Skip to content

Open houses welcome input

Public sessions explain citys direction
Paul Galinski

In an effort to keep the public informed, City of Powell River hosted open houses on sustainability and strategic planning this past week.

The sustainability session was hosted at Dwight Hall, Tuesday, September 16, to explain progress that has been made on the integrated community sustainability plan (ICSP) and to determine priorities from those in attendance.

Dan Wilson, consultant with Whistler Centre for Sustainability, said the open house was concentrating on clarifying and prioritizing the aspirations that were drawn from the city’s sustainability charter and the recent sustainability official community plan.

Wilson said he wanted to highlight the ICSP online survey. It will help establish goals for the future, plus risks and opportunities that need to be considered. He wants to encourage anyone who hasn’t completed it to go online and fill it out before October 2. The survey can be found online.

On Thursday, September 18, in the foyer of city hall, posters outlining the city’s strategic planning process were displayed for the public to scrutinize.

Mac Fraser, the city’s chief administrative officer, said the incumbent council has really taken up the challenge to move from municipal operation oversight to becoming much more strategic community leaders.

“They have the confidence that we know what we are doing and where we are going,” he said. “They’ve got their eye on the horizon five, 10 years out, which is really good. If you just keep trying to balance the budget and pay the bills from year to year, you don’t get anywhere.”