Notes from the Clinton council meeting of May 25.
Free use of council chambers
Council approved a motion to give Gold Country Communities Society free use of the council chambers, for a workshop that will show people how to create video content for their business, brand, or organization. The event will take place from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on June 24, and is free for all who want to attend. The workshop will also include coffee and snacks and an opportunity for participants to mingle.
Coun. David Park asked if there would be a cost for staff to be on hand to open and close the council chambers. It was determined that Clinton’s Community Development Coordinator would be attending the workshop, and that some members of council would be interested in taking part.
UBCM ministers’ meetings
Council received a late letter advising that applications to meet with government ministers and/or the premier at this year’s Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) convention and AGM must be in to the province by June 24. Members of council were asked to put together a list of who they wanted to meet, and why, for discussion at the next council meeting on June 8.
No internet funding
Council received a letter from TELUS informing them that Clinton did not qualify for recently announced federal and provincial funding for PureFibre internet services, as it is for communities that do not currently have 50/10 upload/download speeds, which the Village of Clinton is deemed to already have.
Spirit of Clinton
The Spirit of Clinton committee has resumed meetings following the COVID-19 hiatus. Council approved new terms of reference for the committee; among the changes are reducing the number of meetings per year to six from eight, and reducing the number of people needed to have a quorum (also to six from eight).
Coun. Sandi Burrage also noted that there is a new deadline for grant-in-aid applications from local organizations, which will now have to be received by the Spirit of Clinton committee by Jan. 15 of each year rather than Jan. 30. Organizations will be notified of the change in deadline, which will mean that decisions on the grants-in-aid will be made at the end of January rather than in February.
Bylaw Notice Adjudication bylaw
Council gave first three readings to the Bylaw Notice Adjudication (BNA) Bylaw, which allows the village to issue fines to a maximum of $500 for a range of offences that are identified both in the bylaw related to the activity (such as watering outside prescribed times, which is included in the Outdoor Water Use Bylaw) and in the BNA Bylaw. The latter contains all the ticketable offences that are included under the Noise Control, Burning, Animal Control, Outdoor Water Use, Traffic Control, and Good Neighbour Bylaws.
Chief Administrative Officer Murray Daly explained that in the past, the village used the Municipal Ticket Information system, which meant that if a ticket was disputed it had to be heard in provincial court. Under the new BNA ticketing system, disputed tickets would be heard before an adjudicator who could be present by telephone. He added that if there were several disputed tickets between the three municipalities sharing the bylaw officer — Clinton, Cache Creek, and Ashcroft — the hearings could be held together, with the cost of the adjudicator split between the communities.
Daly also noted that tickets would be reviewed before they were issued. He added that the bylaw officer has been told the village is looking for voluntary compliance, and that tickets are not going to be issued to generate revenues; they are a tool to be used for repeat offenders or those who are unwilling to comply. “If you have it [the ability to ticket] in there you can use it, but just because it’s in there doesn’t mean you have to exercise it. It gives you a tool, but it’s not the first tool that’s going to be utilized.”
The same bylaw will come before Cache Creek and Ashcroft for consideration.
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