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.

Incorporation Committee Meeting #4

February 22, 2006

In attendance: Kelly Graffunder, Carol Robertson, Ralph Sunderman, Hans Wadlegger, Max Tanner, Sheena Van Dyk, Pauline Gregory, Charlene Holtby, Ron Van der Zwan and several members of the public

Introduction

- Max reviewed objective and purpose of the committee and an overview of the previous committee meetings

Previous Minutes

Action Items Remaining

Jan 19 Committee Meeting

Reviewed highlights of the Feb 8th meeting

	Bert to get Greer area amended into the map and have a map legend created that is colour coded to show new included areas and old incorporation boundaries. Also have another map completed showing Blackpool to Pumptown and Birch Island.
	Bert to get road information for Blackpool and Birch Island
	Bert is to expand spreadsheet to include business and residential values
	All should continue to provide to Max any issues or items not included in last study that may need to be included for current study
	Errors or Omissions
	Item 3, Boundary Discussion, Bullet #4 delete 'so the committee decided to leave it out of the incorporation boundary.'
	January 24 Steering Committee Meeting
	Steering committee members to review revenue and expenditure spreadsheets and give feedback to Bert
	Errors and Omissions - none
	note that Ward Stamer is the BID representative and Jack Braaksma is the CID rep - they are not on either incorporation committee

Correspondence re Clearwater River Bridge

	discussed potential costs of maintaining and predicted lifespan of the bridge.
	no response yet as to whether the province would retain responsibility for the bridge and road south towards East Blackpool
	railroad crossing maintenance not yet considered
	Copy of email on Clearwater River Bridge

Review of Draft Budget

- reviewed draft budget

- Christy has obtained quote from NTValley.com

- Both the Times and the TNRD also have web site space

Action - Christy, Charlene and Sheena to research further what the Times and the TNRD have to offer and to determine what should be included within the web page

Action - Pauline to look into cost of hospital Auxiliary to provide refreshments for 4 public meetings of up to 50 for each.

Review of Draft News release

- reviewed with some amendments - ready for publication

- technical information should not be included into news releases as this should be part of the study and document

Major Changes between Draft and final report

- reviewed the changes

Update of items not included into the last study

- reviewed current list

Consultant Terms of Reference

- reviewed TOR as revised by Ministry of Community Services staff

- identified a few revisions and questions for MCS

- discussed number of public meetings to be held and purpose

Action - Max to revise and discuss questions with MCS staff

Next meeting: March 2, 2006 7:30pm Community Resource Centre

Public Questions raised at Feb. 22, 2006 meeting

- is Vavenby industrial area included and what would be the net benefit to Vavenby?

- why was Vavenby not included into the discussion surrounding the industrial site when first raised prior to the first sitting of the incorporation committee?

- who started the incorporation question again?

- Does incorporation improve the ability to access taxes paid by the community?

- who gets to vote?

- can landowners with multiple properties within the study area vote an equal multiple number of times?

- can the committee make all information available?

- in whom is final authority vested when incorporated? tied to opinion that if not incorporated, the community retains authority but if incorporated, authority remains with the province?

- are business revenues included into the study?

- can all Clearwater committee meetings be held in Clearwater as meetings outside Clearwater may compromise the ability for local people to attend them?

- who pays for the cost of incorporation if the community does incorporate?

- how was the committee formed and what were the criteria for getting asked to volunteer?

- can a municipality arbitrarily change the incorporation boundary?

- what proportion of taxes collected by the TNRD comes back to the community?

- what proportion of property taxed paid to the province comes back to the community?


		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