July Council Report

Our Annual General Report was presented at the June 22nd council meeting.  This report included an independent financial audit and a list of goals and objectives for the coming year. 

In general, our auditor reported that the Village is in good financial health for the size of our municipality.  The auditor did suggest that the Village of Anmore put more emphasis on our long term capital replacement costs as we, along with most municipalities in BC, are currently not putting enough away for future replacement of major infrastructure such as roads, water main replacement, etc. 

Our Finance Committee is aware of this issue and we’ve made some improvements to funding both our water maintenance reserves and our general capital reserves in the most recent budget.  This won’t be an issue that will go away anytime soon though.

For goals and objectives, 2012 and 2013 are significant years for planning, review, and staffing.  The Village has had several recent retirements of long term managers and the unfortunate passing of our city planner Michael Rosen earlier in May.  

Tim Harris, has recently been appointed to the position of Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), and I wish him great success in this new position.  We also have a temporary city planner in place and expect to have a new manager of Public Works hired by the fall.

Council will be moving forward with a Sustainability Plan (to assist in long term financial, infrastructure and community planning), a Parks Plan (to address parkland and trail requirements) and the review of our Official Community Plan (OCP).

Our Anmore Advisory Planning Commission has started the planning process necessary before undertaking a full review of our OCP.   This review will take place in the fall of 2012 and throughout 2013 and include input from committees, staff and council as well as a detailed public consultation on current and future land use, zoning, development, parks, environmental protection and community infrastructure and amenities that will help shape our long term vision and community plan.

I encourage you to participate in this process.  Your opinion matters and your thoughts and ideas will contribute to the long term development of our Village.

Due to the recent resignation of Tim Laidler from Anmore Council, there will be a by-election held in September 2012.  It’s unfortunate that we have to go through this process again so soon after our regular election, but I am hopeful that this process will encourage people to get more involved in the process of local government.

I welcome any potential candidates to reach out to current council to gain an understanding of the issues and the job we’ve been elected to undertake.

I am honoured to have been elected to represent our community. I am working hard and enjoying both the challenges and progress that come with the job.

Sincerely,

Tracy Green