Notes from the Ashcroft council meeting of July 27, 2020.
Tax sale will go ahead
The Village of Ashcroft will not defer its tax sale due to COVID-19.
Council maintains that delaying the tax sale could complicate issues with the Tingley Street apartments, where taxes are in arrears. A council report suggests that the property is degrading and that delays will increase the deterioration. If the owner does not pay taxes this year — the third in a row — the Village has the option to hold a tax sale in September.
The province has given B.C. municipalities the option to defer tax sales until 2021 to allow flexibility around dealing with COVID-19. This applies to all delinquent properties.
Village provides $500 to Sportsmen Association
Council agreed to provide the South Cariboo Sportsmen Association with a $500 grant-in-aid to help rebuild one of the club facilities destroyed in the Elephant Hill wildfire.
Wayne Wawreniuk, the SCSA’s vice president, said the pistol and rifle range buildings were both destroyed in the 2017 wildfires. Last year the club was able to replace the pistol range building, with club funds and volunteer help. He estimates the association will need $16,500 to rebuild the remaining facility.
The association is seeing more members and events despite COVID-19 because it’s easy to self-distance on the range.
Ashcroft businesses can get new look
The Village of Ashcroft as been awarded a grant of up to $20,000 from the Northern Development Initiative Trust for business façade improvements.
Downtown business owners are eligible to apply for the grant funding, which this year covers 100 per cent of qualifying costs up to $5,000 per business.
The grant comes from the Cariboo-Chilcotin/Lillooet Regional Development account. Northern Development exists to stimulate economic growth through strategic and leveraged investments that build a strong and diversified economy in central and northern B.C.
Ashcroft/Cache Creek to apply for grant
Ashcroft and Cache Creek will jointly apply for a grant opportunity from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Municipal Asset Management Program.
The request is aimed at improving the two communities’ integrated asset repository, GIS system, and web maps, enhancing staff capacity, and improving documentation. Ashcroft will commit $10,024 toward the cost of this initiative.
A staff report notes that Ashcroft will benefit from a closer relationship with Cache Creek as it finalizes its data governance policy and collaborates in other areas, such as sharing resources in critical areas such as emergency management.
All minutes and agendas for Ashcroft council meetings can be found on the Village’s website at https://ashcroftbc.ca/. Meetings are once again open to the public, with physical distancing protocols in place. The next scheduled meeting of council is on Monday, Aug. 24 at 7 p.m.
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