Rossland City Council Meeting, September 3, 2019
By Sara Golling
Council members present: Mayor Kathy Moore, and Councillors Scott Forsyth, Dirk Lewis, Janice Nightingale, Stewart Spooner, Andy Morel, and Chris Bowman. Staff present: CAO Bryan Teasdale, Executive Assistant Alison Worsfold, CFO Elma Hamming, and Recreation Manager Kristi Calder.
Public Input Period: The gallery was totally empty.
Delegation: Diana Daghofer and Marilyn Nelson were on the agenda, but did not show up to address council about the Cycling Without Age program, with its electric-assist “trishaw” bikes to transport less-able people around the hilly streets of Rossland. They had been expected to request Council to (a) incorporate CWA into the City’s recreation program, and (b) to consider supporting CWA funding requests when a charitable sponsor is needed.
Staff requested further direction from Council regarding its earlier decision not to accept applications for the Revitalization Tax Exemption program. The request was occasioned by a business wanting to apply; Moore commented that nothing had changed, and that Council had decided to suspend the program because people were interpreting the bylaw differently, and Council wanted to rework the bylaw for clarity. Staff have been researching the wording of similar bylaws in other communities. Council discussed the issue: Spooner commented that a revitalization tax exemption program is intended to encourage building and development, and there’s no shortage of that now; further discussion resulted in Council confirming its earlier decision to suspend the program.
Bylaws:
The Kootenay-Wide Inter-Community Business Licence Bylaw #2704 was on the agenda, but was deferred to the next Council meeting.
A motion to adopt Bylaw # 2703 to change the zoning of 2148 Washington Street from Commercial to to R1 Infill CARRIED unanimously.
A motion to give first, second and third readings to the 2020-2021 Permissive Tax Exemption Bylaw #2706 CARRIED unanimously.
The 2019 Huckenberries event requested support from the City in the form of in-kind services and waiving fees for chairs and tables; staff noted that the City’s budget provides for supporting this event and others, and a motion to provide the requested services CARRIED unanimously.
The 2019 Golden City Grind requested the City’s support for the event, and a motion to provide the support requested CARRIED unanimously.
Mustache Metalworks (“Mofab”) requested a donation to support the Golden City Days coed softball tournament. Morel moved that Council not support the request, as Council supports the entire weekend by means of in-kind services. Nightingale commented that the City does have some city-branded “swag” items such as reusable bags. Bowman noted that the proceeds stay local, that it isn’t the City’s job to provide funding, but he would agree to provide some swag. Morel agreed to modify his motion to allow for supporting the event with swag rather than money. The motion CARRIED unanimously, and the task of choosing and providing the swag items was delegated to staff.
Members’ Reports (a couple of highlights only):
Morel reported, inter alia, that the RDBK did not get a grant for the wastewater treatment plant upgrade. However, Rossland will receive nearly 1.9 million dollars of federal and provincial grant funding for water treatment plant upgrades to improve the disinfection and control system, and add a back-up power supply. Moore commented that the upgrades would not have been possible without the grant money.
Moore suggested that although the Cycling Without Age delegation had not appeared, the City should look favourably on requests for letters of support for CWA. For Golden City Days, Moore handed out maroon T-shirts with the backs labelled “Rossland Councillor” for Council members to wear in the parade.
The meeting adjourned, and your reporter interrupted her walk home with a pleasant stop at a neighbouring yard to talk about gardening, admire and compare vegetables, and generally spend time standing around outdoors to enjoy the lovely evening.
