The following items were given first, second, and third reading at the Ashcroft council meeting on April 24:
863, 2023: Outdoor burning amendment bylaw
861, 2023: Tax rates 2.5 per cent increase
860, 2023: Budget and five-year financial plan
Approval was also given for the 2022 audited financial statement as presented.
The Growing Community Reserve Fund Establishment bylaw was also given first, second, and third reading. Mayor Barbara Roden said this is the slightly more than $1 million the village received from the province earlier this year, as part of $1 billion in funding given to all 188 local governments across B.C. The funding is intended for infrastructure projects, and exactly how it will be spent is to be discussed by council at the upcoming strategic planning session.
There was a request by the Ashcroft and Area Community Resources Society to declare May 1-5 as Emergency Preparedness Week, with presentations to be held in Ashcroft on May 3. Coluncil also encouraged residents to sign up for the Boyent alert mass notification system, which has a variety of ways to receive alerts.
Two delegations made presentations to the council. Deb Tedford, president of the Thompson View Manor Society, updated council on the plans to construct a 29-unit affordable senior housing complex on Elm Street adjacent to Thompson View Manor. The cost of the project is expected to be upward of $14 million.
The next rolling call for proposals to be submitted to BC Housing is on July 1, and it will take approximately three months for them to announce the successful bids. In the meantime, the housing society will continue to fine-tune the proposal. The complex will be two-stories, with 15 two-bedroom and 14 one-bedroom units.
Kat Chatten from the Desert Mesa Club, a non-profit group that is involved with the Ashcroft and District Fall Fair, Graffiti Days, and the Cache Creek Visitor Centre, said that they have secured funding to create a Regional Chamber of Commerce that will include Ashcroft, Clinton, and Cache Creek. There are four core activities planned: advertising, learning through workshops and training opportunities, networking, and promotions/events.
Chatten said that for the first two years there would be no cost for businesses to join, thanks to the grant. She noted that the Regional Chamber hopes to go live in June.
editorial@accjournal.ca
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