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Council heard a delegation
from the Crescent Heights Mobile Home Park at the January 14th Council
meeting. The delegation of tenants advised Council they had received on
January 3, 2008, a twelve month notice to end tenancy and were
addressing Council to lobby against rezoning that would allow
redevelopment of the mobile home park. To serve notice to end tenancy at
a mobile home park all permits for redevelopment and rezoning must be in
place. In this case city staff have not received an application from the
property owner and consequently the notice to end tenancy is invalid.
The redevelopment of mobile home parks is an issue that Council will
need to carefully assess as currently these parks provide affordable
housing for many families in our City.
Council has finalized and
approved a policy with respect to the use of credit cards as a form of
payment for all goods and services provided by the City including
property taxes and have set a daily limit of $5,000 to each customer who
pays by credit card. Property owners who normally pay their taxes once a
year are reminded the City offers a monthly installment plan that is
convenient, cost effective and eliminates the large lump sum payment in
July. Details on the installment plan can be obtained from the Finance
Department at City Hall.
The Fire Department 2007
annual report was presented to Council and indicated the call volume for
the year was lower than the previous two. Of interest is only one call
out was to attend a chimney fire, which is good news for the community,
as in past years this type of callout was a common occurrence that put
property values at risk. This change in statistics may be credited to
the phasing out of older type wood burning stoves to more efficient
woodstoves that meet EPA standards. The Revelstoke Air Quality Committee
has recommended to Council to commit to the approval of a local
woodstove exchange program, which will assist owners of inefficient wood
burning appliances when upgrading to EPA approved appliances. Council
has committed $10,000 to this program for 2008 with the objective of
replacing thirty inefficient woodstoves.
Council provided first
and second readings to Development Cost Charge Amendment Bylaw #1894.
The bylaw allows for an increase in the development cost charges to
cover additional municipal infrastructure projects and increasing costs,
included an institutional category and provides a 50% discount on ‘Not
for Profit’ rental housing. Prior to the final reading and adoption
staff will consult with the general public and stakeholders and report
back to Council.
Finance staff has
recently learned of a new federal initiative from the Public Service
Accounting Board, where all communities must account for their tangible
assets and the amortization of these assets. The implementation date for
this program is January 1, 2010 and staff hopes to have all information
collected by year end. The Director of Finance will take the lead role
in this project, will liaise with auditors and will develop a policy
that will aid staff in providing information for this new program.
Submitted by
Councillor Peter Frew
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