Clearwater, BC and Wells Gray Park, British Columbia

Clearwater & District Chamber of Commerce

The Clearwater and District Chamber of Commerce is neutral on the decision to incorporate or not. We provide this website as a service for the benefit of our members and the community of Clearwater.

Minutes of Meeting- May 2, 2006

Meeting started 7:00 pm

Present: Bert Walker, Max Tanner, Pauline Gregory, Heather MacLennan, Carol Robertson, Darlene Cowie, Sheena Van Dyk, Ralph Sunderman, Christy Dobi,

Absent: Linda Selbee, Ron Van der Zwan, Charlene Holtby, Kelly Graffunder, Hans Wadlegger,

Committee member meeting with out public

1) Review of the Operating Budget for the Committee:

	Consultant confirmed what they will pay for meetings, room costs, production and printing of the flyers, share mailing costs ($250.00), and will have their own website for new material which they will update and maintain with a direct link to the Chamber of Commerce website.
	Consensus agreement to add in miscellaneous costs to bring the budget up to $5000.00.

2) Consultant Chose for the Study:

	Max reviewed the bid proposals review process
	Two proposal were received Urban Systems and Sussex Consultants Limited
	Clearwater and Barriere committees agreed on Urban Systems as the consultant
	Clearwater conducted a telephone interview with both consultants and followed up with a reference check on Urban Systems by calling Valemount and Chase.
	Max went over the questions asked in the interviews

Max reviewed the e-mail from Tanya on how to submit to obtain the grant. She will accept an e-mail notifying which consultant the committees has chosen and the requested grant amounts for each committee, which will be two costs; the consultants cost and the committees operating cost

3) Discussion re Timelines for the Study:

	Max reviewed concerns with timelines for the study am final report review with the public in July (see handout)
	Max suggested the committee members consider the items laid out in sections 4 & 5 of the Urban Systems proposal which outlines the items to be addressed in our first meeting with the consultant.
	Tanya stated even if a referendum was held in September we would not have a new municipality until 2007.
	Best milestone dates for incorporation are prior to June 30^th or prior to Dec 31st

4) Taxation Estimates Bert’s e-mail:

Bert informed the group that Burch Island and Blackpool probably would be required to pay more in an incorporated municipality because the currently do not pay the CID admin charges. Therefore their current taxes before incorporation would be at least $100.00 lass than inside the CID boundaries for the same assessment.

5) Further information on Han’s question re: the requirement of the committee to decide if the study should proceed to referendum vote:

· At the end of the study_ that is, after the findings have been presented and discussed with the public-the committee will have to make a decision about what to do next. Options could include (a) requesting that a referendum be held (b) advising the province that a referendum is not warranted and process should end; or (c) requesting additional information from the province. Committee members will have to do this based on their understanding of the incorporation impacts, the community’s reaction to the findings, and their own judgment about how reasonable the question would be.

· A referendum is not mandatory.

Action item: Max to give draft boundary options to the consultants to analyze.

Action item: Max to send budget to the Ministry on May 3^rd.

Bert retiring from Study Committee:

Bert announced that he would be stepping down from the committee, as he will no longer need to assist the committee, now that the consultant has been hired.


		Clearwater & District Chamber of Commerce 425 East Yellowhead Highway Box 1988, RR1 Clearwater, BC, V0E 1N0 Phone: (250) 674-2646 Fax: (250) 674-3693 Email: info@clearwaterbcchamber.com