District of Lake Country representatives are in Whistler participating to the Union of BC Municipalities annual convention and lobbying provincial ministers and crown corporations for better services for its citizens.
The Lake Country contingent, led by Mayor James Baker, will address issues such as water filtration requirements imposed by Interior Health, watershed protection and the issue of reservoir lots on crown lands, a proposal to create a provincial campground in Lake Country, the ill-advised changes to BC Transit routes affecting District residents, especially students, and cost of infrastructure maintenance at the municipal level.
In addition to local concerns, all delegates will have an opportunity to discuss and vote on resolutions to lobby the Provincial Government on a wide variety of issues. A Midsize Community Forum will be the sounding board to hear concerns and possible solutions for issues affecting municipalities the size of Lake Country, and other meetings will introduce new provincial initiatives impacting local governments.
District representatives have already met with BC Transit and made very loud and clear to Transit officials that the changes to services affecting Lake Country are simply unacceptable. It was clear from the meeting that Transit officials will work with District Council and Staff to correct the issue and a second meeting will be held this evening (September 28) just to discuss Lake Country issues.
The meeting with Interior Health did not sort the same effect as the one with BC Transit as the issue of filtration has become an issue for the District to the inconsistencies of standards application in the province and the high cost of filtration, which is not necessarily the only solution to water quality problems. “It is very confusing”, Mayor Baker said “The Province is saying that the application of standards is an IHA direction, while IHA is saying that the Province makes the decisions. We are caught in the middle and this is not good for the community and the taxpayers.”
Further discussions will ensue in the next two days and the District will report on the mission at the October 19th, Council meeting.
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