Ladysmith Council Notebook for Oct. 21, 2019

Ladysmith Council met for an hour and a half on Monday, Oct. 21, 2019 with a couple of the highlights being a change in Council meetings to Tuesday nights and the awarding of a new residential garbage collection contract.

To open the meeting Council approved staff moving forward with amendments to the Official Community Plan and the Zoning Bylaw to allow for a neighbourhood pub at 204 Dogwood Drive.

The application was referred to the Community Planning Advisory Committee for feedback as well as Stz'uminus First Nation, in keeping with the Town's Memorandum of Understanding.

The definition of a neighbourhood pub in the Zoning Bylaw includes a licensed establishment such as a micro-brewery.

Council then set meeting dates for the 2020 budget discussions, and to deliberate the 2020-2024 Financial Plan.

The first budget workshop session is set for Monday, Nov. 4, 2019 when Council will go over the Preliminary Operating Budget; discussions will then continue over at least five meetings into December.  Click here for a full budget schedule.

Council directed staff to submit a funding application to UBCM's Community Emergency Preparedness Fund requesting $25,000 for the training of six new Fire Department volunteer paid on-call recruits.

Council has started the process for changing its scheduled meetings from Monday to Tuesday nights. Meetings will still occur twice a month; the new schedule will mean fewer meetings cancelled due to statutory holidays throughout the year.

The Municipal Services Committee will also be renamed to the Committee of the Whole and meet every second Tuesday of every second month.

Both changes will require amendments to Council's Procedure Bylaw.

Council directed staff to negotiate a new five-year contract with Waste Connections of Canada for residential curbside waste collection.

All of the Proposals received by the Town over the summer underwent a thorough evaluation process before staff made a recommendation to Council.

The Town provides curbside collection of residential garbage, food waste and recyclables to approximately 3,230 homes by way of a contracted service.

A major part of the new contract will be focusing on reducing the levels of contamination material in the recycling stream to meet the Town's obligations to Recycle BC.  See more on Mayor Stone proclaiming Oct. 21-27 as Waste Reduction Week in Ladysmith.

Council directed staff to remove all black locust trees that are located in the Town's boulevards including the removal of stumps.  The trees will be replaced with dwarf ornamental pear trees, which are low maintenance and not heavily dependent on water.

Roughly half of the project cost is being funded from prior year surplus while the remainder will be absorbed into the Parks operations budget.

The next Council meeting is Monday, November 4 at 7:00 p.m.