The Dec. 10, District of Barriere regular council meeting was a rather long one with three delegations scheduled to speak.
The first speaker was Kamloops North Thompson MLA Peter Milobar who wanted to touch base with the new council and advise them about several items. Milobar noted that in April and September of 2019 he will be holding community meetings in both Barriere and Clearwater. He also stated that there is a new rural infrastructure grant that will be available in the new year.
Next up was Francy Hayward, who spoke about some significant funding and structural changes coming to the Success By 6 programs. She stated the Ministry of Children and Family Development is initiating the changes which will result in less funding available for the programs. The North Thompson Valley has been receiving $150,000 per year for the last few years; the changes will reduce this amount to $67,000 per year as of April 1, 2019. She noted that while changes are coming to the program, the exact details of the changes are yet to be determined.
The third presentation was by Jack Keough, executive director of Yellowhead Community Services Society (YCS). YCS, formerly called Wells Gray Community Resources Society (otherwise known as Clearwater H.E.L.P.) has been around since 1989. Here in Barriere, YCS has two locations, their office at the Ridge, and the Work BC office next to Barriere IDA. YCS has approximately 24 part and full time staff providing programs and services to the community of Barriere and surrounding area. The programs they offer in Barriere include: Child Care, Preschool, Success By 6 (till Mar. 31, 2019), Adult Mental Health, Adult and Youth Substance Use, Stopping the Violence Counselling, Literacy Outreach, Work BC, and Youth Drop-In (April-October).
The meeting then continued with the regular business of staff reports, including a report on the status of the recycle BC agreement that the district is preparing to sign. The message that the district has been getting from both the Thompson Nicola Regional District (TNRD) and Recycle BC is that under the contracts Recycle BC has with other municipalities, they state they must provide a receiving facility within 60km of the municipal boundary for the collector to deposit the collected material.
It was noted when the TNRD signed onto the program in September, the Louis Creek Eco-Depot was assigned as one of those facilities. It has largely been assumed that, logically, this location would be the facility assigned to the district of Barriere. Upon reading the draft agreement, however, staff have noticed there has been one change to the initial terms - a clause that states that at the discretion of Recycle BC, they could decide at any time to increase the distance allowance to 70km. This could mean the district might end up being required to transport its collected recycling the full distance to Emterra in Kamloops.
In speaking to the Recycle BC representative, district staff was told that while it does seem logical that the facility they would be told to deliver to would be the Louis Creek Eco-Depot, it was absolutely not a guarantee.
Council then passed a motion directing Mayor Stamer and CAO Colleen Hannigan to send back the agreements to Recycle BC with revised wording making the agreements subject to the Louis Creek Eco-Depot (or a similarly distanced site) being the designated post collection facility or receiving station for the contract term unless otherwise agreed to by the district in writing.
The next council meeting will be on Jan. 7, 2019, at 7 p.m.