Council will hold a regular meeting on September 7 at 7pm. The agenda is not as heavy as the last two meetings but has some interesting items for discussion by Council.
The Director of Development Services submitted a report on the School District direction to apply school site acquisition charges within its boundaries, which include Lake Country. The province requires school districts to consider the need for a School Site Acquisition Charge as part of their ongoing capital planning. Money collected goes to the purchase of new school sites within the district. New school sites are needed to accommodate the demand created by community growth. The rate is based on forecast growth rates within the school district and the anticipated cost of new school sites. Lake Country has a deficit of classroom space of approximately 6%; this is projected to reach 21% over the next ten years. The School District is proposing a rate of $605 for each new development unit constructed within the school district area. Staff is not supportive of the proposed formula as it does not pass on land cost savings to individual muncipalities. Rather it provides a standard charge throughout the school district irrespective of land costs in local areas. Also, the charge does not recognize the surplus of school sites within Lake Country.
Council is also receiving and possibly approving the report on its strategic priorities. The strategy for the rest of the term was named "Thinking Forward" and is based on 12 objectives approved by Council in 2009. The report can be found at the following link: http://lakecountry.civicweb.net/FileStorage/63025E0CF54B4F8E95E6957685DA7FD7-Council%20Strategic%20Priorities%20Report.pdf It is an interesting report and outlines the major priorities Council and staff are working on. Some of the recommendations and priorities are already being implemented, such as the inclusion of a Strategic Priorities Chart in all council packages. The Chart will be reviewed and updated quarterly by Council and staff and update reports will be provided to the public. The first update will be done on September 21.
Also, the 6-month financial results report will be in front of Council. The budget is in good shape thanks to the good work of our Finance department. You can view the report at the following link: http://lakecountry.civicweb.net/FileStorage/1AB8B26CCC5B46269C3017BCA8BDC2CC-Residential%20Curbside%20Waste%20Reduction%20RFID%20System.pdf
Finally, the Engineering Department has submitted a report on the expansion of the residential curbside waste collection radio-frequency identification (RFID) system. The Regional District and member municipalities have made an initial investment of almost $300,000 in the RFID system through purchasing and equipping all collection carts with RFID tags, purchasing readers and creating a database of addresses and inventory of corresponding carts. Expansion of the RFID system would yield a number of immediate benefits in the ability to identify the time and date each cart is tipped, which cart [garbage, yard or recycle] was tipped, and the address to which the cart is assigned. Drivers will have the ability to immediately flag offenses such as contamination or overloaded carts and education can be targeted to individual residents. Ultimately, the expanded RFID system could enable implementation of a user pay system where households would be charged based on how frequently their carts are tipped. Staff are recommending that Council approve the expansion of the system at a cost of between $1.50 to $1.70 per household per year.
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