-rebates.htm

Don't wait to long!  This program has a defined envelope of money, and when it's gone -- it's gone!

MARK THE DATE

Looks like the all-candidates' forum for the federal election will be in Canmore this time, on the 27th of April.  What a great opportunity to get to know this super line-up of candidates!  I've been asked to moderate, and would love to hear the questions you'd like asked.

Hello everyone:

Before I get into the details of council meetings and public input opportunities, here are a couple of quick community items that may interest you ...

EARTH HOUR TONIGHT

The Town of Banff is turning off streetlights downtown and turning off non-essential lighting at town buildings to mark Earth Hour.  I hope you will consider turning off your electric lights, appliances, and devices between 8:30 and 9:30 pm.

FIRST ROBIN CONTEST

If you have a BES or BCHS student in your family, you may be interested in this contest.  The Crag is 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

Now, on to business...

OPPORTUNITIES FOR INPUT

Park Avenue Playground

If you live on or near Park Avenue, you may want to give your opinion on how the playground space should be upgraded.  This Town of Banff page tells you how to do that:

http://www.banff.ca/locals-residents/recreation/parks_playgrounds/playground-consultation-survey.htm

Deadline is April 13.

Land Use Bylaw Phase 2 Outreach

The neighbourhood kiosks will be set up over the next week, to make it easy for you to provide your input on development in the commercial areas of Banff.  Planning staff and council members will be available to hear your thoughts.  

• Tuesday, March 29 at Cascade Plaza  11 am to 1 pm
• Wednesday March 30 at Kirby Lane Mall (Evelyn's, Ski Hub)  11 am to 1 pm
• Thursday March 31 at Nesters  5 pm to 7 pm
• Friday April 1 at Bison Courtyard  11 am to 1 pm
• Saturday April 2 at Mt Norquay Lodge, 11 am to 1 pm

Conversation Cafe

There has been a bit of discussion lately about whether we are an "authentic mountain community", and that discussion ties in very well with the Land Use Bylaw review.  The next Conversation Cafe, April 6 at 7 pm at the WildFlour, will focus on this very question.  Come join what will no doubt be a lively discussion.

MONDAY'S COUNCIL MEETINGS

Council has three meetings on Monday. 

The public hearing on development fee increases begins at 2 pm in Council Chambers, and the regular council meeting follows.  When that is done, the Finance Committee meeting begins.  All three of these meetings are open to the public and you are very welcome to attend.

Here is the link to the package for the first two meetings, followed by some of the highlights:

http://www.banff.ca/Assets/PDFs/Town+Hall+PDF/Council+Agendas+PDF/2011+Agendas+PDF/council-agenda-110328.pdf

Development fee increases - public hearing 

You can see the report for this item starting on page 2 of the package.  In brief, Council is looking at a bylaw that will increase the fees for development permits, so that they cover the cost of reviewing, approving and enforcement.  If you wish to comment on these proposed changes, the public hearing is your opportunity.

Compost operation changes

As you may know, we produce a lot of compost from our sewage treatment plant and organics diversion program.  It's great stuff, but we haven't been able to find a market for it.  Starting on page 34 of the package, you'll see a proposal to work with a private company to turn our compost (along with some of the lime and cement kiln dust that's readily available nearby) into a soil amendment product.  The company would then market this product for agricultural and land-reclamation use. 

The estimate is that this could save us around $164,000 per year from the operating budget, but we have to make a capital investment of $1.2 million up front.  We were already planning to build a composting pad, and could re-direct that money, and find additional grant money, but the project is still costly.  My concern is that if the N-Viro company has trouble selling the product, then they may terminate after 5 years, and we would not have recovered our investment. 

I like this project idea, but I want to see how we can mitigate the risks before we enter into a contract.

Public Art proposal

The public art committee is proposing that we spend $26,000 on three sets of original art banners for three different locations around town.  Reading the report (starting on page 50 of the package), you'll see that each banner would last for 6 months.  So for $26K, we'd get art in three locations for 18 months.  I will be asking questions about this one, because I don't understand why we wouldn't put the money into more permanent sculptures, which everyone seems to enjoy.  I also question why we would hang these banners as proposed, at levels where vandals could easily reach them.

Residential Recycling

The new blue bin program has resulted in a 25% decrease in the weight of residential garbage going to the landfill.  Read all about it starting on page 52 of the package.

Finance Committee

Here's the link to the Finance Committee package:

http://www.banff.ca/Assets/PDFs/Town+Hall+PDF/Committee+Agendas+PDF/Finance+Agendas/finance-agenda-110328.pdf

At this meeting, council will be looking at three items:

• A new policy on acceptance of gifts by mayor and council, which details what may and may not be done, and requires any council member who receives a "protocol gift" or "memento" to register it with the Town.  I'll be suggesting that we drop the value of permissible gifts to under $100, and require anything else to be passed on to the Town.
• A reserve policy for replacement of fire vehicles and equipment, which says that we need to increase the amount we're putting away annually for this purpose.
• A reserve policy for the maintenance of public art, which suggests that we put 10% of the value of the art away for future maintenance whenever we acquire a new piece.

Hello everyone:

Could this be the beginning of spring?  I saw a Canada goose yesterday, and I'm watching for my first robin.  But I'm also reading my council package for tomorrow.  Here are some of the highlights:

COUNCIL PACKAGE FOR MONDAY, 14 MARCH

You can see the whole package for tomorrow's meeting at this link:

http://www.banff.ca/Assets/PDFs/Town+Hall+PDF/Council+Agendas+PDF/2011+Agendas+PDF/council-agenda-110314.pdf

The meeting starts at 2 pm in council chambers, and -- as always -- you are welcome to attend.

YWCA request for exemption from garbage pick-up fees

As you know, we are beginning the switch this year from having our garbage and recycling pickup covered by our taxes to having the pickups paid for on a user-pay basis.  This means that the amount you used to pay for your garbage comes off your tax bill and goes onto your utility bill.  This is a four-year transition, so you will see a quarter of the effect each year, through to full implementation in 2014.

Some properties (usually those belonging to charitable organizations, churches, and so on) have been supported in a tax-exempt status by council and the community for many years.   The Y is one of these.  Moving the garbage to the utility bill means that they would now pay for garbage pickup, where they have not paid before.  It does not affect the rest of their tax-exempt support. 

The Y is requesting that the community continue to cover the costs of their garbage pickup, because of their many services to the community.  This is a follow-up to their earlier presentation to council, and will provide more information.  One of the questions that council asked at the last presentation is whether YWCAs in other communities normally have their garbage pickup paid for by the community at large, and I hope we will hear about that in the presentation. 

You can see a letter from the YWCA board chair starting on page 4 of the package.

Presentation on assessment and assessment appeal process

Frank Watson, who is contracted as the Town's assessor (the person who places values on properties for tax purposes), is coming to make a presentation to Council.  If you have always wondered how assessments are determined, I recommend this presentation.  Mr. Watson will be covering everything from the basics to more complex questions, and I know from listening to him in the past that he makes a difficult topic clear, simple, and even interesting!

Building permit fees

Council will be asked to give second and third reading to the amended fees for 2011.

Alberta Winter Games

We're being asked to join Canmore in signing a letter of intent to host the 2014 Alberta Winter Games.  An actual bid would have to be prepared by June 30, 2011.

I'm inclined to support the letter of intent, because it does not commit us to the event, it just gets our name on the table.  Between now and bid time, I would need to be convinced that the Banff community actually wants us to spend around $150,000 of your tax money on this event, and that we really have around 1000 people who want to volunteer for it.

The most compelling argument I have heard so far for hosting the Games is a simple one -- it's our turn.  These events are important to the youth of the province, lots of Banff and Canmore athletes compete each year, and we haven't hosted since 1976.  In the meantime, we have had a lot of provincial grant money provided for our recreational facilities, and this may be one of the provincial responsibilities that we have to take on in return.  Without communities standing up to take their turn, young athletes won't get these opportunities.

You can see the report starting on page 15 of the package.

Resource Recovery outside our town boundaries

Beginning on page 34 of the package, you can see a report about a possible cooperation between Parks Canada and the Town.  Parks has come to us to ask if we would consider handing the garbage and recycling pickup in part of Banff National Park outside our boundaries.

Parks has had this work done by a local contractor for many years, but the contract runs out on March 31.  It is my understanding that Park is considering whether to do it themselves from here on in, or -- as an alternative -- have the Town do it.  The local contractor is unhappy about the fact that Parks has decided not to contract the work in future.  Both Parks and the contractor will be at the council meeting.

If Parks were going out to tender again, and we were considering competing for the work, I can see concerns.  But if the alternatives are "Town does the work" or "Parks does the work", then the first choice is probably a better deal for townspeople as a whole, because we can achieve economies of scale and flexibility of staff and equipment which will help keep service levels up and costs down for people within the town.

Before I vote, I will be asking lots of questions to ensure that my understanding of the choices here is correct.  And, if the idea goes ahead, I will be asking us to ensure that any staff taken on to do this work are hired on a term basis that coincides with the term of the agreement with Parks.

Snow reserve

No, I'm not talking about that giant pile in your backyard!  Many people have asked me recently whether we have gone over our budget for snow-clearing.  This new reserve is an attempt to make sure that we won't.  In low-snow years, when we end up with unused funds in the snow-clearing budget, we will put those funds into a reserve.  Then, in years like this one, we'll draw on the reserve to cover extra snow-clering costs.  It's a good way of evening things out over time.  You can see the report starting on page 49 of the package. 

OPPORTUNITIES FOR INPUT

On March 22, Planning will be launching their public input drive for Phase 2 of the Land Use Bylaw.  I will try to let you know about events (open houses, community tent outreach) as they come up.  As you probably know, there has been also an opportunity to comment for some time online at http://www.banff.ca/business/planning-development/land-use-review/phase_two_outreach.htm

At the March 28 council meeting, there will be a public hearing on the proposed Development Permit fees.  You can see a report about this by going to page 64 of this package:

http://www.banff.ca/Assets/PDFs/Town+Hall+PDF/Council+Agendas+PDF/2011+Agendas+PDF/council-agenda-110228.pdf

THE FINE PRINT

As always, opinions expressed in this post are mine alone, and do not purport to represent the point of view of the Town of Banff or its Council.

Hello, everyone:

Council has three meetings tomorrow:

MEETING WITH THE BANFF VOLUNTEER CENTRE

The hard-working board and executive director of the BVC have been putting together a strategic plan, and will be discussing it with council members tomorrow.  At budget time, council made its financial support of the organization contingent on their meeting a couple of milestones, of which this is one.

REGULAR MEETING OF COUNCIL

The council meeting is at 2 p.m. in council chambers, and - as always - the public is welcome.  You can see the whole package for the meeting at this link:

http://www.banff.ca/Assets/PDFs/Town+Hall+PDF/Council+Agendas+PDF/2011+Agendas+PDF/council-agenda-110228.pdf

 Highlights of the agenda include:

Bow Valley SPCA

The SPCA is coming to ask for a $5,000 grant to support their work.  They have a brief presentation on how their work supports Banff.   You can see it, starting on page 4 of the package. 

Prescribed burns for 2011

Parks Canada is proposing three prescribed burns for 2011.  Two are far from town (Red Deer River and Dormer), but one (Carrot Creek Lower) is quite close.  You can see their presentation starting on page 6 of the package.  They've included a note for people who have respiratory issues -- if you want advance notice of burning days, you can put yourself on their notification list by emailing dave.verhulst@pc.gc.ca

Alberta Winter Games 2012

We will be seeing a presentation suggesting that Banff and Canmore might want to do a joint application to host the 2012 Alberta Winter Games.  You can see the bid package guidelines starting on page 8 of the package.  Looks pretty daunting -- aside from the large amount of fundraising, we would have to find 2500 to 3000 volunteers.  And the deadlines are tight.

Bow Valley Regional Housing

You may have noticed on your property tax bill a small percentage that is levied by the Bow Valley Regional Housing organization.  This is a separate body from the town, with its own taxing authority.  Here in Banff, they are responsible for Mt. Edith House and Cascade House (the former Abbeyfield), and they have a wider range of properties and programs in Canmore.  Many people know very little about this organization and what it does, so this is a great opportunity to understand them better by perusing their service summary, starting on page 40 on the package. 

Building permit and development permit fees

Council had asked in the financial plan for these fees to be updated to cover the actual cost of review, approvals and enforcement.  The updated fees are being brought to council for approval - you can see the report starting on page 50 of the package.

Wayfinding signage

Starting on page 69 of the package, you can see the report describing the 38 signs that will be installed this year.  I'm a little baffled at how they could possible cost an average of $11,000 per sign for fabrication and installation, and will certainly be asking some questions about this one!

FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING

Right after council, we will go directly to a Finance Committee meeting in council chambers.  These meetings are open to the public.

This meeting concentrates on the town's purchasing policy.  You can see the agenda package at this link:

http://www.banff.ca/Assets/PDFs/Town+Hall+PDF/Committee+Agendas+PDF/finance-agenda-110228.pdf

 I will be asking a whole range of questions, for example:

• What do we do to ensure that all interested vendors get a chance to bid on providing goods and services to the town?
• How can our purchasing policy best support buying local and buying "green"?
• How can our purchasing policy help us get the best value for your dollar?
• How do we document the various levels of approvals in the policy?  For example, if the policy says that a $50,000 purchase must be reviewed and approved by the Town Manager, how would I be able to check back a year later to see whether that had been done?
• How do we make our purchasing decisions transparent and accountable?

SHAMELESS PROMOTION

Just a quick reminder that the Conversation Cafe takes place this Wednesday evening, 7 p.m., at the WildFlour.  Take this opportunity to talk face-to-face about timely issues with an eclectic mix of Banffites.

THE FINE PRINT

As always, this post describes my opinions and thoughts.  It does not purport to present the opinions or positions of the Town of Banff or its Council.