Candidates Forum Questions

On October 15th the Chamber of Commerce hosted an all-candidates forum for prospective councillors.  Since each councillor could only answer a few questions at the event, I thought I would post all my answers here. 

Resort Municipality/Tourism/Beautification

1. As a Resort Municipality, Kimberley is highly dependent on the the quality of the guest experience and first impressions matter greatly.  What will you do to improve the state of vacant lots and substandard properties that are eyesores throughout the city?

I would continue to support our investment incentive program that gives tax relief to owners that renovate and improve their buildings and I would continue to enforce our unsightly premises bylaw and ensure that our bylaw officer has the resources needed to make it work. Beyond that, our legal options are limited.

2. The Platzl is one of the most visible areas of our community for both visitors and residents. The primary entry point is from a potholed parking lot facing severely rundown buildings. What will you do on Council to improve the Platzl area?

In 2017 staff and our engineering consultants, Urban Systems, developed a new Downtown Urban Design strategy that will see significant changes to the Platzl parking area, reroute the flow of traffic and create a small park near the wooden bridge over Mark Creek.  While all the details of the strategy have not been finalized, it does form the basis for some positive change in that area. As far as the rundown buildings go, they are the responsibility of the owners and I hope some of them will take advantage of our investment incentive program to spruce them up.

3. Local tourism sector funding for Tourism Kimberley changed significantly over the past year. If elected, will you commit to maintaining and/or expanding the city’s contribution to Tourism Kimberley to effectively market our community in all 4 seasons?

At this point, I would commit to maintaining the current level of funding. We would need to have some discussion with the Tourism Kimberley stakeholders before we could consider an increase.

Taxes

4. Do you support the current Council’s steps to reduce the Residential Flat Tax and shift more to the Mill Rate basis? Why/Why Not?

Yes I do.  Kimberley is one of only 5 communities in BC with a flat tax and ours has historically been the biggest.  The flat tax allows large expensive homes to pay less tax while increasing the burden on smaller, less expensive homes.  That doesn’t seem right to me.   As well, since most of the rental housing in Kimberley is comprised of those lower priced homes, shifting the flat tax to the mill rate tax over the next few years will help a little bit to make rentals more affordable.

5. What can the City do to better communicate the details, rationale and funding of the various projects around Kimberley?

I think we need to revamp our webpage and make it easier for citizens to track these projects. I just did a search on the site for the 5-year capital plan and our MOU with the ?Aqam band and it was rather difficult to find the details I needed.   I think we can do better. 

Ec/Dev

6. Lack of “affordable” housing has been on the radar this year.  What ideas/solutions will you bring to council to resolve this? 

I think it is time to restart our affordable housing committee and involve members of the community in a discussion about possible solutions.  In the mean-time we need to continue to look for ways to use zoning and development permits to promote more housing options like carriage houses and mixed use commercial/residential. We had an initial discussion earlier this year about lowering utility rates for secondary suites and we should follow through with that. Now that the Kimberley Seniors Housing Society has secured funding for the Church Street redevelopment we should looking at moving forward with the City-owned Townsite Garage property. And continuing the shift of the flat tax to the mill rate tax should help promote affordable rental accommodation.

7. Every election, much attention is placed on bringing new businesses to Kimberley, if elected, what will you do to support businesses already in our community and helping them grow?

Local government is prohibited by provincial law from giving assistance to business, but we can we can do some general things to improve the business climate. These include:

      -supporting the new Kimberley brand,

      -helping to fund Tourism Kimberley,

      -working with the Chamber on business retention and expansion,

      -participating in regional investment initiatives like Imagine Kootenay

      - keeping tax increases to the municipal rate of inflation

      -supporting the creation of the new East Kootenay Columbia Investment       Cooperative

We have just hired a new Economic Development Officer and think in the first year of the new council we need to sit down with him and see what he has learned from his discussions with local business people about the things we are doing right and areas where we can make improvements.

8. What steps do you support to increase the attractiveness of doing business in Kimberley?  What are the most significant hurdles to achieve this?

See some of the points in the answer above.  I would be great if local businesses engaged with our EDO and let us know what the hurdles are so we can see if we can eliminate them. 

9. How can we improve mutually beneficial opportunities to enhance the area’s economic, social-cultural, and environmental significance with A’qam First Nation?

The City of Kimberley has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the ?Aqam community that commits us to working together on projects of mutual interest. I think we should have our new Economic Development Officer liaise with folks at ?Aqam and see what projects might emerge.   On a more general level, we need to support the Ktunaxa with issues like their opposition to the Jumbo Valley development proposal and look for ways to publicly recognize that we live on un-ceded Ktunaxa territory.  I suggested at a recent council meeting that incorporating some Ktunaxa place names in our signage strategy might be one small way to do that.

Benchlands

10. What kind of businesses, if any, do you envision for the Benchland and what specific guidelines would you want to see followed before development can take place?

I supported the continued designation of the bench land above Marysville as light industrial on the condition that the Volksmarch Trail remained accessible and that any development was appropriate for such a publicly visible area.  For me that means any proposal must be quiet, non-polluting to air, water and the dark night sky and aesthetically pleasing. I have absolutely no problem in saying “no” to an inappropriate proposal.

Sun Mine

11. What decision do you recommend to the public about the referendum to sell the Sun Mine?

I urge everyone to vote “yes” to the sale of the Sun Mine to Teck.  I am quite concerned about the project’s long term costs and the burden they may place on taxpayers. We have not generated enough profit from the 1 megawatt plant to build a capital reserve to replace the trackers and inverters as they wear out.  As well, our loan will be re-negotiated in a few years and with rising interest rates our payments are likely to increase.   Selling the facility to Teck, who owns the land where the Sunmine is located and has already invested $2 million into the project, may allow an expansion in the future.  Once it is privately owned, our ability to tax the project as a utility will create a new income stream for the City.

General

12. What are some concrete things you will do upon taking office?  What is first thing you will do?

It is likely that the first thing we will all do is start reviewing the 2019 capital budget since the election is happening just as our budget cycle is ramping up.   In addition to that two of the first things I would like to pursue are the discussions with Teck and the Ministry of the Environment about acquiring some brownfield land for development and restarting the affordable housing committee.

13. Kimberley spend much of this summer on fire evacuation alert or order. What steps can the City take to mitigate future threat of fire to our community?

I think we are on the right track with our fuel reduction strategy in the forests around our community. We are reducing the risk and severity of wildfire while maintaining some of the aesthetic and recreational values that make Kimberley a good place to be.  I am concerned that recent changes to the provincial funding for this work may reduce the amount of treatment that we can do and we need to lobby the province to ensure that doesn’t happen. We also need to do whatever we can as a community and as individuals to lower our greenhouse gas emissions.  Climate change is making the wildfire situation worse and if we keep burning fossil fuels things will become intolerable.

14. What will be your decision-making processes when evaluating high-profile or divisive issues brought to council?

Do the research, read all the background documents provided by staff, look at best practices from other jurisdictions, listen to what people in the community have to say and have a good discussion around the Council table. In the end, make a decision based on what is best for the community as a whole.

15. Kimberley’s residential parking and business growth is creating a significant parking challenge in some parts of town.  What do you think could be some of the solutions?

This sounds like the kind of issue that will really depend on the details. There may not be one solution that works everywhere but a number of solutions for different streets and neighbourhoods. I think we should ask our Manager of Roads and Solid Waste to do some work on this issue and see what improvements can be made that don’t jeopardize snow removal and fire access.