council email update, June 8, 2008

Hello everyone:

 Here are some items of current interest and some notes on what's coming to Council tomorrow.  As always, any opinions expressed are mine alone, and do not purport to be those of Council or the Town of Banff.

ACTION REQUEST REMINDER

If you have something that you want the Town to fix or pay attention to, there's a quick way to get your request to the right department.  Just go to www.banff.ca, and click on "Action Request", which you'll see in the white area across the top.  This carries you to a page where you can enter your concern.  I've tried this system out myself, and it seems to work very well.

WHAT'S HAPPENING ON BANFF AVENUE?

Everyone is wondering how the construction is going and what actions will be taken to make up the current 3-week delay.  Here is the intended schedule for closures and detours as it exists right now:

June 5^th – June 8^th

Caribou Street intersection closed on both east and west sides – Banff Avenue open.

June 9^th – June 27th^{   Â} 

Full closure of Banff Avenue to vehicular traffic – Caribou intersection closed, Wolf and Buffalo Street intersections will be open.

June 27^th – July 2nd

Banff Avenue and all intersections open for the long weekend and the Canada Day parade.

July 3^rd – July 24^th

Full closure of Banff Avenue to vehicular traffic – Caribou intersection closed, Wolf and Buffalo Street intersections will be open.

July 25th

Everything re-opens for the rest of the summer.

COMING TO COUNCIL MONDAY - 1ST READING OF CAVE AVENUE DENSITY AMENDMENT

As you know, the Banff Housing Corporation is interested in having a bylaw amendment passed that would remove one of the three density restrictions in the Cave Avenue District, thus allowing more units on the 6-lot parcel they have on Cave Avenue.  An open house was held last week to show interested people the intended approach.

This proposed bylaw amendment is coming to council for 1st reading tomorrow.  Three readings are needed to pass a bylaw amendment. 1st reading just gets the amendment on the table for discussion.  A public hearing is proposed for June 23rd.

You can read the report on this item by clicking on

http://www.banff.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?did=1507

and scrolling down to page 61.

COMING TO COUNCIL MONDAY - TANGIBLE CAPITAL ASSETS POLICY

There's been a change in the accounting practices for municipalities, and -- like all other municipalities across Canada - Banff will be changing the way we account for our capital assets.  This will cost time, money and effort at the front end, but will lead to better tracking of the financial and infrastructure health of the town.  You can read about this by clicking on

http://www.banff.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?did=1507

and scrolling down to page 76.

COMING TO COUNCIL MONDAY - FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE DISCUSSION

Council asked staff to bring in a report about what can and can't be asked for in the way of financial disclosure by councillors and staff.  I didn't bring this motion because I think anyone is doing anything wrong - I brought the motion because I think there should be enough information publicly available so that the public can judge for themselves how things are being done.  As you know, I think that having transparency around who owns what and who benefits from which actions would be a good thing.  However, it has been pointed out by other members of Council that this was not in the "job description" when they signed up to run, and that's certainly a fair comment. 

The staff report provides the legal background to such financial disclosure bylaws, and discusses the implications of financial disclosure from a personnel and privacy point of view.  It also includes information on the provisions in the existing Town personnel and purchasing policy.

 You can read the report here:

http://www.banff.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?did=1507

by scrolling down to page 86.

DISASTER SOCIAL SERVICES UPDATE

Having a well organized Disaster Social Services plan is an important part of any municipality's emergency preparedness.  Council will be getting an update on Banff's plan, and you can see it at:

http://www.banff.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?did=1507

by scrolling down to page 92.

FCSS ACTION PLAN PROGRESS REPORT

This report shows you the work that was done by FCSS on their 2006-2007 action plan, and also their intended actions for 2008.  You'll be amazed by all the work that has been done by this group!