It has been a great honour and pleasure to be your mayor. The municipality is in good shape it is well staffed and managed, has a proven capacity to deliver quality services and infrastructure, and the partnership between council and staff has created a record of accomplishment over the past three years. I am ready to turn over the helm and have others build on our successes. I am stepping out of politics after this council term.
The current council has been a pleasure to work with we have been hard-working, collegial and productive. Our diverse opinions have tested ideas through critical debate, and we never shied away from making tough decisions in a timely fashion. Working together, the accomplishments of council and staff over the past three years include the largest acquisition in community-owned infrastructure in the last 20 years, a new community-designed OCP to guide future development, and a fully staffed and effective municipal team. I am using the mayor's report, over the next two weeks, to highlight these accomplishments. This week I will cover infrastucture investments. Next week I will finish with community services, planning and development, fiscal management and municipal staffing.
Infrastructure investments
The expansion and environmental upgrade of the Snug Cove sewer treatment plant was a critical step required for a community centre, sale of municipal lands, advance of Belterra and Abbeyfield, and redevelopment of Snug Cove. We acquired $1.57 million from senior governments to augment $721,000 from the community to complete this project. Staff will develop options to recover this community investment through future users. Senior government declined funding for the necessary sewer main extensions, so a new source of funding is needed for this.
In its short life, the new artificial turf field has quickly become a vital recreation hub for the island. Community and staff acquired $362,000 of senior government money and council authorized $350,000 of community money (parks and recreation reserve funds) to complete the project. The field joins the golf course as the two major recreation facilities constructed on the island in the last 20 years. Construction of the turf field was highly controversial when proposed. This healthy debate, in the community and at the council table, led to a superior turf product that is recyclable and very safe. To ensure the lighting was designed so as not to compromise the quality of our night sky, council passed a night sky bylaw.
Rezoning a site for a new satellite fire hall is currently underway near the junction of Adams and Bowen Bay roads on the island's south side. This hall, the first new fire services building to be built on Bowen in the past 30 years, will be completed next year and improve fire services to the southern and western part of Bowen. Over the past three years, the fire department has used reserve funds to acquire a new fire emergency rescue vehicle ($199,000) to upgrade emergency response for the island.
Major road reconstruction projects were undertaken to prevented potential road-base failures on main island roads. Until 2008, due to lack of staff capacity, the roads budget had been under spent. This council authorized a major increase in roads spending (from $300K to $500K or more annually) to ensure completion of this work, rock slope stabilization, and other road surface and drainage improvements. These roads improvements are first steps towards implementation of staff's island-wide road management plan.
Planning for a community centre is proceeding and council designated land adjacent to the school. Our expectation is for a centre of modest scale that can be funded through community fund-raising. Council has required a business plan for the project, to ensure adequate funding for both capital and operating costs. Council has provided money ($58,000) and staff support for a contract project-manager, islander Florrie Levine, and an assessment of fund-raising potential in the community. The committee leading this initiative is chaired by Shari Ulrich, and supported by the Director of Community Recreation Services Christine Walker.
A number of other key public works and recreation assets have been acquired during this council term. Important new beach accesses have been constructed at Alder Cove, Scarborough Beach, Mount Gardner, and Eagle Cliff, a boardwalk at Headwaters Park, and trails near Crippen Park, and at Ocean View, Cates Hill, and Quarry Park (total of $175,000 of community money). A kilometre of spectacular shoreline trail was acquired through the requirements of subdivision of Cape Roger Curtis, and important new municipal parks have opened at Headwaters (on Cowan Point Road) and at Evergreen (above Bowen Bay). New vehicles for snow plowing have been acquired ($215,000 of community money). The municipality provided the land for Knick Knack Nook, the highly successful volunteer built and run re-use-it store. And the municipality finally received Department of Fisheries and Oceans approval for the Tunstall Bay boat launch (up to $220,000) for this key recreation asset and back-up emergency access to the island.
Next week, I will continue this review. If any one has specific questions on any of these projects and activities, feel free to contact me.
BOB TURNER
MAYOR
