The District of Sechelt will hold a pair of town hall meetings on Monday, June 15, to ask residents how they want to be connected to their local government.
Improving the District’s approach to public engagement has been identified as a priority for council and a project in the 2015 budget, communications manager Connie Jordison said in a report to council on May 20.
The two separate sessions will give residents a forum to talk about how they engage with the District and how they would like to engage in the future, with examples of current and new engagement tools and opportunities available for review. A community engagement specialist will provide a brief overview at the beginning of each session.
“To wrap up the session, staff will provide a brief summary and talk about how the District will move forward with the development of a public engagement strategy for Sechelt,” Jordison said.
The meetings are scheduled for 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at Seaside Centre.
Strategic plan
Mayor Bruce Milne noted that community engagement “factors quite significantly” in council’s 2015-18 strategic plan, which was presented at the May 20 meeting. As well as being one of five values and six goals, engagement is also a component of the plan’s mission statement.
“The mission of council, as a council, is to provide leadership within an engaged community. It’s simple. That’s really what we think our core purpose is,” Milne said, calling the document a collective effort by council.
Other goals include effective governance, economic development, community development, social well-being and building Sechelt’s identity.
The plan lists a series of action items for the balance of the year and for 2016. Among the pending items are deciding on the future direction of the airport and starting to recruit a permanent CAO.
On May 22, Milne presented the plan to the Sechelt and District Chamber of Commerce during the fourth annual Mayor’s Breakfast at Blue Ocean Golf Club.
Seawatch sinkholes
The District is still trying to get to the bottom of the sinkhole problems in the Seawatch Subdivision in West Porpoise Bay.
Council voted May 20 to spend about $40,000 from reserves for a geophysical investigation and additional site surveying on portions of Gale Avenue North and Seawatch Lane.
In February, sinkholes appeared on two properties in the subdivision, forcing a family of five to evacuate their home on lot 21.
“Examinations of the area have identified problems with the storm sewer right of way between lots 9 and 10, concerns for the safety and integrity of Gale Avenue North, currently closed to through traffic, and to Seawatch Lane above lot 28,” interim CAO Bill Beamish reported to council.
“Further study is deemed warranted by our consulting engineers in order to determine if the voids and anomalies that have been identified by earlier testing are present elsewhere in the subdivision and to develop a cost model for implementing appropriate repairs and mitigation strategies.”
The District has spent about $150,000 so far this year on the sinkhole issue, Beamish said.
Milne noted the District has been meeting regularly with the affected residents since February. “We’re working very closely with the neighbours that are directly impacted and affected, and taking their counsel on how to manage this, in the public realm as well,” he said.
