Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities’s (AVICC) held its annual convention from Friday, April 10 to Sunday, April 12, in Courtenay at the Florence Filberg Centre.
All members of City of Powell River council attended the conference.
Councillors provided oral reports on their impressions of the weekend event at the council meeting on Thursday, April 16.
Councillor Maggie Hathaway’s resolution of seismic upgrades was reviewed at AVICC along with about 29 other resolutions. It was accepted at AVICC and will be heard at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities conference later in the year. If passed, the resolution may serve to help provide funding for upgrading city infrastructure.
Councillor CaroleAnn Leishman said she found the conference’s energy “positive and dynamic.” During the weekend she attended a workshops called Why Municipal Support is Necessary to Build Strong Communities through Affordable Housing and Converting Waste to Energy.
Councillor Karen Skadsheim said that the conference was “time well spent.” Skadsheim went to presentations on sewage treatment and waste to energy conversion. She said she was glad to see Sechelt council’s resolution on oil spill response and meet with City of Victoria mayor Lisa Helps to compare notes on building sewage treatment facilities.
Councillor Jim Palm said he had opted not to go to AVICC for the past number of years “to keep spending down.” This year he went over for one day for team building, to have the opportunity to get to know his fellow councillors better and to network. “In this community, partnership building goes a long way,” he said. Palm said he was pleased to see more support for the Island Coastal Economic Trust which has provided significant funds for outdoor recreation infrastructure development in the region.
One of the workshops Councillor Russell Brewer attended was a presentation by the Municipal Insurance Association of BC, a pooled insurer of municipalities around the province which offers lower cost coverage. Brewer said the presenter, who was surprisingly entertaining given the subject matter, talked about the level of insurance required if BC is hit with a large earthquake. “No one is going to have enough insurance to account for all the infrastructure that’s going to get destroyed,” he said.
Mayor Dave Formosa attended presentations on affordable housing and municipal insurance, among others. “For me, though, the biggest thing I get is being able to network with other mayors and councillors and talking about the problems we all have,” Formosa said. “I think it pays huge dividends.”
Councillor Rob Southcott said he came back from the hardworking weekend “feeling more inspired than exhausted.” Southcott went over an evening earlier so that he could attend a workshop on Friday morning called Building Cultural Bridges: Reconciliation in Action. Southcott also attended Powell River Regional District Director and AVICC director Colin Palmer’s “scorching” talk on coastal ferry service and a talk on private managed forest lands. Palmer is also chair of the Regional District Coastal Ferry Group “It was a very valuable time,” he said.
“I’m very happy we have the privilege to be sent to attend these things,” he added. “We come back with a wealth that will pay dividends.”
