Recap of Cache Creek Council Meeting March 15, 2021

Councillor Pittman made a motion to request that staff look into applying for the three grants to help with pool costs that were mentioned by MP Brad Vis in an email included in the March 1st agenda. These grants are the Canada Summer Jobs program that provides funding to hire summer students, Investing in Canada Infrastructure Fund and the Green Municipal Fund which can be applied for to cover infrastructure upgrades or renovations if they use sustainable materials or green measures. Councillor Peters didn’t think that there were any projects surrounding the pool that would fall under the Green Fund. Councilor Pittman stressed that time was of the essence to apply for these grants if there was any hope of using them to help open the pool this year. The motion passed, so staff will now look into the requirements of the grants and apply if they are able. Councillor Coomber provided some more information that the Interior Communities Foundation had requested for the Cache Creek Community Fund. She referred to the Lillooet Community Fund as an example of what Cache Creek would be using the funds for. A more detailed written report will be provided by Coomber at the next meeting.

Council had to decide whether to continue with the second and final reading of Bylaw 6-001 Zoning Amendment or to make a change to the buffer zone prior to proceeding. This Bylaw deals with rules around where possible Cannabis retail outlets will be allowed to operate within the village boundaries. Council Coomber made a motion to amend the buffer zone around schools and community halls from 200 m to 150 m. The motion was carried and the second and final reading of the bylaw were passed as well. With the adoption of the zoning amendment, potential cannabis retailers can now provide expressions of interest to the village.

Interior Health provided the results of their inspection of the Cache Creek pool that was completed on March 11th. The only note on the inspection was “Is the pool and equipment constructed, modified or repaired with proper approval?” The answer to that was “No” with a note indicating that the gas room that supplied chlorine to the disinfection system had been deactivated and replaced with a hypo-chlorinator pump without the benefit of a construction permit. A request was made to have this system approved by the public health engineers prior to opening. Councillor Pittman made a motion to have senior staff apply for the construction permit as per the request from the report. Councillors Peters and Dafoe suggested that it needed to be talked about at the next budget meeting, and Mayor Santo stated that a construction permit was not needed as there was a pre-existing injection system and that it was simply being replaced. Ultimately, the motion to apply for the permit was passed.

Councillor Coomber made a motion to look into the creation of a task force to look into drug related problems in town. She suggested the task force be composed of the Mayor, and representatives from the RCMP, Ambulance and Interior Health. The purpose of the task force would be to look for solutions to any problems uncovered outside the RCMP if possible. Councillor Coomber will look into this further and bring a more detailed report to the next council meeting. Council approved a motion to apply for funding through two new funding programs - Strengthening Communities Services Program, which can be used to address the impacts of homelessness, support people and strengthen community health and safety. And Local Government Development Approvals Program which is intended to support local governments in implementing established best practices and testing innovative approaches to improve development approvals processes. Which simply means, they can use the money to make improvements to the way municipalities approve development requests.

Council authorized the Village of Cache Creek to participate in the TNRD Invasive Plant service. This will cost the village $5000 a year, and allow residents to access all the services the Invasive Plant Services offers such as helping to deal with invasive plants on residential properties.