Council update, 10 March 2013

Hello everyone:

The pussy-willows are out along the Vermilion Lakes Road!  Can the Canada geese be far behind?  I hope you have been able to get out and enjoy this beautiful weekend.

HAVE YOUR SAY

Several opportunities for public input are available right now.  You can see them all on this page:
http://www.banff.ca/index.aspx?NID=513

... and here are the highlights:

Connect 2013

Just a reminder about this open house at the Rec Centre on March 14.  There will be lots of information and an opportunity to have your say on several major projects, including the Transportation Master Plan and Cave Avenue.  If you miss this, there will be online information and surveys available after March 14, but I think you’ll find the face-to-face opportunity more interesting and engaging.

Council compensation review committee

I see that the deadline for applying has been moved to March 20.  That often means that too few volunteers have come forward.  I hope that some of you will think about volunteering for this committee.  Council compensation will be one factor that will contribute to people’s decisions about whether to run next fall, and the committee is just a short-term commitment.  This is your chance to have direct input to this important discussion.

Economic prosperity

As you know, the town is working on an economic prosperity strategy.  Step 1 is to ensure that we have a definition of economic prosperity that is meaningful for everyone.  You can have input into this definition by going to the page I’ve linked above, and doing the online survey that shows at the bottom of that page.  I hope you will take the time – about 10 minutes – to fill this out!

COUNCIL ON MONDAY

Council’s meeting looks brief this week.  As always, you are very welcome to attend, and there will be two opportunities during the meeting to ask any questions related to the agenda.  You can see the whole package at this link:
http://www.banff.ca/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/03112013-270

There are two key items:

Voting on the formula business quota bylaw

This is the vote that was delayed from the February 25 meeting.  You’ll recall that I discussed it in my last council email update, so I won’t repeat all that here.  You can see the relevant material in the agenda package, starting on page 9.

Update on changes to the elections act

As you’ll recall, the municipal election will be held this October.  I do hope you’re considering running for council!  If you are, you’ll want to pay close attention to the briefing that starts on page 39 of the package.  Some examples of the changes include:
• Council terms change from three years to four years
• Candidates who haven’t provided their required financial disclosures from the last campaign will be barred from running in the next one
• Voters will have to have approved ID when they show up at the polls.  A driver’s licence with a Banff address on it will be a good thing to bring along. 

OTHER ITEMS ON MY COUNCIL CALENDAR THIS WEEK

Bow Valley Regional Transit will have its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday afternoon, and a strategic planning meeting all day on Friday.  Banff and Canmore councils and the School Board will be meeting informally on Wednesday evening – we like to keep channels of communication open.  I’ll be interested to chat with School Board members about the suggestion to shrink the number of trustees.

THE FINE PRINT

As always, this post presents only my personal point of view.  It is not an official communication from the Town of Banff or its council.  I welcome your questions or comments!

All the best until next time -- Leslie