Council Meeting December 12th, 2017
Just the Facts.
Revelstoke Arts Council: After the adoption of the agenda, Executive Director, Miriam Manley spoke on behalf of the Revelstoke Arts Council about Summer Street Fest, its success and contribution to our tourism sector, especially for the arts community and family oriented entertainment.
The award winning Summer Street Fest is mainly funded by the City with roughly 10% raised from other sources. Manley has requested a small increase in funding to utilize a professional sound system to support the notion of a new band every night.
In the past, many of the bands performed more than once; this new concept is to entice those visiting to stay an extra few nights to enjoy more than one show. The performing arts sector of this community is no doubt a huge draw for tourists who are drawn to live performance and educational entertainment.
Revelstoke Community Housing Society (RCHS) has missed out on a recent round of funding for another affordable housing project. Chair of the RCHS, Glen O’Reilly would like the dog to stop chasing the tail.
O’Reilly requested a letter from Council stating that they would commit a parcel of land In-Trust to the RCHS. O’Reilly was clear that they are not requesting the land, but land In-Trust. The Catch-22 is that without a parcel of land or land in-Trust, BC Housing will not consider any funding of any kind unless their is a parcel of land in play.
Council voted for the planning department to take a further look into the matter. The RCHS was a major player in the recent 12-Unit, 2 Million dollar affordable housing project.
Fire Protection: Council adopted the recent fire protection proposal that City put forward in regard to the Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD) fire protection matter. Although no agreement has been agreed upon between the two parties, Council wanted the proposal adopted, therefore, on the off chance the CSRD decide to agree to the proposed terms by the eleventh hour, the plan could be implemented immediately. The proposed plan is for a five year term with a one year preliminary trial to agree and commit to the terms the City has put forward.
Start Up Revelstoke is a new concept to promote Revelstoke as a place to live while growing entrepreneurial excellence. This is a joint initiative between the Mountain Co-Lab, Economic Development and Community Futures. The recent implementation of Telus PureFibre has allowed young beginners to start their vision, however, we are still behind many other major city centres in regards to technological advances. it is costly and many start up entrepreneurs struggle to keep up in an otherwise connected world.
With hopes to build a strong infrastructure with groups such as Accelerate Okanagan; Kootenay Association of Science & Technology (KAST); Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) and Metallurgical Industrial Development Acceleration and Studies( MIDAS), this could ensure a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem that will draw in a new young crowd of venture capitalists.
