Mayors Report for January 23, 2012
It has been quiet the last couple of weeks, but I did attend a day long session at the Regional District to review the budget and we will have more committee meetings this coming Thursday.
I attended the Business after Business on January 17, at the new bowling alley known as Vineyard Lanes. Congratulations to Gordon and Gloria who purchased the business this past spring and began the long renovation process. It is now open, has lots of high tech equipment, they often play live music, have great food and the surroundings look terrific. Many of us spent a lot of our time there when our kids were young and it is still a great place for family fun.
If you havent been out there lately, I encourage you to take the time to get out and play a few games.
Thank you to staff for organizing todays Goals and Prioritizes session with Gordon McIntosh. Tomorrow staff will meet again to discuss their goals. I admit, it was exhausting today but a great start and Council should be able to share our priorities in the next couple of weeks.
Janice Perrino
Mayor
Mayors Report for January 9, 2012
Happy New Year everyone and welcome back Council, to your first official meeting of 2012.
The last three weeks have been very quiet but Councillor Hallquist and I attended two meetings of the Regional District for the Okanagan, Similkameen, better known as the RDOS.
While we both sit at the table as Municipal Directors, I will also sit as the Chair for the Okanagan, Similkameen Regional Health District which we call the RHD.
It is the first time I have been able to attend these meetings and get an understanding of how the RDOS operates, how it affects all of our municipalities and the rural areas. We started the budget process and will continue with that later this week. Ive been surprised how issues at the Regional District affect Summerland and we need to be heard at that table. So both Councillor Hallquist and I will be bringing back information on a regular basis.
Thank you also Councillor Hallquist for being the Acting Mayor while I was out of town over the Christmas holiday.
Janice Perrino
Mayors Report for December 12, 2011
Thank you to Sheila from the Vanilla Pod for inviting all of council to attend the last Summerland Merchant Committee meeting on November 30. It was a full house with lots of ideas on activities that have been done over the past year and what will happen in the coming months. Some of the ideas included continuing with the very, popular movies in the park in the summer, bigger Canada Day festivities and more open markets.
I would like to thank the CUPE members for inviting all of council to their staff Christmas party on December 3, 2011. We had a fabulous dinner, music, prizes and short speeches; all the things that make for a great party. Thank you for a lovely evening and thank you for all the arrangements for free taxi rides home for the safety of our staff.
Thank you to her Honour, Judge Shaw for helping with the inauguration last Monday. It was nice to see so many family members out to watch the council take their oath of our office. Congratulations everyone.
Community Futures invited all of us to attend their information event last Thursday evening. Several companies from Summerland received advice and support from Community Futures and were there to talk about their own experiences and successes. It was exciting to hear so many success stories. I encourage anyone who is considering opening a new business to talk to Community Futures to help get you on the right track.
Congratulations to Carol and all of the staff at the Summerland Medicine Centre. I helped cut the ribbon for their grand opening on Friday, December 9th. The store looks fantastic. We wish you much success.
Finally, this is the season to be with family and friends. Tonight as we wish you the very best of the holiday season, and a prosperous New Year, may we ask you to remember not to drink and drive, be safe and keep healthy.
Thank you
Janice Perrino
December 5, 2011
Mayor Janice Perrinos Inaugural Address:
To begin, thank you to her Honour, Judge Shaw for conducting the swearing in ceremony.
It has been a privilege to sit in the Mayors chair for the last three years and it is with great pleasure and humility that I preside as Mayor of Summerland and the leader of this team for another term.
I have had great respect for the accumulation of wisdom, knowledge and talent that has been represented by this past council and I am deeply thankful for all of the incredible goals we set and achieved over the past three years.
To Councillors; Gordon Clark, Ken Roberge, Jim Kyluik and Sam Elia this community sincerely thanks you for your significant personal contributions at this table and I was honoured to serve with you. We wish you much success and prosperity in your new ventures.
My congratulations to all of the members of council on their success November 19th. Our community has elected a council with a wide range of background and experience which will provide balance and new energy.
Council, the work you have ahead will be difficult, complicated and sometimes downright painful but I know the past Council put Summerland on the right path. They laid the groundwork for you and I know you will keep this community moving forward.
To the staff, on behalf of the past Council, I wish to extend a very sincere and heartfelt thank you for the invaluable service you provide, not only to Council in the delivery of our mandate, but also for your professionalism and commitment to serve the residents of our community. We look forward to working with you this coming term.
To the community, we are here to serve you and are thankful for the trust you have placed in us. We will continue to be open and accessible and will work diligently on your behalf. We all stepped forward to serve because we love this community and want it to be healthy, safe, prosperous and strong.
We must do everything we can to preserve and promote our agricultural land, our business community, tourism capabilities and provide adequate housing for all of our families from the young on up to our seniors. Our obligation is to secure a healthy, vibrant future for Summerland in which we can live, work and play. We have so much to be thankful for, so much to celebrate.
Thank you everyone.
Mayors Report for November 28, 2011
Thank you to Arlene at Edgy Petals, I attended her Business After Business on November 17th. Her beautiful store is already dressed up for the Christmas season. Hope you can all get in to say hello.
To all of the people who came out to vote in last weeks civic election; thank you for taking the time. We were down about 1,000 voters from the last election in 2008 but the weather was very cold and windy. Still it is such an important part of our democracy.
Thank you to our Elections Officer, Maureen Fugeta and to all of the people who helped run the voting areas.
The Festival of Lights was held this past Friday night with good weather, lots of wonderful food, fun, fireworks, pop-up stores and even Elvis. It was a sensational evening with one of the largest crowds we have ever seen. Many of the stores have already told me they did well and the pop-up stores generated extra excitement. Thank you to the many volunteers who help make this event a reality.
As well, on the Saturday, the Light Up the Vines, a new event for Summerland was completely sold out with 360 tickets. This was the first year and although there were a few problems with buses finding all of the wineries, everyone was reported to have had a great time.
Our thanks to SCEDT for their work on both of these projects. Their staff and board members did an outstanding job.
I have very sad news to share. Kent Israel, the minister from the United Church passed away a few days ago. Kent and his wife Susanne have only been in Summerland a few years but they are well known, well respected and have done a great deal of work for this community. I will always personally remember Kent dropping by my office while visiting with members of his congregation in the hospital. He would poke his head in to say hello just see how I was doing and to ask, if being Mayor was getting me down. He was a wonderful person, an incredible minister and we will miss him terribly. We were blessed to have him in our community.
Janice Perrino
Mayor
Mayors report for November 14, 2011
Nov. 13 to Nov. 20th is Restorative Justice Week. This years theme is Re-visioning Justice and is an opportunity to learn about restorative justice across the country.
Congratulations to the Canadian Institute of Management for hosting their seminar in Summerland at the Waterfront Resort and thank you for inviting me to give the opening remarks.
I would like to thank the Summerland Chamber of Economic Development and Tourism for allowing me to speak at their recent business luncheon regarding my council goals for the next three years.
Pastor Rick Gay at the Alliance Church has hosted the special Royal Canadian Legion church service for nearly twenty years, thank you to all of the members who attended and to the congregation for the terrific lunch we all shared.
November 11 was cold, windy and damp but we had huge crowd in Memorial Park, we had George Ferguson, a 101 year old Veteran send the Canadian flag up the pole and we had veterans and Legion members lead in by the Summerland Pipe Band; it was a great day.
Our Royal Canadian Legion Branch #22 celebrated all of the past and present veterans and they remind all of us to wear poppies and be thankful for our democracy and our freedom. Thank you to President John Dorn and all of the members that make our Legion one of the best in the province.
Mayor Janice Perrino
Mayors report for October 11, 2011
Along with many other mayors and councillors across BC, I attended the UBCM from Sept 26 to the 30th. There was a good attendance from all around the province and we were kept busy with the wide variety of meetings and activities. Don De Gagne and I had ministerial meetings with transportation minister, Blair Lekstrom regarding transit in and around the South Okanagan. We talked about what we were promised in the past and why transit is still important to our community today. Along with Director Michael Brydon, Mayor Dan Ashton in his role as the Chair of the RDOS several staff other others, we met with Glen Brown from the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development regarding water issues to do with a grant application for the Faulder residents. Then Don and I along with all of the other mayors and councillors from the valley met the Health Minister, Mike De Jong regarding the testing of beach water up and down the valley and finally we met with Minister Shirley Bond regarding the correctional facility that is due to be located somewhere in the South Okanagan. Although we didnt receive any new information, Minister Bond was apologetic for making allof the communities wait for answers.
I felt good about all of the meetings, learned a lot of new information from the seminars and saw some of the new fascinating products that communities are purchasing to provide better service for their citizens. It was a good week.
On September 30th, I attended the grand opening of the newly renovated Dirty Laundry Winery. It was a fun, jam-packed evening. Congratulations to everyone involved in making that facility such a success story. We wish you all the best for the future.
On October 1, I attended the annual Health Fair at the Seniors Drop In Centre. Its always a busy event and I think a great event to let the public know what health services there are in Summerland and around the region.
I attended the Sport BC Community Sport Hero Awards which were presented on October 5th at the Waterfront Resort. I would like to congratulate the outstanding work of the following volunteers; Cheryl Jaeger, for her work in curling, to Frank Kuroda, for his work in multi-sports, to Carol Van Balkom, and Brad Smith for their work in girls softball, to Pat Mayne for her work in skating and to Diane Parchomchuk for her work in Triathlon. Congratulations to these incredible people. You make our community better, stronger and a happier place for all of us. Thank you.
Finally, I would like to say congratulations to Okanagan Crush Pad winery. They officially opened their doors this past week. We wish you the much success and prosperity in the future.
Janice Perrino,
Mayor
Mayors Report for September 26th, 2011
The past two weeks have been busy so I will just highlight a few of the activities I attended. On September 15th I went to the Business After Business event at the new Jubilee Dental office. Its a beautiful building with all of the latest technology in dental equipment. My best wishes to all of the staff for a very successful future.
On September 16th, I got to drop the official first puck for the new Summerland Steam hockey team. My best wishes to the players, coaches and managers for a long future in Summerland. To the team; be safe, play fair and have fun!
Thank you to the councillors and staff who attended the Volunteer Dinner that we hosted last week for nearly 50 council committee members. Thank you everyone, volunteers are priceless!
On Saturday, September 24th I attended the Open House for the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre, better known as PARC. They had a full house for the tours, displays and activities for the kids. It has been 10 years since the last open house so Dr. Kenna Mackenzie, the Research Manager promised to host more of these events in the future. Thank you to all of the staff of PARC.
Congratulations to Dr. Curtis Brown, who recently won Canadas School Superintendent of the Year. Dr. Brown was born and raised in Summerland and graduated from Summerland Secondary School in 1980.
And finally, I attended the memorial service for Mr. Stephen Dunsdon this past Saturday. Mr. Dunsdon was a born and raised Summerlander and lived to be 92 years old. He was a veteran in the Second World War and became very active in the Royal Canadian Legion when he returned. In fact, his nick-name was Mr. Legion because of his involvement and love for the Royal Canadian Legion. He was the only living Summerland resident and Legion member to become the Dominion President for the Royal Canadian Legion. This is an achievement very few people realize in their career. Steve was an incredible gentleman.
I would like to thank everyone who spoke about Mr. Dunsdon on Saturday but special thanks for the thoughtful speech given by Legion President Dorn. Well done John.
We will miss you Steve!
Janice Perrino, Mayor
Mayors Report for September 12th, 2011
The past month as been a busy one for Summerland with lots of activities going on for all ages.
Congratulations to the nearly 100 young readers from the Library Summer Reading Club who were given their metals on August 25th. Special thanks to Josh from Murrays Pizza who gives every youngster a free pizza for completing their reading goals.
The same night, the Community Cultural Committee hosted a roundtable event at the IOOF Hall for everyone interested in expressing their opinions about Summerlands culture. It was a full house and Barbara Thorburn and Margaret Holler will be posting their findings and recommendations from that evening on our website in the near future.
Congratulations to every participant in the Kids of Steel and Sprint Triathlon Race on Sept 4th. Special thanks to the Summerland Orca Swim Club for hosting this popular event.
The annual Summerland Fall Fair was held this past weekend with hundreds of crafts, agricultural and viticulture exhibits. Something new this year; there was a wine judging event being hosted by ReMax Realty followed up by a wine tasting at the arena that was huge hit with the crowd.
The Fall Fair is always busy and fun for the whole family. This event could not be done without the hard work of the board of directors and the support of dozens of volunteers, including our own Ken Roberge. Thank you to everyone and especially all of the tables set up with all of the societies and venders.
The Summerland Show and Shine was held on Saturday as well with nearly 300 beautiful vintage cars for the crowds to drool over. The Mayors award was given out for a 1955 Ford Fairlane owned by John and Joyce Richter. Congratulations to everyone.
I would like to thank the Summerland Pipe band who piped in at the opening of the Summerland Fall Fair and the Show and Shine.
And finally, I was asked to speak to the Dragon Boat Breast Cancer Teams yesterday during the dragon boat races at Skaha Lake Beach. It is an incredible experience to see hundreds of carnations thrown in the water to honour those lost to breast cancer. Thank you to the organizers for the honour of speaking at this special event.
Janice Perrino
Mayors report for August 22, 2011
Thank you to Copper Drew for her invitation to attend a function at the Ornamental Gardens last weekend. This was a fundraiser for a Vancouver organization.
I want to tell you about two buildings that are well worth checking out. The first is the IOOF Hall on Main St near the high school. There is a new historical mural on the east and front sides of the building and it is outstanding. My congratulations to the Museum and the Community Cultural Development Committee for their work on this special project.
The second building is the Fire Hall. Its been 30 years since the last facade upgrades and we know the building needs to live on for about another 30 years, so the building has a new look. Go and see the colour of the building and the rock work, its incredible what a difference it has made. Special thanks to the Fire Chief Glenn Noble and Chad Gartrell.
My hope is that more buildings in the downtown area consider a beautification project on their buildings as well. There is nothing like a new paint job to spring life back into an older building. If you would like more information, contact the Planning Department at the Municipal Hall.
Janice Perrino
Mayors Report for August 8, 2011
I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful Okanagan weather. It took a while to come but the last couple of weeks remind us all how important the summer heat is to our agricultural community, tourism and the day to day joy of our residents. We hope you get out to enjoy the beaches, the peaches, the restaurants, wineries and all local shopping. This time of year is short and sweet!
Congratulations to all of participants of the UltraMan race held on the long weekend with the finish line in Memorial Park. The UltraMan race is like no other. These athletes are some of the best in the country.
Many of us who watched the final leg of the race got to meet Astronaut Alvin Drew, who flew in Challenger. He was in Summerland visiting friends. That was quite a thrill.
Congratulations as well to the Peach City, Tees Up For Cancer golf tournament held this past weekend. Their goal was to raise $35,000 towards their pledge of $100,000 for the CT Scan and Penticton Regional Hospital.
Janice Perrino
Mayors Report for July 24, 2011
Thank you to Fire Chief Glenn Noble and his staff for hosting a BBQ on July 12 for the Emergency Social Services, better known as the ESS committee. We were able to honour Ruth Manning on her official retirement from the Summerland ESS group.
Yesterday, up at the Ornamental Gardens, by the Research Centre; the Friends of the Garden, hosted a tea to celebrate their 20th Anniversary of volunteering with the gardens. They talked about the volunteers forming 20 years ago and what their first projects were that included two of my favourite areas, the Xeriscaping garden and the butterfly garden. The volunteers have been able to do an amazing amount of work with very little funding. I encourage everyone to become a member of this worth while group and get out to enjoy the gardens whenever possible. They looked stunning yesterday.
Finally, our corporate officer Gill Matthews is away on vacation today, probably because she knew I was going to mention this tonight.
Gill Matthews is retiring as of July 31 and her last day of work is this Friday. She has been with the corporation since 2000, almost exactly 11 years. Gill has attended more council meetings than any of us at this table, she has carried out three elections here in Summerland but many more elections before in Kelowna, as well as several referendums, public hearings and literally hundreds of committee meetings. After more than 35 years in Municipal government, this retirement is well deserved. On behalf of this council and the staff for the District of Summerland, thank you Gill, you have been a great asset to this organization. We will miss you Gill; come back to visit often but enjoy this new and important stage of your life.
Janice Perrino
Mayors report for July 11, 2011
I would like to thank the Summerland Royal Canadian Legion, the Summerland Pipe Band, the Air Cadets, the Summerland Chamber of Economic Development and Tourism staff and directors and all of the other folks that put on the Canada Day activities at Memorial Park for July 1.
With the flag raising, music, good weather and enough hamburgers, hot dogs, cake and ice cream for everyone, it was a happy crowd. Thank you to everyone involved. I hope this becomes an annual event.
We had hoped to hear whether or not Summerland was being considered for the Correctional Centre proposed in the South Okanagan. As everyone knows, this council did submit a site for the facility, north of Summerland off of Highway 97 but still within our boundaries. As of today, we have had no updates and have no further information for you.
We may get information in an hour, a week, a month; we just dont know. As soon as we hear something, well let you know.
Janice Perrino
Mayors report for June 27th, 2011
I would like to thank the Bonitas Winery for inviting me to attend the Business After Business event on June 16. The winery has a magnificent view, the Bistro is gorgeous and the food and wine is excellent. Congratulations to their staff and management and I hope they have another excellent summer.
I would like to congratulate the Summerland Environmental Science Group (SESG) who have earned $2,200 through the BC Hydro Community Champion. This award is for making their community a better and more sustainable place.
Glenfir School grade 11 students James Taylor and Derek Nystrom nominated SESG as their local community champion this year for assisting youth in understanding the importance of preserving the environment through supporting environmental projects in partnership with the community. Their efforts ranged from offering professional, science-based advice to guide land-use decisions, organizing Earth Day initiatives for local schools and Summerland citizens to starting an Environmental Club at the Trout Creek elementary school.
A total of 15 recipients in communities across the province are being recognized for their conservation efforts.
In its fifth year, the BC Hydro Community Champion Program put out a call for nominations in December. BC Hydro asked B.C. students from Grade 4 to Grade 12 to nominate a local not-for- profit organization that supports sustainability, conservation, or environmental initiatives in BC that is making a difference and deserves to be recognized.
Well done Summerland Environmental Science Group, you make us proud!
And finally, congratulations and best of luck to Katie Hicks, Principal at the Summerland Middle School who is retiring this month. She has given many years of her skills and leadership to the students. We appreciate all that you have given to Summerland Mrs. Hicks, enjoy your well earned retirement.
Janice Perrino
Mayors Report for June 13, 2011
I would like to mention a couple of special events I attended over the last three weeks.
Thank you to the RCMP who invited me to attend their first volunteer appreciation BBQ on May 25th to thank the Citizens on Patrol better known as the COPS.
On May 29th I attended the Royal Canadian 902 Air Cadet Squadron 21st Annual Ceremonial Review and Awards. Congratulations to Flight Sergeants Simon Bambey and Austin Collins on receiving awards for outstanding service.
I attended the volunteers tea to honour the more than 150 people who volunteer at our health care facilities every year in Summerland. You all make a very significant difference to the quality of care for people in need.
It was a perfect weather weekend for Action Fest last week. I attended the Friday night and Saturday activities and Summerland was busy everywhere. Thank you to Pat Bell and all of the volunteers who have been putting on this event for 29 years. It gets better every year.
SADI, the youth organization had their AGM and annual BBQ on June 6th. Congratulations to the staff and the board for getting through a difficult year financially and for remaining positive about the future.
The Summerland Health Care Auxiliary held their year end wrap up dinner for more than 100 of their volunteers that I attended. This organization is one of Summerlands top business and they are a full contributing member of our business community. They give out over $300,000 in grants to a variety of organizations all over the region. They are amazing - thank you to everyone involved.
If you have not been up to the Chamber office lately, go check it out. They just opened their new store last Friday and they are selling products from all the different artisans in Summerland. If you need a special gift; it is a great place to find a product made in Summerland.
Our thanks to MLA Bill Barisoff and the provincial government for the gaming grants given out last week to Summerland community groups. The Summerland Orca Swim Club received $15,000, the Summerland Figure Skating Club received $15,000 and the Summerland Community Arts Council received $25,000.
Janice Perrino, Mayor
Mayors report for Tuesday, May 24, 2011
The Young Entrepreneur 2011 Awards luncheon was hosted on May 17th in Penticton. Several High School student teams were entered from the Penticton area and three Middle School teams that entered were all from Summerland. It was exciting to see how these young people started their business, how they are marketing their business and how successful they are in their community. They were all questioned as if they were on a Dragons Den show. The third place winners were Oceans Manicures and Pedicures; congratulations to Bailey Johnson, Grace Zwyssig and Aleah Nesdoly. Second place awards went to Cookie Bowl; congratulations to Megan Turner and Shila Weaver and first place went to CNC Toys; congratulations to Cameron Soo and Colton Rodd.
Last Friday the ribbon was cut and we officially opened Prairie Valley and Rosedale Roads with our MLA, the Honourable Bill Barisoff and the Honourable Ron Cannon standing in for our MP Dan Albas. Avery special thanks to all of the companies who have helped to bring this project to completion.
Right after that we went over to turn the sod for the new RCMP Detachment. Unitech, the construction company has a big job ahead of them but we hope to see the completion of the building by about April 2012.
It has taken many years to see these projects move forward and completed. It was certainly a day to celebrate.
Finally, I couldnt help myself, even with the dozens of gorgeous classic cars to view; a beautiful 1964 red Dodge Dart caught my heart for the Mayors award at the Blossom Run on Saturday in Memorial Park. The weather was perfect; the venue of having the cars on grass in the park was much nicer than using the street and the entertainment was all fun.
The Blossom Run organizers give an award of a fully loaded tool box to the top mechanic at Summerland Secondary School. Congratulations to this years winner; Jessie Evans.
My thanks to Frank Kinney and all of the organizers who put on this terrific family event every year. Thank you for hosting this event in Summerland!
Janice Perrino
Mayor of Summerland
Mayors report for May 9, 2011
May is National Missing Childrens Month. In 2009 over 10,000 cases of missing children were reported in BC and over 50,000 cases in Canada.
May is also Vision Health Month and today was one of the first full days that was perfect for wearing sunglasses.
Thank you to the Royal Canadian Legion for hosting and inviting me to attend VE Day on May 1 out at Canyonview Cemetery. A candle is lit in honour of all the veteran families. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and a great dinner with the Legion members.
A big thank you to Lara Rudniski, Rick Leardo, Ron McDowell and Don Rajacich for serving up an awesome Safety and Health breakfast last Thursday morning. It was a great start to the day for all of the employees in the district.
Thank you to everyone who supported the 8th Annual Have a Heart Telethon put on by Astral Media at Cherry Lane Shopping Centre in Penticton. The community really came together and raised $110,000 dollars for pediatric medical equipment for the nursery/maternity, emergency and surgical departments.
I attended the Blossom Pageant on Saturday evening and watched the 2011/2012 Queen and two Princesses crowned. All of the young women did very well and I know their families were very proud of them.
History Television, a production out of Toronto spent several days here in Summerland last week to film our Kettle Valley Railway and in particular our famous 1912 Steam Locomotive, the 3716. History tells us that at the end of the American Civil War the Baldwin Company constructed steam locomotives and over the next 75 years constructed 33,000 locomotives all over North America. Between 1901 and 1926 our own CPR acquired 596 of these locomotives. Their purpose was not speed, but to haul tonnage on difficult grades; perfect for our Canadian railway. Our own 3716 entered service in 1912 with the CPR which oddly enough was the same year the Titanic sank.
Today there are 4 CPR steam locomotives remaining in Canada, 3 of which are on static display. Summerland, BC has the unique distinction as the home of the only operating 3716 steam locomotive, better known as a Consolidation Sub Class N2b. This bit of history in motion provides a multidimensional experience for young and old alike and after a century she continues to run with a great head of steam as the sound of her whistle echoes through the valley as she heads down the track.
The 3716 received her official name on Sunday and she will forever be called the Spirit of Summerland. There will even be a new song produced in her honour by Canadian singer/songwriter Matt Mays.
The Spirit of Summerland will ride all summer with over 30,000 passengers. I hope that all of you get a chance to enjoy an afternoon with this old gal.
Janice Perrino
Mayor
Mayors report for April 25, 2011
April 28th is the National Day of Mourning when Canada commemorates workers whose lives have been lost or injured in the workplace. The numbers are staggering. In 2009, 939 workplace deaths were recorded in Canada, down from 1036 the previous year. This represents more than 2.57 deaths every single day.
In the seventeen year period from 1993 to 2009, 15,129 people lost their lives due to work-related causes (an average of 889 deaths per year). Lets all be careful in our place of work.
The last two weeks have been very busy with all of the Earth Week events. I want to say a very special thank you to Barbara Thorburn, Margaret Holler and Lisa Scott.
Lisa started and continues to organize all the events on the actual Earth Day at Dale Meadows park for all of the clean up projects and Barbara and Margaret organized all of the events over the week.
There were many people involved in the different activities and I would like to thank everyone who got involved and participated around town. Summerland had to be one of the busiest spots in BC. We had a lot of family fun.
I attended the Philosophers Caf last week, put on by the Community Cultural Development Committee, better known as the CCDC. A full house listened to an Agricultural Panel about some of the problems our local farmers are faced with everyday. There were many different discussions such as insect control, water metering and how the apple, cherry and grape industry is changing. It was a really interesting evening.
My thanks to the Summerland Arts Council and the Summerland Golf Club for allowing me to speak to their executive about the goals and objectives of this council. As always, excellent questions and comments.
The Rotary Club Spring Fling was held last weekend. At the last minute they asked me to emcee the event along with Robert Fine. It was great fun and over $12,000 was raised for community projects.
Thank you Rotary; your continued dedication to this community is very impressive.
Janice Perrino,
Mayor
Mayors report for April 11, 2011
On March 29th the Summerland Chamber of Economic Development and Tourism ( SCEDT) held their Annual General Meeting. They had a good crowd from the business community and it was an excellent discussion about their past year and what activities they are planning for this coming year. Thank you to the SCEDT staff and board directors for all of their work, commitment to the community and for their progress.
April is Daffodil Month and that ought to remind you of the Canadian Cancer Society and the work they do across Canada to support cancer research, prevention and treatment. This is the month we encourage you to wear a daffodil pin proudly and support this worthy cause.
I was so pleased to hear this story about Summerlanders reaching out to share with others in need around the world.
Rick Cogbill, a local author and former automotive shop owner recently joined forces with Bob Denesiuk, a local building contractor, and traveled to Africa where they spent 5 weeks on building and maintenance projects at a mission base operated by SAM Ministries. SAMM is a Canadian organization engaged in holistic ministry and development work in Mozambique, Southern Africa. Their programs include orphan & widow care, rural clinics, a primary school & preschool, sustainable agriculture, training for church leaders, feeding programs, woman's literacy, and much more.
Along with constructing buildings and fixing cars, both Rick and Bob spent a great deal of their time teaching the basics of their trades to the local men they worked with. They call it Skills with a Purpose.
Rick and Bob travelled under the banner of Mercy Tech Mission, a not-for-profit organization based here in Summerland that has the mandate of taking skilled workers over to Third World countries where they can work on important projects while teaching the local workers a trade. The goal is to see the people there empowered by these new skills, so that they can find better jobs and thereby improve the standard of living for both them and their families.
This was Bob Denesiuks first trip to Africa, but Rick Cogbill has now been to Africa three times. Rick will be returning again in August of this year, as Mercy Tech Mission embarks on its second official trip. Traveling with him this time will be an Automotive Technical Instructor from a major vocational institute in Alberta. Their goal is to begin a formal Automotive Repair Training program in Mozambique, and there are already 5 prospective students waiting to start their lessons.
It is great to see the citizens of Summerland doing what they can to help those in need around the world. Mercy Tech Mission is a local organization, and I encourage the people of Summerland to visit www.mercytechmission.com to learn how you can become personally involved in changing someones life.
Janice Perrino
Mayor
Mayors Report for March 28, 2011
I would like to thank Patrick Murphy and all of the organizers for the Summerland Outlook Conference held at Centre Stage on March 15. Speakers included Chief Clarence Louie, of the Osoyoos Indian Band and Andy Oakes, President Okanagan Hockey Academy. Both gentlemen spoke about their own personal successes and how the Summerland business environment could improve. Thank you to all of the councillors who attended.
Congratulations to the Summerland Library who held their 75th anniversary on Saturday March 19th. A little trivia about the library; they have about 80,000 visits per year and lend out more than 130,000 books per year. Thank you for being there Councillor Sam Elia.
Thank you to the Rotary Club for allowing me to come to their meeting last Tues, March 22 to talk about this councils goals and objectives for this coming year.
Hopefully many of you enjoyed an hour this past Saturday night without electricity to celebrate Earth Hour. Earth Day Week is coming up from April 10th to the 16th. There are many activities planned for every member of the family from the clean up work at Dale Meadows park, to the Green Business Expo, to the Philosophers Caf, the Art Gallery fun and the Summerland Street Fair.
The media sources will have information on the schedule of events and it will be listed on the District of Summerland website at www.summerland.ca Watch for it this coming week.
Thank You
Janice Perrino
Mayor
Mayors Report for March 14, 2011
On behalf of the citizens of Summerland, we wish to send our deepest sympathies to our Sister City Toyokoro for what their country of Japan is going through. It is devastating to hear about the lives that have been lost and to see the damage that has occurred all over this beautiful country.
We have all been so worried about the people and the town of Toyokoro. Although, we have heard they did not suffer extensive damage, we realize many in the area have family members and friends who live in the most affected regions. We wish to send our sincere condolences.
We wish them well during these difficult days and to know that they are our thoughts and prayers for everyones safety and recovery.
March is Community Social Services Awareness month. Organizations involved with Community Social Services have three major goals: to increase awareness about the value of community social services to the citizens of our community; to change and expand perceptions about the people who use these services and their importance to our community and; to build greater public support for the services they provide and the work that they do.
FortisBC urges customers to switch off for Earth Hour from 8:30 9:30 pm on Saturday, March 26, 2011. Earth hour is a great opportunity for us to all think about the energy we use and how we use it. Making small lifestyle changes can significantly impact our collective conservation efforts. Last year, FortisBC customers from 32 different communities pledged support for Earth Hour and helped save more than six megawatts of electricity during Earth Hour that is an equivalent of turning off 106,000 lights.
I would like to thank the Yacht Club, the Kiwanis and Lions Clubs for allowing me to come and speak over the past two weeks to their members about the goals and objectives of council. Good questions and great input from everyone, thank you.
Congratulations to SADI! They raised about $12,000 thousand dollars at their gala dinner at Zias on March 8th. My thanks to the SADI board of directors, all the kids and especially Claude and Shannon of Zias for all of their help to make the evening a major success.
I want to thank the citizens of Summerland for sharing your opinions, your concerns and your knowledge with all of us last Monday evening at Centre Stage about the possibility of a Corrections Facility in Summerland. The District staff and the BC Corrections Branch staff gave us the best information they could to help us understand what it is like to have a facility like this in our community. I apologize to everyone we had to turn away at the door. We were jammed full.
Council spent a great deal of time talking about the location sites for a facility this morning. We are considering everything. There may be tremendous economic benefits but we must also consider infrastructure costs both now and in the future, how this would affect our policing, fire department, water and waste water treatment plants and how this might affect growth in the future and where growth is best located. We have asked staff to bring us all of the issues they can think of so that we can make an informed decision. We will have to make final decision on what sites if any, are best to submit to the province before the end of March. We will keep you informed. Please remember at the end of this journey it will be up to province to decide on a location.
One thing we can all agree on; a Corrections Facility somewhere in the South Okanagan is a good idea. Even if it isnt located in Summerland, as long as it is in our region, we believe our community will still have the benefits. If you would like support the idea of having a Corrections Facility located somewhere in the South Okanagan, we encourage you to send us a letter of support.
We will be asking various groups in Summerland if they are interested in signing a letter to say they support a Corrections Facility somewhere in the South Okanagan. If you wish to sign the letter, get it back to us before March 30 and we will send it to the Solicitor Generals office.
Thank You
Janice Perrino
Mayor
Mayors Report for February 28, 2010
Thank you to the Royal Canadian Legion, the Kinsmen Club, the Rebecca Lodge, the Sweet Tooth coffee group and the Seniors Drop In Society for allowing me to speak to their members at their club meetings over the past two weeks.
We talked a lot about Councils goals and priorities for this coming year and answered questions about the projects were working on right now, the problems our community is facing and the challenges we have to look at over the next few years.
Thank you to everyone for your insight, for your wisdom, you were all very gracious to me and I appreciate your support.
On a final note, everyone in this community knows we are all suffering from the downtrend in the economy. It has never been more important to remember that we must support our local business all over town. In speaking to one of the stores on Main Street today, their business has always thrived until this winter. They need our help to keep on going.
We all know you cant buy everything in Summerland but try to give Summerland businesses the first chance. We have beautiful boutiques and shops on our Main St., a wide variety of womens clothing and accessories, we have fantastic restaurants and services in areas you might not have realized before. Our prices are competitive and the service is outstanding. Since my husband and I have started building our home, were so impressed with the professional construction businesses we have in town. So far, Summerland businesses have given by far the most competitive pricing.
So I encourage everyone to check out Summerland businesses first. I know youll be impressed and they need your support. Lets help each other to keep Summerland strong.
Janice Perrino
Mayor
Mayors Report for February 14, 2011
Happy Valentine Everyone!
Thank to the Summerland Museum for allowing me to come and speak to the board of directors about councils goals and objectives on Feb 3. Its great to get so many valuable questions and concerns about what is happening in the community.
A very Happy 90th Birthday to Bill LaPlante on February 5. Bill was honoured by his friends and fellow golfers at a reception at the Summerland Golf Club.
Thank you to Lisa, the staff and all of the board of directors of SCEDT, the Summerland Chamber of Economic Development and Tourism for a fabulous awards dinner on Feb 5th. The entertainment, decorations, auction items and food was incredible. Thank you to everyone for their hard work to make this event special.
It was a night when we heard a lot about the winners but I want everyone to remember something more important. Those people who were nominated make an incredible difference in our community. Because of them, people want to live, work and volunteer in Summerland. Congratulations to everyone and thank you for the work that you do for Summerland.
On a final note, the Mayors Award of Excellence went to the Summerland Health Care Auxiliary and I would like to quickly read to you a portion of what was said that evening.
If I said to you, I want you to start your work day at 5:00am, sometimes seven days a week, go through several bags of peoples unwanted trash. I want you to throw anything out that you cant salvage but everything else you have to repair, wash, iron, hang, price and sell for as little as a quarter. If I told you, that you will have line ups every day the store is open and that you will serve hundreds of people from all over the region who visit the store over the course of a year. That you will go home exhausted only to be expected to start all over again the next day and by the way in your spare time you will be asked to work at the Summerland Health Centre and Dr. Andrew Pavilion taking care of our special seniors and you will do this well into your own eighties and nineties.
I should tell you, that your business will have to pay full business taxes, all of your business utilities and you must maintain your building at your own cost.
Oh and one more thing, you will do all of that knowing you will never make a dime in salary, you wont get vacation pay and youll never get a pension. Wouldnt you think I was off the wall to even suggest such a thing?
Who am I talking about, in fact Im talking about is one of most successful, the most generous and the most giving organizations in Summerlands history.
You know those quarters I talked about, well they add up. This year this organization will reach a milestone, they will have raised over $4 million dollars and just about everything is given back to this community and around the region. The Summerland Health Centre has received over $1.5 million and Penticton Regional Hospital has received over $1 million dollars. They support many other non profit organizations including nine bursaries so our youth will have a little help in their future health care careers.
They have over 200 members 13 who are life time members. Some members have well over 50 years of service. This organization is 101 years young!
Ladies and gentle I cant think of an organization that better deserves the Mayors Award of Excellence than the Summerland Health Care Auxiliary. Congratulations to all of the members.
Janice Perrino, Mayor
Mayors Report for January 24, 2011
Thank you to Tyler and Jenny of Little Chick Daycare who gave me a tour of their facility which is the building that will be next door to the new RCMP Detachment. They have a thriving operation with lots of children from age two and up and hope to expand to infants later this year. Their biggest problem is getting the trained staff they need. By the summer of 2011 they hope to have employed up to seven staff. Their facility looks very much like a Toys R Us store filled with toys, games and children Well done Tyler and Jenny!
Thank you as well to the Summerland Kiwanis Club who asked me to come and do a presentation about our Sister City Japan tour. It forced me to go over the thousands of photos taken and pick out a few to show what an amazing experience we all had.
I attended the Business After Business at The Beanery last Thursday night and they had a full house. That business is quite a success story. Thank you to SCEDT for hosting the event.
Two things we would like to inform the public of; the construction company is back at work during this milder weather on Rosedale and Prairie Valley Roads. Please keep a watch out for workers as you drive. The goal is to be finished by the end of March.
The survey for the public regarding the Correctional Centre site will be available February 1. If you go to www.summerland.ca you will have an opportunity to read the information and complete the survey.
This will also be addressed as part of our February newsletter and if you dont have a computer, feel free to come to Municipal Hall and well give you a survey to fill out by hand.
Summerland said goodbye to a very special pioneer on Saturday afternoon. Mrs. Edith Hallquist passed away and her life was celebrated with song and stories. She was 96 years young. Gerry and Edith Hallquist came to Summerland in 1946 with their six week old baby, that is our own Councillor Bruce Hallquist. They purchased the Cake Box Bakery and later started the 5c to $1.00 store which we all remember as the place to shop. We all have stories of Gerry and Edith. Crazy Day coins off the roof of their business, Edith helping people in need and I will never forget Gerry yelling during elections for everyone to speak up and Edith being embarrassed. They were special and unique. It feels a little like the end of an era but Summerland is a much better community because of your parents and their legacy will continue to live on in all of our memories. Thank you Bruce.
Janice Perrino, Mayor
Mayors Report for January 10, 2011
Happy New Year everyone, we would like to wish you good health and happiness over this coming year.
It has been very quiet over the past month however I did attend a Crime Stoppers media event and I would like to congratulate them for another successful year.
The past year has been very busy and although we have been pleased with what was accomplished, we still have a lot of plans and goals for this coming year. Council will be doing our strategic planning session with staff in the next couple of weeks and will talk more about that hopefully at the next council meeting.
Mayor Janice Perrino
Mayors report for December 13, 2010
The Community Prevention Education Continuum (CPEC) is a framework for prevention to deliver consistent and focused drug prevention messaging to our youth from kindergarten through grade 12. On November 23, I attended the RCMP Drugs & Organized Crime Awareness Service presentation that focuses on ways for our community to assist in helping our youth to grow up making healthy decisions and wise choices. This is an initiative they are working on over the coming months for all of our Okanagan communities. Well hear more information in the future as this unfolds.
The Festival of Lights was held on November 26th and although the lights did not initially turn on as was expected, it was a fun night for everyone. We had more venders this year than ever before and several businesses I talked to said business was excellent.
I would like to thank all of the sponsors for their support and especially the SCEDT office for their hard work that makes this event happen every year. Summerland really does start the holiday season.
On December 8th I attended the Citizenship ceremony for 35 new Canadian citizens at Summerland Secondary School. Of the 35 people, several live in Summerland. Citizenship Judge, Robert-Douglas Watt welcomed the group and reminded them what a privilege and honour it is to be a Canadian. It was a special ceremony and I think will be remembered by the new citizens as one of the most important days of their lives.
Thank you Summerland Secondary School for hosting this event and to the students for their special tribute song.
Summerland Power is officially 100 years old. They were the first electrical company in the South Okanagan and the first electrical lights were turned on in Summerland.
Janice Perrino
Mayors Report for November 22, 2010
I have some exciting news to share with you about the Summerland Health Centre. As everyone knows the Health Centre does eye surgeries and people come from all over the region to have cataract surgery because the wait time is minimal and Summerland has an outstanding reputation of being considered a centre of excellence in eye surgeries.
We will be expanding surgery time to do Ear, Nose and Throat (better known as ENT) surgeries. This is important because the wait time for surgery used to be about two years. With Summerland now doing these surgeries, it will much faster and that improves the quality of life for patients. In fact, from January to April, Kelowna surgeons will be coming to do ENT surgeries in Summerland, to reduce their wait times to a much more manageable level. This just goes to show that the Summerland Health Centre has always been and remains to be one of the finest heath care facilities in the region.
I would like to congratulate Doreen Bargholz on receiving her Life-time certificate with the Order of the Royal Purple. The organization in Summerland closed several years ago but Doreen has maintained her membership and her volunteer work through the Penticton branch. She was the only Summerland member to continue on. She also received her pin for 42 years of service. Quite an accomplishment Doreen, thank you for all you do for Summerland. Congratulations from all of us!
I attended the Kristi Richards, To Russia with Love event to raise funds for local Olympic athletes. Im so impressed that Kristi never stops fundraising to help other athletes in their dream to succeed in getting to compete at the Olympic games.
This Friday night is Summerlands night to shine with the Festival of Lights. I have been told that the weather temperature seems to be forecasting for a warmer evening and we all know it is a great event for the whole family. We hope everyone will attend. The lights get turned on at 7:00pm and the fireworks are 8:30. Come celebrate with us, eat wonderful food from the vendors and restaurants, shop till you drop and mingle with friends and family. We like to think this is the official Christmas kickoff. Come and have fun!
Janice Perrino, Mayor
Mayor's Report November 8, 2010
We would like to congratulate (Retd) LCol. J.H. Harry Quarton of Summerland, who was recently honoured at a formal Medal Presentation Ceremony at Government House in Edmonton. He was presented with the South Alberta Light Horse Regimental Medal by His Honour, the Colonel (Ret'd) Honourable Donald S. Ethall, Lieutenant Governor of Alberta. The medal was given for Harrys years of dedication and service to his regiment. Others who were also honoured were Veterans of the Afghanistan conflict and other former Honorary Colonels and Commanding Officers. Congratulations Harry!
The past couple of weeks have been very busy and I attended several events on behalf of council. I would like to focus on a few of the events.
On Oct 26th I attended a dinner for Foster Parents from all over the region at the Summerland Golf Club to celebrate the work they do. There are several families from the Summerland area and their contribution to our community is humbling.
On Oct 27th I spoke to the Summerland Credit Union Board members about Summerlands successes and challenges. They had excellent questions and concerns but most important they are determined to be part of Summerlands successful future.
Several members of council attended the volunteer dinner on Oct 28th. This dinner is to thank the volunteers on all of the different council committees that serve the community. It was a busy evening and every committee was represented. Thank you again to all of our wonderful volunteers.
I attended a special meeting set up by the Arts Council on Nov 2nd. We talked about fundraising initiatives and how fundraising is done.
Congratulations and best of luck to Summerland Financial. They opened back in the summer but hosted a Business After Business that I attended on Nov 4th.
On Nov 5th I attended the Edgy Petals Christmas Open House. The store is looking festive and beautiful. Hard to believe that Christmas is right around the corner.
Gordon Clark and I attended the 8th Annual George Ryga Awards event which was held at Centre Stage on Nov 6th. The award was presented to Neil Boyd and Lori Culbert who along with Larry Campbell wrote the book A Thousand Dreams; a story about Vancouvers downtown eastside and the fight for its future.
And finally, yesterday I attended the special Legion service at the Summerland Alliance Church. It was a morning to give thanks to the veterans, Legion members and the auxiliary from our past and present. My thanks to Pastor Rick Gay and the church congregation for this special service.
I would like to remind everyone that this Thursday, November 11th is Remembrance Day. The Legion will be hosting the parade and ceremony starting at 10:45 at Memorial Park. Many of us have very personal reasons for remembering our veterans. Wear a poppy and attend the service to honour all those who have fought for our freedoms in the past and today.
Janice Perrino
Mayor
Mayors report for October 25, 2010
Ive had a couple of quiet weeks since our last council meeting so Ill just take this opportunity to remind everyone that our own Summerland Rotary Club would like us to know that October is Polio awareness month. They are going to raise funds to help stop Polio worldwide and end this disease forever. If you would like to make a donation, please contact the Summerland Rotary Club.
George Ryga Week is October 31 November 6th. Ryga Book Awards will be held in Summerland on Saturday, November 6, at 7:30 pm at Centre Stage. This will be the first time the Awards have taken place in Summerland. There will be several events in recognition of George Ryga Week. If you wish to get more information about the Ryga Centre, please go to the website at www.ryga.org.
I would like to thank the Summerland Kiwanis Club for inviting me to speak to their members on October 19th. It gives me a chance to bring everyone up to date on some civic issues were doing and gives them an opportunity to ask questions. If any Summerland service clubs would like a member of council to come and speak to their members, we would be pleased to do so. Call our Municipal office and Karen can make the arrangements.
Janice Perrino
Mayor
Mayors report for October 12, 2010
You may be wondering why you see red and yellow posters on the highway that say Polio 5060. This is a project by all of the Rotary clubs in the district from Osoyoos to Clearwater and Revelstoke to Princeton. Our own Summerland Rotary Club would like us to know that October is Polio awareness month. They are going to raise funds to help stop Polio worldwide, forever. The district of 5060 hopes to raise $150,000. If you would like to make a donation, please contact our local Summerland Rotary Club.
October is also the 20th Anniversary of Foster Family Month in British Columbia. This is a time to celebrate fostering and recognizing the remarkable contribution foster families make in our communities and in the lives of children, youth and families.
George Ryga Week is October 31 November 6th. Ryga Book Awards will be held in Summerland on Saturday, November 6, at 7:30 pm. This will be the first time the Awards have taken place in Summerland. There will be several events in recognition of George Ryga Week. If you wish to get more information about the Ryga Centre, please go to the website at www.ryga.org.
I would like to thank everyone for getting out to vote in the RCMP Referendum held on October 2, 2010. I was very pleased to see families going in to vote with their children and participate in this democratic process. Given how long Summerland forces buildings to last, I think we can estimate that the new detachment will help provide the best safety and security for this community for potentially another 50 years. Thats why the vote was so important and thankfully it was resounding. We are able to begin the next phase which is to finalize the design, go to tender and get started building the new detachment. We have a long journey ahead but well keep you posted as the project moves forward.
Thank you to all of the staff for your hard work getting the information out and into the publics hands. You did a great job.
Janice Perrino
Mayor
Mayors Report for September 27, 2010-09-26
Thank you to Bruce Hallquist for being the acting Mayor for the last two weeks.
Councillor Jim Kyluik and I just came back from a 10 day trip to Toyokoro, Japan with the Summerland Sister City delegation.
I will be the first to admit that I used to question whether or not having a Sister City was of any real importance to Summerland. Until you go there, see what Toyokoro is really like, get to experience the wonders of Japan and see first hand the generosity of the Japanese people, it is difficult to understand.
Getting the opportunity to sit and discuss civic issues with the Toyokoro Mayor was amazing. But just as amazing was getting to see how agriculture is managed in the community, seeing how the essential services of the city are a priority and seeing what is really important for schools, for seniors and for families. It was an education that I will never forget.
Our delegation of 16 members ran from day one to day ten. We saw many things including the municipal hall, two schools, a huge day care, a university, a farming operation, the fire department, we had lunch with the Lions club, we saw the strangest horserace and track ever, some of the members played a golf game called park golf, we visited a bio-fuel plant, a winery, a temple, and a shrine. Our four youth went to school for several days and lived with host families.
We barely spoke each others language, we did a lot of charades to try and understand each other and we all shed a few tears when we said good bye.
So what made it worth it? Many things but I admit it was very emotional for me to see Summerland Sweets products on the shelf of an exhibit, seeing a Sting jersey in the junior high school and seeing our youth conversing with their youth and knowing they will be life long friends.
There are business opportunities everywhere, opportunities for both Summerland and Toyokoro. We just have to be open to the possibilities.
I want to sincerely thank Darlene Forsdick for helping me to see all of the reasons why I should go on the trip and I am very grateful to her. Thank you to all of the delegation members for being Summerland ambassadors. You made your community proud.
Sister City relationships keep us connected with another part of the world and keep them connected with us.
My thanks to the Mayor of Toyokoro, all of the interpreters, and all of people who organized the trip. I dont know how you kept us all together but you made our trip everything it could be.
Finally I would like to thank Dale Matthews who is one of Summerlands local artists. Dale painted a banner for us to take as a gift to Toyokoro. He did it with very little notice and design ideas. It was a huge hit with everyone and Im hopeful that Toyokoro will now start their own banner program with our Summerland banner being the first. Thanks Dale!
Janice Perrino
Mayor
Mayors report for September 13, 2010
My thanks to Councillor Bruce Hallquist for being the Acting Mayor for September and chairing this council meeting tonight.
I would like to thank the organizers of the Summer Reading Club at the Library for inviting me to be a part of their awards ceremony on August 26th. We gave out awards to nearly 100 children for completing their assignments of books to read over the summer. Thank you to the sponsors who encourage the children and the volunteers to help them with their reading skills. Congratulations to all of the kids and their parents.
Thank you to the staff, the council, the RCMP and to everyone who came out for the RCMP open house meeting at Centre Stage on September 9th. The questions were well thought out and the RCMPs involvement and responses were excellent. Those that choose to be informed came out to listen and learn about the issue.
Thank you to Penny Lane for inviting me to attend their cheque presentation of $500.00 for Cops for Kids as they biked into town on Sept 10th. Congratulations Penny Lane, you make Summerland proud!
On Sept 11th, I attended the Show & Shine Car Show. What an outstanding event. Beautiful cars could be seen from Rosedale all the way down Main St to Victoria St. The car owners came from Alberta, Washington State and all over BC. It was a beautiful day and everyone was out to look at the cars. I picked an outstanding 1965 Mustang from Vernon to win the Mayors award. That car certainly brought back many wonderful memories from my teenage years. It takes many volunteers to put on an event like this, thank you to Gary and everyone who made the day a great success. Summerland is lucky to have you!
The Summerland Fall Fair celebrated their 101st year with exhibits filled to the rafters. The talent of people in our community was out for everyone to see and was fantastic. I know everyone who attended had a great time and to all of those folks who participated, congratulations, your items looked terrific. Im still trying to figure out how they got that gigantic pumpkin into the arena. It was an eye-opener. Thank you to Connie Davis and all of the volunteers who help every year to make the Fall Fair a success.
Janice Perrino
Mayor
Mayors report for August 23rd, 2010
I want to thank all of the host families along with Lorrie Forde, Darlene Forsdick and special thanks to Chico for working with the nine students from our sister city Toyokoro, Japan. Councillors Kyluik, Christopherson and Roberge helped me wish farewell by attending their final dinner on August 10th. They take home wonderful memories to last a lifetime of their holiday in Summerland. Thank you to everyone involved.
Thank you also to everyone involved in the Horse Survivorship held on Aug14th at the Rodeo Grounds. It was a hot afternoon but we had lots of fun. I hope they make it an annual event.
Finally, I would like to apologize to all of the residents who may be affected for the second time by water service disruption. Please know if you live on Giants Head, Hespeler, Front Bench, Happy Valley and Gartrell Roads and any intersecting streets you may experience low or no water pressure due to a water vault installation from:
7:00 a.m. Wednesday, August 25th
to approximately
7:00 a.m. Thursday, August 26th
Please keep an adequate supply of water on hand.
Please ensure that all automatic equipment using water (electrical or otherwise), is suitably protected. Also, ensure that your hot water tank is shut off and that it is adequately filled before it is reactivated. The District of Summerland and H&M Excavating Ltd. accepts no liability for damage resulting from interrupted service.
After the water service has been fully restored, please check for sediment before using. Running a cold water tap will clear the lines.
Janice Perrino
Mayor
Mayors report for August 9, 2010
I was invited to attend the Thursday night Farmers Market at Peach Orchard Beach on July 29th. I was really impressed to see the crowd. The Spirit Square was filled with familys having dinner and enjoying all of the entertainment and activities. Thank you for a lovely evening.
Peachfest opened up last Tuesday, August 3 and I was invited to help open the day by spending some time with Dennis Walker at the 100.7 Giant FM trailer. For the listening audience my radio gig was fun but thankfully short. Radio announcing is much tougher than it looks. Thank you Dennis.
This past weekend, the Peach City Tees Up for Cancer ladies hosted their 14th annual golf tournament which I attended. To date this group has raised more than $300,000 for cancer related projects at the Penticton Regional Hospital including the new Digital Stereotactic Mammography machine and the CT Scanner. There were several Summerland participants there to help raise money. We had a lot of fun, thank you everyone.
I would like to give a warm welcome to the 9 students and 2 chaperones visiting us from our Sister City Toyokoro, Japan. They arrived on Friday and leave on Wednesday and I hope they have a wonderful time exploring our beautiful community.
Janice Perrino
Mayors report July 26, 2010
Very short report this evening
Thank you to the planning department for hosting the Official Community Plans Climate Action public meeting on July 15th. We had a good attendance from the public and lots of input about the need for climate action within the Municipality.
Thank you to our volunteer fire fighters for hosting a car wash Sunday, July 25th to raise funds for their community activities. This has become a very popular event and when I went yesterday I was in a line up of about six cars waiting. The men do a great job, thank you guys!
We particularly think about driving with extra care in the winter with snow and ice on the roads but in fact, the summer is even more dangerous. Late last week there was a terrible car accident near Revelstoke that claimed the lives of two Summerland residents along with two people in another car and several people seriously injured.
Although the names have not been made public, I will tell you that the people who died contributed a great deal to this community. They will be sadly missed and never forgotten.
To everyone, please remember the summer traffic is very busy and dangerous on all the highways, drive safely out there.
Janice Perrino,
Mayor
Mayors report for July 12, 2010
Its a short report tonight but I do want to once again remind everyone that the road construction is well under way and it is starting to really look good on the north end of Rosedale to the roundabout at Peach Orchard.
Still, its an awful mess for everyone and it is especially hard on our Summerland businesses. Where ever possible, please support the local businesses. Its what keeps our community strong.
Last Wednesday there was an article in the Herald about the proposed new Summerland RCMP building. I want to clarify something.
The article refers to the building as a two storey building. An underground concrete basement with no windows cannot be considered a storey. The building is actually a single storey building with a basement that can only be used for storage space and can not ever be used for office space. There is no multi-purpose fitness room in the basement.
We think it make sense to utilize the dirt by creating a basement for storage especially as storage space for the Municipality is limited.
It is important to remember the size of the building being proposed for Summerland is similar to other RCMP buildings recently built for BC communities the same size as Summerland. It is not oversized. It is sized to meet the standards set by RCMP Headquarters.
Thank you to Commodore Doug and Joanne Campbell of the Summerland Yacht Club for inviting me to attend the Commodores Ball on July 3. Commodores from all over the Valley attend this once a year gala event to share the passion for yachting.
Thank you
Janice Perrino
Mayors report for June 28, 2010
On June 15th I attended the banquet for the BC Senior Womens Golf Tournament at the Summerland Golf Course. We had about one hundred women from all over BC enter the tournament. All over 50 and they are all incredible golfers. For me, a golf hacker, I was in awe of them.
To Diana Leitch, the coordinator for the tournament, to all of the staff who took such good care of the golfers as well as the hotels who gave them great rates, the sponsors who gave them coupons, thank you for making them feel welcome. They promised me they will be back to visit Summerland.
Thank you to Wendy and Monte from the Summerland Sweet Tooth for allowing me to host Coffee with the Mayor on Sat, June 19. Thank you to everyone who came out to ask questions and thank you to Lloyd for coming to visit with everyone. It was a great morning and I always learn new things.
Congratulations to all of the 2010 graduation class of Summerland Secondary School. I attended the official graduation ceremony on June 25th. Summerland, youre good, we gave out more than $90,000 in bursarys that day, ensuring Summerland youth will have an opportunity to receive the best post secondary education possible.
To the students, we wish you a safe and healthy future. Two things; never lose your dreams and if you ever leave Summerland, get back here as soon as possible.
Yesterday, June 27th I was very proud to be at the ribbon cutting for the grand opening of the South Okanagan Therapeutic Riding Association, better known as SOTRA. Owned by Joan and Vern Sopow and run by a team of volunteers and well trained horses, they work with disabled people getting them horseback riding. Congratulations to every one involved. You may not know on a daily basis how important your work is but the memory of the joy you bring will last a lifetime. Thank you for doing what you do!
Janice Perrino
Mayors report June 14th, 2010
The past three weeks have been very busy so Ill share just a few of the highlights with you.
Thank you to the Wagon Wheel Bistro for inviting me to their grand opening on May 29. Great event and it was fun to be held hostage and robbed by the Garnet Valley Gang.
May 30, I went to the see the Ceremonial Review of the 902 Air Cadets. The training and discipline these youth have is amazing. Well done everyone.
More than 100 volunteers attended the Summerland Health Care Auxiliary Appreciation dinner on June 1. These are the men and women that operate the Thrift Shop, volunteer at the Health Centre and Dr. Andrew Pavilion. These people not only volunteer but help raise more than $350,000 for the health care in our region. We are so lucky to have them in Summerland.
June 2 was the Tim Horton Camp Day. I attended along with two RCMP officers from our local detachment and one of our BC Ambulance workers. These men volunteered their time to help fundraise for the camp. Thank you gentlemen!
Thank you to the Penticton Business & Professional Womens Association, for inviting me to speak at their June 3rd dinner meeting.
Busiest weekend of the year in Summerland is Action Fest, which was held on June 4, 5 & 6th. The rained poured at 1:00 but by the opening at 7:00pm the sun was shining and it was nice all weekend. We welcomed 74 ball teams which is more than 2,000 people to town. Thank you to President Pat Bell, ball team organizer Alan Mann, Director of Parks and Recreation Dale McDonald, all of the directors on the Action Fest board along with all of the volunteers and staff. You make the weekend a success for all the participants and you help put Summerland on the map. Thank you.
I opened the 15th Annual Summerland Bluegrass Festival on June 11. The rodeo grounds were jammed with campers and the weather was beautiful. Perfect for a weekend of relaxation and fabulous Bluegrass music!
And finally, this coming Saturday June 19th from 9:30 11:30 at the Sweet Tooth on Victoria Rd, I am hosting Coffee with the Mayor. Everyone is invited to attend, please purchase your own coffee and goodies. Council, I hope all of you can stop by and help me to answer questions about Summerlands problems, the future along with council challenges. I look forward to seeing many of you there.
Janice Perrino,
Mayor
Mayors report May 25, 2010
I need to start by clearing up some misinformation in some newspapers. The question period at the end of each evening council meeting is not part of the procedural meeting agenda. Question period is a courtesy of council to allow any member of the public in attendance to ask questions about items on the evenings agenda.
I strongly believe in the question period, ours have always been open to the public and the media is always here.
A couple of things to remember, every public hearing is part of the meeting, we record all of the speakers by name and address and a synopsis of their comments. It is the same for every person speaking on variances. No name or comments are recorded during the question period because the meeting is officially over.
We now realize we have some people who miss viewing the question period following the council meetings so I have asked Shaw Cable to stay and continue their coverage, starting tonight and they have agreed to do so. Our thanks to Shaw.
Last council meeting we agreed to go with a type of Webcasting. This is not instead of Shaw Cable but as well as Shaw Cable. Not everyone gets Shaw but a lot of people have computers so between the Shaw and computers, I think well reach a lot more people. To those people who dont have either Shaw or a computer remember you are always welcome to attend these meetings. They are open to the public.
What I like about Webcasting is that, you can review an issue from a current meeting many years from now. In addition, the meeting is indexed so you dont have to watch the entire meeting, just the item you wish to review and you can watch it at your leisure.
Webcasting is expensive, almost a $1,000 a month but it allows people to really see what happens in the council meeting, what is said and who said it. Its important and its the future. This will not replace Shaw Cable; just add more possibility for the public to view council meetings.
Its been a busy couple of weeks. Thanks have to go to the downtown design committee for hosting their open house on May 19th. This was to talk to the public about updating the downtown theme and what that might look like and getting opinions on what the general public would like to see.
Congratulations on the official season opening of the KVR train station on May 15th. Last year they had 28,000 riders and I think this year they might reach 30,000.
Roberts Fruit Stand celebrated their 50th year in business this past Saturday. I always think summer has officially arrived when they open their doors for business. Congratulations and best of luck to you for the next successful 50 years of business.
Saturday afternoon was the Blossom Run, a cherished Summerland event but its stressful. Out of literally dozens of beautiful, gorgeous cars, I had to pick one favourite. It took me two hours to finally decide on two cars, one was a 1929 Ford Tudor owned by Summerland resident, Mr. Roy and found out that the RCMP had picked the same car so in the end I went for a 1940 Ford Coupe owned by a Mr. Ralph Knoor out of Kelowna. Congratulations to everyone for the care, time and effort you put into your vehicles and thank you to the organizers for bringing this special event to Summerland.
Sunday was St. Stephens Anglican Churchs 100th Anniversary. That church has built a strong foundation of family and fellowship, no wonder they have lasted the past 100 years and I know they have the strength to get through the next 100 years.
Thank you to everyone for putting up with the road construction on Rosedale and Prairie Valley roads; its horrible. I travel both roads every day and it is hard to cope with the mess. Thank goodness, it will be done in less than one year.
I am so impressed with how some of the businesses handle the road mess. My favourite sign so far belongs to TireCraft. Their sign reads; Yes, were open for business, in a roundabout way. Well done and thank you for your patience everyone!
I would like to close my report by telling you about an authentic pioneer of Summerland who passed away a few weeks ago. Mr. Gordon Smith was 96 years old. As part of his working career, for many years he was the clerk/treasurer for the District. Gordon was the last surviving charter member of Rotary from 1945. We would like to send our deepest sympathies to his wife Ellen and their family. Thank you Gordon, Summerland is a better community because of you!
Janice Perrino,
Mayor
Mayors report for May 10, 2010
Its been a busy couple of weeks since our last meeting.
I want to thank everyone who contributed to Astral Medias, Have a Heart Radiothon on April 29. More than $75,000 was raised for the Penticton Regional Hospitals Nursery/Maternity and Pediatric departments.
Thank you to the members of the Summerland Fire Department for hosting the retirement luncheon on April 30 for Fire Chief LLoyd Miskiman. You gave him a retirement party that will be a great memory for LLoyd forever. Well done.
Congratulations to all of the Summerland Blossom Pageant participants on a great event May 1, Allyssa Hooper, is the new Miss Summerland along with Princesss Lovepreet Deol and Annalise Moyen, I know you will be great ambassadors for Summerland. Special thanks to last years Miss Summerland Claire MacDonald, and Princesss Syd Kemp and Megan Levinsky. Thank you for everything youve given this past year.
My thanks to the Summerland Rotary Club for allowing some of the members from overseas GSE team to come and visit with our staff from Municipal Hall and see the differences of how our communities run the daily operation. One of the members explained that their city had a council of 45 members. It makes me very grateful to only have to chair a council table of 6 councillors.
The Summerland McDonalds held their annual McHappy Days last Wednesday to raise funds for the Boys and Girls Club of Summerland. I know several members of our community came out to work the event and many supported it by purchasing Big Macs. Thank you to George Pugh from the Fire Department for helping me to get the drive through orders served correctly.
The Health and Safety Committee for Public Works hosted a fabulous breakfast at the Public Works yards on Thursday morning last week. Dave Hills pancakes were just about the best Ive ever had.
Thank you to Julie McGuire and Anne Milner for hosting the Open House at the Arena last Thursday evening to give the public information about the new Environmentally Sensitive Development Permit Areas for the OCP. It was certainly well attended with lots of comments and questions.
And finally, May 16 to 22 is Local Government Awareness Week in British Columbia. I would like to invite the public to participate in an on-line Summerland Quiz Contest beginning May 16 to see how well you know your community. There are two separate quizzesone for 12 and under and an adult quiz.
We will announce the winners at the Regular Council meeting of May 25 and provide the winners with their prizes by the end of May.
Just to get things started - one of our questions on our Childrens quiz is:
What does the Mayor do to start a Council meeting?
1. bang the gavel and call the meeting to order
2. ring a bell
3. ask everyone to sit down and listen
I think the answer should be
Mayors report for April 26, 2010
April 28th is an important day to remember the 121 BC workers who lost their lives in the workplace due to injury and disease, in 2009. Lets honour their memory by being diligent about safety in our workplaces.
Congratulations to the Welcome Wagon company. They are celebrating their 80th anniversary this year.
There are several groups to thank tonight. First the Summerland Community Arts Council who invited me to their ribbon cutting for the Arts and Culture Week which took place from April 18 24th.
Thank you to all of the staff who set up the RCMP open house along with the open house on the water issue for Faulder. Thank you to the councillors who came out to help with questions as well.
Literally dozens of people were involved in all of the activities over the past week to do with Earth Day. Special thanks to everyone for working at Dale Meadows, those who did the drain painting and the cleanup on the highway and trails.
Thank you everyone who organized events, got out and participated and are already planning next years events.
Thank you to the Summerland Rotary Club for inviting me to their Gala event this past Saturday night. They work very hard to raise funds for their community and international projects.
And finally I am very pleased to announce that the position of Fire Chief was awarded today to Mr. Glenn Noble. Glenn has been with the Summerland Fire Department for the past ten years and was the Assistant Fire Chief. It is good to know the Fire Department future is in excellent hands.
Congratulations and best of luck to you Glenn!
Fire Chief Retirement Speech
LLoyd Miskiman, Summerlands Fire Chief, has been with the District for twenty years this coming August. He has had an exemplary career.
Over the course of his years, he made a small town department into a professional firefighting organization. He implemented policies, training systems and information systems. He is responsible for developing the Summerland Fire Services Master Plan two years ago and implementing the Incident Command System. Our fire department has an incredible array of highly sophisticated firefighting equipment. That is thanks to LLoyds diligence to make sure Summerland had the best firefighting equipment for our community.
Over the years, he has brought on literally dozens of volunteer firefighters and worked hard to keep them highly trained, working as a team and safe in every situation. He changed the Summerland Fire Department for the better and we are deeply appreciative.
LLoyd Miskiman has always been a great asset to the community and is well liked by the volunteers, the District staff and all of the various councillors and mayors he has been forced to work with over the years.
***
LLoyd, your excellent years of service are clearly due to your professionalism and your outstanding work ethic.
We will you miss LLoyd. More than anything I will miss your incredible sense of humour. We wish you a happy, healthy and fun retirement. You deserve it thank you for everything you have done for Summerland.
Janice Perrino
Mayors Report
April 12, 2010
Ill go ahead and say it; I think we all look fantastic tonight in our pink shirts that read Bullying Stops Here! If youre not sure what this is about, we are wearing pink shirts to honour Pink Shirt Day which is April 14, 2010. We got these shirts through the Okanagan Boys and Girls Club.
Pink Shirt Day started in Nova Scotia where two young men enlisted fellow students to wear the pink shirts to support students who were being bullied. A Provincial and National movement of celebrating Pink Shirt Day started to increase public awareness that bullying will not be tolerated. Were here to say as a group that we are against bullying and were proud to wear our pink shirts.
Youll also notice our yellow daffodil flowers that is to celebrate the fact that April is Cancer Awareness Month. One in every three people face cancer at some time in their life.
The RCMP open house is Wednesday, April 14th from 5:30 7:00pm in council chambers. Please come with your questions.
It has been a very busy three weeks since our last meeting but I would like to mention a couple of major events I attended.
I want to thank SCEDT for hosting their AGM on March 23. Great turnout and the board even had an election for three new directors.
On March 25th the Badminton Club hosted a dinner at Zias which was a fundraiser. The dinner was excellent, thank you to the members for inviting me.
On March 7th I attended a Summerland Marketing Workshop hosted by Scott Boswell. Thank you for all of the folks who attended this meeting and shared their opinions about what Summerland is, what we portray to the public and our visitors and is our messaging we want to go into the future. I know the information gathered will be shared with the public in the near future.
Thank you to all the staff and councillors Jim Kyluik and Lloyd Christopherson for attending the Sod Turning Ceremony for the Prairie Valley/Rosedale Road project. My thanks to the Honourable Bill Barisoff and the Honourable Stockwell Day who worked very hard for us to get the infrastructure grant to do this project. The work started last week and will move along quickly. We must be completed with the project by March 31, 2011. It will be a tough year with all of the inconveniences but well worth it when it is completed next spring.
We had a meeting with members of the School Board in the evening on March 7th and thank you to Councillors Roberge, Kyluik, Elia and Christopherson for attending. It was great to hear the things they are doing, some of their plans for the future and I was fascinated to hear all of the work they doing with computer technology. School today is so much more advanced than when we were all kids. Great meeting and I hope we can do that once or twice a year.
And finally, we have two announcements about Earth Day events. The first is the Summerland 4th Annual Earth Day celebration on Sunday April 25th from 10:00 1:00pm at Dale Meadows Sports Complex. Work will continue on removal of invasive plants and planting native shrubs and trees along the creek. There will be storm drain painting, tons of exhibits. For more information, check out the District of Summerland website, or call the Recreation Department.
There is, for the first time the Summerland Community Earth Week. Everyday from April 18th to April 25th there are events planned that you and your family can attend. Most of the events are free. They are all over the community so again, check out our website or call our office for more information. It is going to be a great week we hope to see you at the events.
Janice Perrino
Mayors Report for March 22nd, 2010
Today is World Water Day. It is important to remember that a good portion of the world will not have access to a clean glass of water to drink today. It always reminds me of how lucky we are to live in Summerland and have such an excellent water treatment plant. I want to thank Scott Lee and all of the staff for their work caring for the facility.
The Canadian Cancer Society would like us to remind you that April is Cancer Awareness Month. There are over 200 different types of cancer and one in every three of us will have cancer at some point in our lives.
Last Thursday I attended the celebration event for Community Foundation of the South Okanagan. They have reached the 5 million dollar mark for their endowment fund and they are continuing to grow. They help to support many organizations around the region including Agur Lake Camp. I remember when they started and I admit I wondered if they would ever reach 1 million dollars. They are a tremendous success story!
On Saturday, I attended a session called Developing Conservation Funds. They talked about how to raise dedicated funds for conservation land acquisition and management programs. Some communities in BC have been highly successful when a campaign is carefully planned and delivered. Bryn White, the South Okanagan-Similkameen
Conservation Program Manager, will be talking about this issue with us in the future and there is some great opportunities out there for our community.
Janice Perrino
Mayors Report for March 8th, 2010
We would like to recognize that March is Kidney Health Month, Easter Seals Month and the week of March 22 28th is Anti-Racism Week.
We would like to say congratulations to Justin Kripps for his incredible 5th place in the Four Man Bobsled event held at the Olympic Sliding Centre.
It was such a thrill to see two people from Summerland compete at the world level and do so exceptionally well.
Thank you Kristi Richards and Justin Kripps for allowing us to follow your career goals, for allowing us to get ridiculously excited as we watched you compete and for allowing us to brag about youwhich we might keep doing for a long time. Best wishes to you both. 2014 isnt that far off in the future well be watching for you.
Speaking of the Olympics, the BC Street showcased Summerland for our tourism industry. Ambassadors who volunteered their time and worked so hard were: Mike Stohler from Re/Max Orchard Country, Aaron Holliday, Morgan Hume, Victoria & John Lathey, John Barber, Brian Peters and his assistant Connor from the KVR. You all did a great job!
Thank you to Kettle Valley Dried Fruits for the 1600 organic fruit bars that everyone raved about and to the Windmill Garden Centre and Apple Barn for donating over 400 pounds of apples.
Thank you to Janice Blackie-Goodine, Laurel Kormack and Ron Stacy for lending their art for display.
It was a huge success thank you everyone.
I would like to sincerely thank the staff and board members of SCEDT for their work in putting on the 72nd Annual Community Excellence Awards on Feb 27th. Nearly 50 people were in considered for the sixteen different awards and every one of the nominees could have won they were all terrific. Congratulations everyone.
My thanks to the Councillors who attended, to the Rotary Club who served the excellent meal, Dennis Walker the MC and special thanks to the Summerland Royalty for making sure everyone was welcomed. Thanks as well to the people who brought in the generous silent auction items.
It was another successful evening for all of us to celebrate the excellent people we have in Summerland!
Janice Perrino
Mayors report for February 22, 2010
Congratulations to Summerlands Kristi Richards who gave the run of her life at the Olympics last Saturday night. She had so much class to get up, put her ski back on, and proceed downhill and give the best back flip shes ever done. Kristi you make us very proud.
Now, I have a little secret for you, some special folks are trying to bring Kristi to Summerland this Friday, Feb 26 for around 12:00pm. So you are all invited to the Summerland Middle School. Lets take this opportunity to remind her how much we appreciate what she has done.
Justin Kripps will be in the Four Man Bobsleigh event being held at the Olympic Sliding Centre in Whistler on Friday February 26 and Saturday February 27. Heats #1 and #2 go Friday February 26th from 1:00pm to 3:45pm while the final heats #3 and #4 go on Saturday February 27th from 1:00pm to 3:30pm. Centre Stage Theatre and the Summerland Middle School will be showing the Friday preliminary race. Saturdays event will be broadcast at Centre Theatre Stage. The general public is invited to watch Justin compete.
SCEDT put on a special luncheon last Thursday with some councillors and our manager of planning, to allow business owners to ask us questions. It was a very positive get-together. I hope we can be a part of a luncheon like this at least once a year. Thank you to the board of directors at SCEDT.
Congratulations also to Jason and Jamie at the new coffee house called Good Omens. They held their grand opening this past Saturday which I attended.
I also attended the Ninth Annual Multicultural Festival & Community Diversity event at the Trade and Convention Centre on Saturday with many other dignitaries to sign a document to ensure we always value the multicultural diversity of our communities. My thanks to all of the organizers for the invitation.
Janice Perrino,
Mayor
Mayor's Report for February 8, 2010
Congratulations to our CAO, Don DeGagne! Don is the only local government manager representing the Local Government Management Association (LGMA) on a Provincial Local Government Awareness Committee initiated by the UBCM and the Provincial Government.
The goal of the Local Government Awareness Committee is to inform and educate the public about the roles and responsibilities of local government and to encourage the public to participate in local government processes.
The committee has just started meeting and hopes to have an informational website launched before summer.
I attended the very busy, Business After Business last Thursday evening for the new coffee/lunch shop called Good Omens. My thanks to SCEDT for promoting this event. Best of luck and much success to Jason and Jamie.
Thank you to all the Summerland residents for coming out to Centre Stage on Sunday, Jan. 24, and on Jan. 25th to welcome the Olympic Torch as it came through town. What an exciting time in our history. What an inspiration for all of us to have two of our citizens, who graduated from Summerland Senior Secondary School, in the Olympic games.
Kristi Richards:
The Freestyle Moguls event is held at Cypress Mountain this Saturday, February 13 which is day two of the Olympics. The preliminary round goes from 4:30pm to 5:30pm followed by the finals from 7:30pm to 8:30pm that evening. The Summerland Middle School will be holding a Community Open House on Saturday February 13 so everyone can watch Kristi compete on the big screen that will be set up in the gymnasium.
Justin Kripps:
The Four Man Bobsled event is held at the Olympic Sliding Centre in Whistler on Friday February 26 and Saturday February 27. Heats #1 and #2 go Friday February 26th from 1:00pm to 3:45pm while the final heats #3 and #4 go on Saturday February 27th from 1:00pm to 3:30pm. Centre Stage Theatre will be showing a live feed of the Four Man Bobsled on the big screen with the general public invited to watch Justin compete.
We encourage all of you to watch the games and cheer for our two local heroes!
Janice Perrino,
Mayor
Mayors report for January 25, 2010
Every February is Heart and Stroke Month, so this is when you may have folks coming to your door to canvass for your support of this worthy organization. We celebrate the work they do and wish them the best of luck in reaching their goals.
On Flickr there is a group called the Summerland Olympic Torch. Anyone can join and share their photos taken today of the torch running through Summerland or of Kristi Richards at the Middle School. All you need to do is go to www.flickr.com.
I want to thank Mike Porter of the Junior Chamber International organization. Mike is from Summerland and is the new 2010 president of the Penticton club and I attended one of their dinners on Saturday and was really impressed with this group. They work hard to support their communities and at the same time they teach their member entrepreneurism and leadership. Thank you Mike and best of luck to you!
Sunday, I attended along with Councillor Hallquist the presentation for the Olympic Torch celebrations and Kristi Richards showed up near the end and there wasnt a dry eye in the place.
Thanks so much to Dale MacDonald, director of the Parks and Recreation department, along with our thanks to Brenda, Lois, Emma and Kim and the rest of their staff and volunteers. Thank you to Ken, Karen and Don for helping to make the event a huge success.
We all know about Justin Kripps, a Summerland youth who will be in the four-man Bobsled at the Olympics he is off training but we got a tape from him Sunday which was wonderful to see.
Today the Summerland Middle School hosted a Kristi Richards event for all the kids, families and many other folks. After Kristi arrived, and confirmed that she was also in the Olympics competing in the free-style skiing, we all went crazy screaming with excitement for her. Then we went out for the Olympic Torch arrival with all of the kids and screamed some more it was fabulous. Both Kristi and Justin know we are so proud of them for making it to the Olympics and we wish them the best of luck. I am also certain; all of Vancouver will hear us cheering from Summerland for our two Olympic stars. Good luck Kristi and Justin!
On a final notemany of you will remember the survey last January and we asked you how you would spend $100 on a list of capital projects and what order you would put them in. This is how you ranked them and how we have addressed those issues:
Number one was the water system and we all agree with you. We have put a lot of money into it and I am so pleased to be able to tell you the water treatment facility is working just as it meant to. There are some final works being done for the sludge treatment but that will be finished very soon. The next work was on the system separation and we are working on Phase 1 and were close to completion on that project. The water metering system is moving along well and all the domestic meters will be finished by this summer.
The number two project you wanted us to spend money on was the roads. We got the grant, got the alternate approval process completed, the construction company will be hired in the near future and the project will begin on Prairie Valley Road in March.
Your number three project is for more affordable housing. We are working on changing the zoning so that we can add more density to the residential areas where possible. This should bring more housing on the market and that should help to create more affordable housing.
Your number four project was for a new RCMP building. As many of you remember we considered this project in 2002 with a referendum that failed. However, the need for the building is still there, stronger than ever and we want to start to consider this as our next project. As many of you know, the current RCMP building is absolutely disgusting. Its very old, rundown and way too small. It has been repaired numerous times and it is still a mess. Our finest officers deserve much better.
We got a grant to cover the costs of getting designs for a new building but unfortunately RCMP buildings do not qualify for government grants. We have to do this one on our own.
We have a lot more to tell you about this over the coming months and the final decision will be up to you; either by referendum or the alternate approval process. That is a decision well make later on.
What I can tell you right now is that we are going to host several open houses so that you can see the current building along with drawings of what the new building could look like. We want to hear your questions, suggestions and your concerns. Along with the costs; right now we think this may be about $35 - $40 per average household per year. These will be confirmed for you over the coming weeks, so stay tuned.
Janice Perrino,
Mayor
ayor's Report from January 11, 2010
Happy New Year everyone!
We would like to send our best wishes to Councillor Lloyd Christopherson. Lloyd had surgery last Wednesday. He is doing well and hes home recovering. We hope to have him back to the council table by a about February 15th.
I would to thank the Public Works department for their work clearing the snow last Monday, Jan 4th and Tuesday, Jan 5th. As we all know it was a major storm and a lot of snow had to be removed from the streets. Thank you to all the staff.
So why are we all wearing red and white, well the Olympics are just one month away and although Summerland has many reasons to be excited about the upcoming games, there are two extra special reasons; our own Olympic hopefuls Justin Kripps and Kristi Richards.
On Sunday, January 24th .we are celebrating the Olympic Journey at Center Stage Theatre from 1:00 to 3:00pm. The event is free for everyone and there will be plenty of entertainment and snacks. We have several draw prizes including tickets to an Olympic event and the banner behind me which our very own Kristi Richards has autographed.
Justin Kripps and Kristi Richards will be profiled as our local Olympians and youll have the opportunity to meet our Summerland torchbearers.
On Monday, January 25th the Olympic Torch travels through downtown Summerland at approximately 3:00p.m. Everyone is encouraged to wear red and white, wave flags, banners and placards to show your Summerland spirit and cheer on the torch bearers as they run the flame to Vancouver.
The media will be kept informed so check your Summerland Review for all the details on these events.
Mayors report for December 14th, 2009
Thank you to all of the councillors who attended events on my behalf over the past five weeks but most of all, a very sincere thank you to Gordon Clark the acting mayor for taking over the chair. You did a great job.
I was so sorry to hear about PRT, Pacific Regeneration Technologies closing this month. This is clearly a sign of the state of the economy. The thought of 55 jobs lost in our community is devastating. We wish the very best to all of the employees and their families, our hearts go out to you.
Special thanks to the staff and board members of SCEDT for a very successful 22nd annual Festival of Lights. The amount of work the volunteers put into that event is unbelievable and Ive heard excellent comments about the evening. You officially started the holiday season. Well done.
Finally, I would like to say congratulations to Summerlands very own Kristi Richards. This past week, she won a gold and silver medal at the World Cup for moguls. Kristi is an amazing athlete. Well be looking for her name at the Olympics in February. Good luck Kristi!
Janice Perrino
Mayor
District of Summerland Mayors Report read by Acting Mayor Gordon Clark November 9, 2009
Public Update
On October 15, 2009 there was a Public Hearing on OCP Amendment Bylaw No. 2000-382 which would provide for two changes to the OCP. One change was a text amendment to remove unlawful language that severely and unfairly restricted a Councils ability to change the OCP. The other change was to amend the OCP mapping to include several Rattlesnake Mountain area properties in the Urban Growth Area. This change would allow this land to be considered for development subject to various studies, planning exercises and public input.
On October 26, 2009 Council considered readings and possible adoption of Bylaw No. 2000-382. After a presentation by the Manager of Development Services and the Mayor, Council amended the Bylaw to remove the section dealing with the text amendments to allow for further public input on this matter. Subsequent to some discussion, Council adopted Bylaw No. 2000-382 as amended.
Subsequent to this, the public asked questions and made comments. Since then there has been more commentary, speculation and even accusations of wrong doing. This update is intended to set the record straight.
1. The process which saw the adoption of Bylaw No. 2000-382 as amended was done in accordance with the Community Charter and the Local Government Act. There was nothing improper or unlawful about the process and the decision-making.
2. The Advisory Planning Commission meeting held August 5, 2009 was a publicly advertised opportunity for public input and information gathering prior to the formal public hearing.
3. There was some concern about Councillor Kyluik having an alleged conflict and the fact that he did not publicly declare this at a public meeting. The Community Charter clearly states that this declaration only needs to take place if the Councillor is at a meeting where he feels he is in conflict with an item on the agenda of that meeting. There is no requirement for a Councillor to declare anything if he is not at a meeting even if the Council is dealing with an item that is clearly a conflict for the Councillor. Regardless, the Mayor clarified the alleged conflict at the October 26 meeting.
4. Council can amend an OCP amendment bylaw at anytime after a public hearing and prior to 3rd reading as long as the amendment does not change use or density or add provisions which should have been part of the bylaw at the public hearing stage. Accordingly, removing the text amendment portion of Bylaw No. 2000-382 was a valid action by Council.
5. Concern was expressed about the Mayor making a presentation to the public at the October 26th council meeting prior to the introduction of a motion to deal with Bylaw No. 2000-382. It is debatable whether or not this is contrary to parliamentary procedure however, what is clear is that it has no impact on the validity of Councils actions or decisions.
I trust this clarifies some of the concerns expressed by the public.
Mayors Report for Oct 13, 2009
A couple of things for the viewing audience; we are hosting a Coffee with the Mayor session this coming Saturday morning from 9:00AM 11:00AM at Santorinis Restaurant. Hopefully several councillors will be in attendance so you can bring your questions and concerns to us in a more informal setting. Remember you have to buy your own coffee.
As many of you know we received notice of the Provincial and Federal government grant funding for the Prairie Valley/Rosedale upgrades. On October 22, at 6:30PM we are hosting a public meeting in the upstairs banquet room at the Arena to discuss the final options for the design of the roads. This will be the final open house and we hope many of you can attend.
Last week I attended the open house for the South Okanagan Mental Health and Addictions Coalition in their new office location on Martin Street in Penticton. Several groups have gathered together in one office to share resources, which is a great idea in this economy. I wish them much success in the future.
Councillor Jim Kyluik, CAO Don De Gagne and I attended the UBCM in Vancouver almost two weeks ago. The sessions are always interesting and thought provoking but I have to say the networking and sessions with other councillors, directors, staff and Ministers were the most important part of the week for me. We met with Minister Kruger to get any possible updates on the Crown Land negotiations regarding Summerland Hills. There were no updates other than the process is moving forward. I felt the best meeting we had was with Minister Shirley Bond about the BC Transit operation and how we need to get Summerland on regular transit to Penticton and Kelowna. She agreed with us and has asked BC Transit to reconsider having us put on the line for April 1, 2010. Well let all of you know as this information unfolds.
I have been bragging for several weeks now about the 85 plus new business licenses we have given out since January 1. I felt like we were really moving forward in a positive way. That was until last week when I got a call from Gary Schieck with the Okanagan Tree Fruit Coop. He called me just prior to the public announcement to tell me that the Summerland packing house would be closing sometime in the spring or summer of 2010. They have 80 employees.
He explained to me that the decision was because of the downward tend in the economy and the cost of such a large operation. Gary Schieck made it very clear to me that there was nothing that the community of Summerland did that caused this decision. It was exclusively a corporate resolution. I assured him that Summerland would do everything in our power to support them to keep going until a better solution could be found. At this time they are considering all of their options.
Considering this facility has been going since the 1940s this decision is deeply regrettable. I can hardly think of an event in Summerlands history with such sad consequences. Our sympathy goes to the 80 employees most affected by this closure. Finding new jobs and jobs that pay as well is the worst stress possible for families. Besides all of that, this does not begin to address the inconvenience to our local orchardists.
These are early days for the Okanagan Tree Fruit Coop so well just have to watch and see what happens. This is the third operation they have had to close in the last few years.
Janice Perrino
Mayor
Mayors report for September 28, 2009
My thanks to Ken Roberge for reading my mayors report for the council meeting today
Last week I attended the day long session called the Okanagan Nation Business Opportunities Conference. All of the speakers spoke about the changing environment of business today along with the opportunities in media technology, banking opportunities and how to use the Southern Interior Development Initiative Trust. All excellent speakers and all had valuable information to share and update the crowd of over 300 delegates. The Keynote Speaker was Chief Clarence Louie, who has been the Chief of the Osoyoos Indian Band since 1984. He was absolutely fascinating, enlightening and forward thinking. His leadership skills make him one of Canadas most outstanding and interesting authorities on Aboriginal relations.
He has helped put Osoyoos on the map and given his local Indian band work opportunities that might never have been possible before. I think we can learn a great deal from this incredible leader.
Last Thursday night, all of the Council who were in town, attended the Volunteer dinner. Thank you Council! We hosted this dinner to thank the people who are on our Council appointed Committees. These incredible people give their time and their wisdom as volunteers to help make Summerland a better place to live. Thank you to everyone who sits on our committees.
On Friday, Summerland received the most exciting news we have had in years. Both our MLA, the Honourable Bill Barisoff and MP, the Honourable Stockwell Day called me to advise we were going to receive our infrastructure grant to do the Prairie Valley/Rosedale road reconstruction. The cost of the project is $4.5 million dollars. The improvements to these two roads will increase the efficiencies for moving traffic, bring people into the business core of the community with greater ease, beautify the road for our tourists and visitors and more important than anything else, make walking and biking safer for our youth and seniors. I want to sincerely thank both levels of government for their commitment to Summerland. This has been a long time coming and we appreciate their work to make this project a reality.
Finally on Saturday a few of us attended the Memorial Service for Mrs. Geraldine Dore. Gerry, as she was known to her friends was married to Jules Dore who is a frequent attendee of council meetings and we always appreciate his presence.
Gerry was quite a famous Summerland artist as a painter and in needle work but she was most famous as a Quilter. She won not only civic awards including first place in this years Summerland Fall Fair but she always won may awards regionally and nationally. I understand she still has enough material in her quilting room to make about another 30,000 quilts. She was also quite a gardener, a volunteer for the Summerland Thrift Shop, a former Justice of the Peace and even a midwife on her families hog farm. In her spare time she raised six children. Gerry was a great support to her husband Jules and they were married for more than 53 years.
Summerland is a better place because of you Gerry Dore, we will miss you terribly.
Janice Perrino
Mayor
Mayors report for September 14, 2009
It has been so busy the last couple of weeks so Ill just highlight a few events. I attended the RCMP Musical Ride. What a fabulous show. They had about 2000 people attend for the afternoon show and an additional 2000 for the evening. My thanks to Dale McDonald for making sure the Rodeo grounds looked their best and all the volunteers who made this show possible.
There is nothing like watching children receive awards and the best one Ive heard to date is for a reading program. The awards were from the Library. Ill let Councillor Sam Elia tell us more about the program as he is the liaison to the Library.
The Dr. Andrew Pavilion Extended Care facility unveiled their new Therapeutic Garden a couple of weeks ago. Thank you to Councillor Ken Roberge for being there. The garden was paid for totally by donations and the residents, family members, staff and volunteers will get to enjoy it for forever. Thank you everyone.
I was very proud to see the Summerland Health Care Auxiliary present the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation with $250,000 for the new CT Scan at the Penticton Regional Hospital. This put the CT Scan campaign over the $1 million dollar mark. It was exciting to see nearly 60 men and woman in their red vests to make the presentation. Four of the members have been volunteering for the Auxiliary for more than 50 years. Thank you to this amazing group for their dedication and support.
Last Wednesday I attended the official opening of the new interpretive signage on the walkway behind the Waterfront Resort. Now the public will be able to read about how the riparian area was built and what birds, bugs and wild life live there.
Last Thursday I got to welcome all of the attendees from the BC Chambers of Commerce AGM. Over 80 staff members of Chambers came from all over BC. It was a terrific conference for Summerland and our own Summerland Chamber.
On Friday I got to welcome 250 breast cancer survivors who are in town for the dragon boat races in Penticton. These incredible people make us all aware that you can not only survive cancer but you can live a happy, healthy life after cancer treatment.
Summerland was wildly busy this past weekend and everyone was having a great time.
On Saturday morning I attended the official 100th year anniversary of the Summerland Pharmacy with the current owner Carol Wertz, along with family and friends from the past three owners. It was quite a celebration.
After that I was at the Summerland Fall Fair along with the Honourable Brigit Shaughnessy to celebrate their 100th anniversary. Lord Shaughnessy was instrumental in starting the fair 100 years ago so to have his family here from England for the first time was really terrific. Councillor Roberge was one of the volunteers and looked great in his red T-shirt.
After that I was given the very difficult job of picking my favourite car in Apple Cruisers Show & Shine. There were 218 beautiful cars. That was hard work. The theme for the event was Memory Lane so with that in mind I picked a 1967 Ford Mustang original and it was in perfect condition. Thank you so much Councillor Christopherson for helping me to get around with the golf cart. I couldnt have walked with my back injury, so you really saved the day.
One thing I want to say about the events I attended over the last two weeks - they wouldnt happen without volunteers and I dont mean one or two people, I mean dozens of volunteers. These events were well organized, professional, on time, exciting and fun. Without volunteers these festivals wouldnt happen. So I want to thank everyone involved in making our community the only place to live, the best place to live.
Thank you everyone.
Janice Perrino
Mayor
Mayors Report for August 24, 2009
I would like to thank all of council for carrying my work load over the past month while I dealt with a back injury. Councillor Hallquist ran the last council meeting and other Councillors went to activities I wasnt able to attend. That really helped to ease my mind, thank you everyone.
So just a couple of things I would like to tell you about. The Summerland Fire Department hosted a car wash last Sunday to raise funds for the new CT Scanner at the Penticton Regional Hospital. I wont give you all the details just yet as there will be media release but several hundred dollars were raised to honour one of their own firefighters who is battling cancer.
Congratulations to all of the members of the Agur Lake Camp. They held an open house yesterday that I understand was well attended and a great awareness for what the camp will offer to families throughout BC. Well done to all of the volunteers.
I would also like to congratulate the event called the Okanagan Feast of Fields; held yesterday at Valentine Farms. The event showcased the amazing bounty of the Okanagan by providing twenty plus course tasting menus paired with wine, beer, cider and spirits. Everyone was talking about this event as THE event of the year.
Summerland has for years become a showcase of some of the finest wines in the world; it is very exciting to see the food industry sharing that glory. Just a thought but maybe next year we could host an annual event called the Summerland Feast of Fields.
And finally, best of luck to all of the participants from Summerland in this Sundays Ironman competition. Your courage is outstanding; Summerland is very proud of all of you.
Janice Perrino,
Mayor
MAYORs REPORT
July 27, 2009
Councillor Hallquist is going to talk about this further but I want to thank Fire Chief Lloyd Miskiman, the staff and all the volunteer firefighters who put out the four fires last Thursday. What they do to keep Summerland safe is so important good work and thank you everyone in the department.
Last week I attended the Agur Lake Golf tournament and although my golf game was terrible, we had a wonderful day, perfect weather, great dinner and lots of funds were raised to help build the Agur Lake Camp.
Communities in Bloom, Councillor Christopherson will talk more about this but again special thanks to Dale McDonald, Director of Parks and Recreation, Donna Lane and Sherrill Foster for all of their work to get the community ready for the Communities in Bloom judges. It was a very busy few days of dazzling the judges with Summerlands beauty. Private home owners to strata complexes to volunteer groups, it took everyone to get involved and our community looks outstanding.
Thank you also to everyone involved in putting up the new Welcome to Summerland sign. The sign for the north end of town will be put up by the end of this week. Our thanks to all of the volunteers who helped with the design; it looks sensational and no one will ever miss Summerland again. Some folks have asked why there is no Come Back Soon or something like that on the back of the sign. The department of highways discourages any writing on the back of signs because it is the cross traffic that is reading it. So they discourage this where possible. The plan is to plant some tall scrubs to cover the back of the signs. So it will look more friendly.
I would like to thank Dale McDonald and all of the members of the Summerland Rotary Club for purchasing the new playground equipment for Memorial Park. This equipment is designed to accommodate all children including children with special needs. Rotarys commitment was not just financial; under the guidance of staff and the companys engineer, they helped build the playground equipment. Way to go Rotary.
Thank you to the Kiwanis Club for allowing me to speak that their last week and enjoy lunch with them.
Lieutenant Colonel Harry Quarton, CD, LdeH, AdeC was awarded the Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation at a very special ceremony at the Empress Hotel in Victoria on Friday, July 24, 2009.
The commendation is awarded for exemplary contributions by generously giving of himself and so both benefiting Veterans and making manifest the principle that Canadas obligation to all who have served in the cause of peace and freedom must not be forgotten.
The commendation and Insignia were presented by the Honourable Greg Thompson, PCMO, Minister of Veterans Affairs.
Congratulations Colonel Quarton, you are one of Summerlands heroes.
Mayor Janice Perrino
Mayors Report for July 13, 2009
It has been three weeks since our last council meeting so I have a lot of events to mention and will just highlight some of them for you.
On June 24, I was invited to attend an open house for the one year anniversary of the condo development on Victoria and Rand street by ReMax Development. Thank you to all the sales team.
On June 25th the Municipality hosted an event to talk with business owners and interested people regarding the Summerland downtown theme, what some people refer to as an old English style theme. Bob Inwood, who helped us with the design of the new signage for Summerland brought some new ideas for us to consider. I was impressed with the dedication of the people who commented on the beauty of our community and how they would like to see the downtown improve. Thank you to everyone who attended. It is now in staffs hands and well let you know the outcome of that discussion in the coming months.
July 1, I attended the festivities in Peach Orchard Park. Bill Barisoff and I officially opened the new Spirit Square art piece. I want to thank SCEDT for coordinating the Canada Day celebrations and festivities. Thank you as well to Dale McDonald our Parks and Recreation director for all of his work to get Spirit Square looking fantastic and a very special thanks to the members of the Community Cultural Development Committee, better known as the CCDC, chaired by Donna Lane. The artists work that they choose was Nathan Smith from Nelson who built the Sun Dial. If you havent seen it, make the trip down there its really terrific.
On July 3, I went to welcome the Provincial Midget C Girls to Summerland, thinking that I might see about 25 girls. In fact there were 280 girls from all over BC. These amazing young athletes were in Summerland for the weekend and I understand had a fantastic time. Thank you to all of the organizers, the parents and especially our own Summerland team who helped to make all of the participants feel welcome and I understand had an outstanding ball tournament.
The following day I attended the opening of the Taekwondo championships. Again, this was for youngsters to young adults from all over BC and Alberta for a full week of competitions. Thank you to the organizers, the parents and the competitors.
On July 4th I attended the Summerland Yacht Club for the Commodore's ball. It was a wonderful night, always great food at the Yacht Club and terrific company. I thought the emcee was particularly good thank you Joan Kyluik; Councillor Jim Kyluiks wife.
On July 5th I got to attend the welcome dinner for the British Columbia Youth Writers Camp.
This is a week long camp organized by Yasman Thorpe for young writers throughout the region
of Summerland, Penticton and Oliver. In attendance was the Honourable Steven Point,
Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia who gave an inspirational talk about the importance of
reading. There are 10 Summerland students who attended the camp this year and I understand
they are going to send us a copy of their writing projects. All of the projects were based on
giving suggestions on how to limit our carbon tax footprint.
Don De Gagne and I attended a meeting with the CAOs, Mayor and Vice-Chair of the RDOS and Penticton last week to discuss some possible opportunities for creating synergies for our communities. This is very early but they are looking at some ways of doing economic growth for our two communities along with options of buying some items together; an example might be some of our fleet trucks. It was a good start.
On Friday July 10th, I attended a luncheon where Stockwell Day, our MP Okanagan-Coquihalla, Minster of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada came to speak at a luncheon and talk about his work at the federal level. In between traveling all over the world for important meetings, being in Ottawa representing us, he is off running in the Boston Marathon in record time. Our MP is one busy guy. Were very lucky to have him.
Again, I would like to thank Dale McDonald and the parks department for their work to finish the new park on Lakeshore Road and Beaver St. and the new playground equipment at Memorial Park.
And most important, council would like to sincerely thank the Public Works department for their work to repair the broken water main two weeks ago. They repaired a very serious break in just under twelve hours; it could have been much worse. The staff worked through the night to get the water going again. Many people thought it was a scheduled water shut-down; it was not scheduled, it was very much an emergency.
Council has asked staff to look at new ways to let the public know when we have such an emergency, whether it is water, electrical, roads, whatever. We want to make sure you know the information, how to take care of your own home or farm, or business so were working on that and well give you more information in the near future.
Thank you to everyone for your patience and understanding.
Janice Perrino,
Mayor
Mayors Report for June 22, 2009
I want to thank the board of directors of SADI for hosting their Volunteer and Sponsor Appreciation BBQ. They thanked us but the truth is, what they do to support the youth in our community is so good, I would like to sincerely thank them for their commitment to our young people.
I met with Dave Searcy, the principal of the Summerland Secondary High School. We have 550 students in that school with around 150 graduating this week. Congratulations to all of the students. Have a memorable, fun and safe graduation. In your new life after high school, I encourage you to follow your dreams. Life is too short not to be happy.
I attended the conference for nearly 125 delegates at the Waterfront Resort on June 10. These were members of the License Inspectors Bylaw Officers Association of B.C.. They had a fantastic conference and brought in over $77,000 dollars into our community. My thanks to Gary Ellis, Sharon Blaney, Gill Matthews and Maureen Fugeta for their work to put this event on. It was a huge job for them and they were terrific.
The 14th Annual Summerland Bluegrass Festival was held on the weekend of June 12 at the Rodeo Grounds. It was non-stop music from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon. A very popular event for folks from all over BC.
Last Wednesday I got the great honour of presenting a certificate of thanks to a special lady by the name of Grandma Olive. Grandma Olive has been helping to raise children through a local Mom & Child group for more than 35 years. We wish her much joy in her retirement and thank her for all of her years of positive grand-mothering.
The Penny Lane store on Victoria was the place to be on Saturday morning when they dropped 180 T-Shirts with gift coupons off the roof of the building. This was in tradition to what was done years ago with the 5 - $1 store. They were celebrating the stores support of $1 million dollars over the past six years for youth initiatives. I would like to thank all of the board of directors, the staff of Penny Lane, the fire department for holding back the traffic for the crowd, thank you to Bruce Hallquist and Scott Boswell for tossing the goods off the roof and a special thanks to Edith Hallquist for folding the 180 T-Shirts.
It should be noted that Penny Lane, just like the Summerland Thrift Shop, are both full contributing members of the business community and pay full business taxes. They, like all of our businesses, help to keep our community strong and our downtown vibrant.
This afternoon our council hosted a meet & greet meeting with members of the Penticton Indian Band members. We have so many similar issues and concerns for our communities. Its amazing and refreshing. We have made a commitment to try and meet four times a year to discuss our issues and work together for a better future.
So many wonderful folks have left us this spring. I would like to send our deepest sympathies to a couple of prominent Summerland families. Lorraine La Marre passed away about three weeks ago. She was the wife of Marcel La Marre, the President of the Royal Canadian Legion. And, Gweneth Gilmour passed away this week. She was born in Summerland in 1925 and lived here all 89 years of her life. What a milestone.
Janice Perrino, Mayor
Mayors Report
June 8th, 2009
This past weekend was the Summerland Action Festival, one of our biggest events of the year. Thank you to the team that got a beautiful convertible for me to sit in for the parade and special thanks to my driver, Louise. I want to sincerely thank Pat Bell and all of the board of directors for the incredible work they did putting on this huge event. The logistics of locations, times, hundreds of people, volunteers and participants was daunting. Everyone seemed to be having fun, the weather was great and Summerland teams did win at least two of the big ball tournament divisions. So that was very exciting.
The event wouldnt happen without the help and support of the vendors, service groups, volunteers and especially the dozens of local sponsors. It takes a team to put this event on and make it a success and this; their 27th Annual ActionFest had to be one of the best. Thank you to everyone involved.
I attended the Health Care Auxiliarys finale dinner last Tuesday evening and you can see why this group is so successful. They have well over 130 dedicated volunteers to run the Thrift Shop. This, as many of you know, is their 100th year anniversary so its a marvel to see them stronger than ever.
Last weekend, I attended the formal dinner of the Freemasons to celebrate their 100th Anniversary. My thanks to all the Masons in Summerland that have helped to keep that organization strong and will keep it strong for the next 100 years.
As many of you know several weeks ago the Summerland Museum honoured the Masons, the Healthcare Auxiliary and the Summerland Cubs & Scouts for their 100 years of service. Were blessed to have such incredible groups in our community as part of our history and our future.
The Summerland Credit Union hosted a Business After Business event over a week ago that I attended. It was a full house with lots of activities and prizes. They are another group that has given thousand of dollars to different organizations to support Summerlanders.
The Bylaw Enforcement Officers Conference for BC is being hosted in Summerland starting on Wed and we have about 100 Bylaw Officers running loose in Summerland later this week. They have asked me to thank all of the Summerland businesses who have help out with the conference and those who have donated door prizes.
Summerland Pleasure Painters have been busy creating two ceiling tiles which have been delivered to, and installed, in the Summerland Health Centre. One tile is in the x-ray room and the other is now in the children's waiting room. This was a big challenge for them, but a lot of fun and a great way to give a gift to the community.
Janice Perrino,
Mayor
Mayors Report
May 11th, 2009
June 6, 2009 is Access Awareness Day which is all about employing people with disabilities!
On the long weekend I attended the official opening of the Kettle Valley Railway, better known as the KVR. They had a full house that day and expect a terrific year. What they do for tourism in Summerland is unbelievable. Thank you to their staff and volunteers for keeping history a part of our future. The same day I attended the Blossom Run, and had to pick my favourite car out of 200 hundred cars that was tough. Great event, lots of people and terrific weather. I went around about four times and eventually picked my favourite, a 1963 Lark, Studebaker white and red convertible. Owned by a couple out of Duncan BC. The car was an original and in perfect condition. That was fun.
On the following day I attended the opening of the Ozone Drama Festival. They had six nights of plays and then the group adjudicates theatre productions from all over the region.
I met with the new executive director Lisa Jaager of SCEDT. She is very excited about working with the business community and Im looking forward to a great future. Best of luck to you Lisa.
This past weekend, I attended the Rotary Pioneer Tea for about 90 residents who have lived in Summerland for 50 years and are over the age of 60. Fabulous crowd, lots of wonderful stories. Thank you to the Summerland Rotary Club for putting on this event.
Also on Saturday, I attended the Summerland Health Care Auxiliary as they held their100th Anniversary event at the Thrift Shop. They have donated more than $3 million to date, $330,000 last year alone, 30,000 volunteer hours just last year and they have promised me to keep going for an additional 100 years. Pretty terrific!
And finally, in recognition of the 65th Anniversary of D-Day, the Invasion of Europe and the Battle of Normandy, twelve members of the Canadian Armed Forces: Army, Navy and Air Force, who took part in these events, are being recognized on June 6th at Juno Beach, France.
LCol. Harry Quarton, CD, LdeH, AdeC, of Summerland, B.C. has been chosen as one of those twelve servicemen who will be honoured by having a personal panel unveiled at a Ceremony at the Juno Beach Centre by the Minister of Veterans Affairs, the Honorable Gregg Thompson. Each panel will consist of the individual's picture, then and now, and a summary of their involvement in these actions.
In 2007, he was awarded the French Legion of Honour by the President of France, Jacques Chirac for his contribution in the Liberation of France.
Col. Quarton is the President of The South Alberta Regiment Veterans Association and has held this position for over 20 years.
Col. Quarton and members of his Association return to Europe on a regular basis to pay homage to their war dead.
While in France, Col. Quarton will unveil a Regimental Plaque on the Memorial Tank at Courselles sur Mer in memory of all the men who served in the South Alberta Regiment who landed on Juno Beach.
Congratulations Col. Quarton, you make Summerland very proud.
Janice Perrino,
Mayor
Mayors Report
May 11th, 2009
May 17th 23 is the National Public Works Week. Their theme this year is Revitalize, Reinvest and Renew. I would like to thank all of the members of our Summerland Public Works Department for the excellent work they do to keep our community up and running well.
Some of the highlights that I think the public might find of interest from the past two weeks are:
Congratulations to all of the candidates from the Summerland Blossom Pageant. They all worked incredibly hard and it showed. Each and everyone would be an excellent ambassador for Summerland.
The Sun FM Radiothon was an incredible success with over $91,000 raised for the pediatric department at the Penticton Regional Hospital. My thanks to the dozens of Summerlanders who made donations.
Last week I attended the Health Care Volunteer Appreciation Tea. This is for all the folks who volunteer at a health care facility in Summerland. There were over 150 people in attendance and that is only a portion of the folks who give of their time to serve others. Thank you to everyone.
I attended the Royal Canadian Legion, VE Day at the Canyonview Cemetery. Once a year candles are lit to honour all of the veterans at each of the cemeteries. It was a special event.
The Summerland Middle School hosted a spaghetti dinner in honour of Kristi Richards and her fundraiser. The title of the event was I CAN. What an incredible lesson to teach children that anything is possible.
Glenfir had their official opening of their new Soccer Academy this past Sat. The instruction the students will receive on the new sports field will be like nothing else in the Okanagan. We are very lucky to have Glenfir in our community.
The 902 Summerland Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadrons 19th Annual Ceremonial Review was on Sat. and the kids are amazing. With competitions for marching, first aid, speech contests the list is quite something of what the youth are taught. It is a great organization for a young people to join.
We had another Coffee with the Mayor on May 9th and thank you to the councillors and the citizens who came to ask questions and give their opinions on different issues. Thanks to the Sweet Tooth for putting up with us.
I attended the Summerland Ornamental Gardens official plant sale opening, the opening of the new Okanagan Chelation Centre and our own Summerlander, Sandra Reed, the owner of the company Kagabags was in front of the DRAGONS DEN TV show yesterday. I worked with her a bit on her presentation and she was terrific. Im certain the Dragons will jump in to help with her business. We wont find out for sure until September.
On a final note, we said goodbye this past week to one of Summerlands most well known and most respected individuals. Jerry Hallquist was best known for his legendary Summerland 5 cents to $1.00 Store but it was his marketing genius that we still talk about - Crazy Days and coins thrown off the roof and toys filling the basement that will capture our imagination forever. What you might not know is that Jerry helped to start the Summerland downtown Tudor Theme and the Festival of Lights. He was the longest living member and one of four founding members of the Kiwanis Club. He was a terrific curler, a pilot and an instigator of some of the worst pranks I shutter to think. He never missed an election and he always made it clear how we should vote when Bruces name was on the ballot. He and his wife Edith were married for 68 years. He lived everyday, every hour, every second. What a role model for all of us. While it is difficult to say goodbye, I think all of Summerland feels blessed that we had him. It is never long enough but gosh it was great.
Janice Perrino, Mayor
Mayors Report
April 27th, 2009
I want to start by thanking staff for taking the time out of their busy schedule to help educate council on land, development and growth issues at a workshop last week. Well have more of these in the future and it helps us to make better decisions at this table.
I attended a dinner meeting of the Summerland Lions Club a week ago and gave a presentation about some of the challenges this council faces with our budget, with growth, and business opportunities. Terrific questions from everyone, thank you to the Lions for allowing me to visit with them.
Tomorrow; April 28th is the Workers Day of Mourning. This day is to recognize all of the workers who have lost their lives while on the job. We have much better regulations about health and safety today but accidents do happen so we need to be aware at all times.
The Ecstasy of Rita Joe; is a very famous play written by our own George Ryga. It is being shown at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa for about two weeks to celebrate the 40th Anniversary. It officially opened on May 1, 1969.
Speaking of the arts, I attended the Summerland Arts Council 40th anniversary celebration this past Saturday. Thank you to all of the board members and volunteers who help to bring the arts to Summerland. Art brings out our creativity and soothes our soul.
Yesterday, I attended the Earth Day celebration and work party at Dale Meadows field. We pulled weeds, planted trees and scrubs and cleaned up the area. It looks great. At the same time, there where other crews doing clean up and painting fish near the drain pipes. About 100 volunteers got involved. They have some great photos from this year and the past two years, so Ive asked that come to council in the future so you can see what has been accomplished to date. Special thanks to Lisa Scott, Beth Cavers from Public Works and Dale MacDonald from the Parks and Recreation department who helped to organize this worthwhile event.
Special thanks again to Dale MacDonald and Juanita Gibney, vice president of SCEDT. They worked together to produce the first Trails brochure. This is a great sales piece for Summerland. This shows where the public trails are and has lots of information about the history. These will be available at the Chamber office, Municipal Hall and the Recreation Department.
This Thursday is the 6th annual Have a Heart Radiothon at Cherry Lane Shopping Centre hosted by Astral Media. That is the SunFM, AM 800 and Summerlands AM 1450 stations. The funds raised will be used to purchase two childrens cardio respiratory monitors and three cribs for the Penticton Regional Hospital. The cribs are 30 years old. If you would like to make a donation, come down to Cherry Lane, we would love to see you.
Special congratulations to Vi and Claude Gaye they celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on the weekend.
Janice Perrino,
Mayor
Mayors Report
April 14th, 2009
We finally got the environmental go a-head we had been waiting for to begin the work on the domestic water metering units along with phase 1 of the system separation to separate the domestic water lines from the agricultural lines on a portion of Prairie Valley Rd.
The data is clear, domestic water meters reduce the use of water where ever they are used. People just generally use less water so we know this is good conservation.
System separation will help us to reduce the amount of water we have to treat. It is only phase 1 but it will make a huge difference in the amount of water we save from costly treatment and will help us to reach the goal of having enough treated water for domestic use and untreated (however chlorinated) water for agricultural use. Work will begin within the next two months. Well be sure to tell the public more as the information becomes available to us.
Two weeks ago I attended an event at the Royal Bank to see an actual torch carried into Summerland by one of the athletes from the Paralympics. If you would like to be a torch barer yourself, you need to look up the Royal Bank website or drop by the Royal Bank for more information. The Olympics is just 10 months away.
At the end of March, Summerland participated in what was called Earth Hour by turning off the lights for several hours at Municipal Hall I would like to thank the staff for coming in on their off time to make the project happen. I would also like to thank all of our citizens who participated in the 20 Minute Clean Up a week ago Monday. I understand that both Glenfir and the Middle School students got involved by going outside to clean up what the winter winds blow in; thank you everyone.
Last week we held and open house here in council chambers for the families who live at the North Beach below the area where the road is being four-laned. With the major slide we experienced last October the access road originally planned has had to be changed. There is a picture at Municipal Hall that shows the area and where the new road will be located. Well keep this downstairs in the main area near the receptionist desk for the next week or so if you would like a better look at what is happening with the construction site.
Also, last week I attended a presentation at the Okanagan College in Penticton hosted by our own MLA Rick Thorpe and the Honourable Bill Barisoff. Okanagan College got a grant for $28 million dollars to triple the size of the college site for a new Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Technologies and Renewable Energy Conservation. This will mean space for 800 more students. Our community will benefit tremendously by this announcement for years to come.
Thank you to everyone involved in making this project happen.
Janice Perrino,
Mayor
Mayors Report
March 23, 2009
The City of Kelowna has challenged Summerland to take part in Earth Hour 2009 by ensuring Municipal Hall lights are turned off on March 28 from 8:30 to 9:30 pm. We would also like to encourage our residents and commercial businesses to do the same.
It has been a very busy couple of weeks so Ill just touch on some of the events I attended.
SCEDT held their AGM a couple of weeks ago and I officially welcomed the new board members. There was a good crowd in attendance and many of their activities were highlighted. They have great plans for this coming year and they will be looking for councils involvement when were able to attend.
Some students from Summerland Secondary School had me come in to the school for a session of questions. The main concern for them was transit to Penticton and to the north so I was happy to be able to say, it is coming and soon. I was pleased to see how concerned they were about their community its inspiring to know that these young people are our future leaders. Were in good hands.
A couple of weeks ago I attended the South Okanagan Similkameen Stewardship programs 15th Anniversary. This was to celebrate what landowners do and have been doing in the South Okanagan to protect and enhance natural areas on their lands since 1994. My only disappointment; there were no landowners from Summerland. I encourage anyone who is interested to contact the South Okanagan Similkameen Stewardship program for more information.
Last Wednesday, the Agur Lake Camp group hosted an event to unveil their plans for the buildings along with a cheque for $100,000 from MLAs Bill Barisoff and Rick Thorpe. What is amazing to me is that this is a Summerland project. We as a community need to rally behind this group and help them get their funding in place. That is the only way they can start building the centre.
I really like it when MLA Rick Thorpe phones to say he has money for us so last week I went to receive some big cheques.
We received $375,000 through Towns for Tomorrow for our RCMP Detachment building project. Although we are not ready to start building yet, we are getting closer and this funding will help us to make the new building more energy efficient.
$534,996 was for our first installment payment under our new Strategic Community Investment Fund which provides greater certainty to our Traffic Fine Revenue Sharing and Small Community Grant funding, thereby assisting our efforts to improve community safety and stimulate the economy. $76,191 of this payment is associated with the traffic fine revenue sharing and $458,805 with small community grants.
We received $4,861 under the Climate Action Revenue Incentive Program, equal to 100 percent of the carbon tax we paid as part of direct expenditures on fossil fuels.
This funding represents part of the governments continuing investment in BC Communities.
Since 2004 Summerland has received $8,363,613 dollars towards infrastructure, community safety, small community grants and community opportunities and the Olympics.
Our thanks to MLAs Rick Thorpe and Bill Barisoff and a request to them to not forget we are still very anxious for the grant funding for Prairie Valley, Rosedale road upgrades.
Janice Perrino, Mayor
Mayors Report
March 9, 2009
March is Community Social Services Awareness Month for BC. Social services provide to families and children, people with disabilities, people and families dealing with substance abuse, people in community justice services, including correction services and victim assistance programs, women and their families in transition houses or sexual assault centers, aboriginal peoples, individuals involved in community projects and employment training programs, as well as child care, multicultural, settlement and immigrant services, and much more.
A couple of weeks ago I attended a meeting with the Friends of Summerland Library and listened to a presentation from the owner of Summerland Sweets. Len spoke about their new fruit wines and how that business got started and the success of it today. It is a great success story.
It is always a joy to listen to someone who is excited about their business, sees all the potential and works though the problems. Summerland Sweets are a great asset to our community. The Friends of Summerland Library host these speakers sessions on a regular basis and I encourage members of the community to get out when ever possible to listen.
I attended the AGM of the Summerland Asset Development Initiative better know as SADI last week. They are an organization that does amazing work for the youth in our community. They talked about their different programs for over an hour. I was surprised and impressed. They have come a long way over the past ten years.
Everyone knows Josh at Murray's pizza! Well, as of this Wednesday, he has been open in Summerland for 15 years. Josh talked about the struggles that he went through to stay open in those early days and the folks in this community that supported him. Over the next week, be sure to stop by and say congratulations.
The Summerland Chamber of Economic Development and Tourism (SCEDT) held their 71st Annual Community Excellence Awards this past Saturday evening. I am going to let Sam tell you more about the recipients but I want to thank the directors for a terrific evening of great food, entertainment and of course the awards. The Summerland Rotary Club served the meals in a room that no one could move in and they did a great job. Thank you everyone and our congratulations to all of the nominees.
I want to say special congratulations to Dale MacDonald for his award in Community Cultural Development. Dale helps make this community stay beautiful by getting groups involved. Great work Dale.
As the media is aware, council has made some decisions about restructuring some positions in the Public Works department. After a lot of discussion, we terminated three positions and created two new ones. Basically this is to remove non-essential service positions and improve service levels where it is needed the most.
Yes, it is about being fiscally responsible but people are affected and in the end it is likely that we may have to let go of one staff person. In my books you don't get any hero points for making these types of decisions.
Still, I know this is the right move to better manage this municipality. I would like to sincerely thank the management team. You did the right thing but it took courage and we appreciate your leadership.
A well known Summerlander passed away this past week. Juergen Hansen was well known to most of us at the Council table and well respected throughout the community.
We fought with him about issues and the process of how government was done for years but he was a joy to listen to and I respected his thoughts. He was a deeply intelligent man.
I got to know Juergen more personally when I took him a couple of times to Kelowna for his cancer treatments. He loved his wife, his children and his community. We laughed and talked a great deal. He fought cancer several times and I believe he won the battle.
Council wont be the same without you Juergen we will miss you!
Janice Perrino, Mayor
Mayors Report
February 23, 2009
The Finance Committee has been busy, so I will let Councillor Elia comment on that in his report, but on behalf of all of us let me again say thank you to all of the members. I understand some recommendations are coming to council tomorrow evening so I look forward to that information.
On Feb 12th, all of council attended the open house for a presentation about the Prairie Valley Road/Rosedale Road upgrades. This open house was to get the communities feedback on what things they would like to see done to those two roads. They were shown pictures of everything including sidewalks, bike lanes, roundabouts, one or two traffic lanes along with beautifications like trees, flowers and even benches. All the ideas were put on the table for the publics information and discussion. We had 160 people attend and I want to thank all of you who came and gave us your best suggestions. It is helpful to us and will help us to prepare the documents for when we get government grant funding which we hope will be soon. We will keep you posted.
February 18th there was an event at the Summerland Waterfront Resort called the Summerland Economic Outlook Conference 2009, hosted by RE/MAX Orchard Country. I want to sincerely thank Patrick Murphy and his sales team for hosting this event and they picked up all the costs. For two hours a variety of speakers talked about Summerlands current economy and the future. This was a very positive evening, with details about all of Summerlands possibilities and our exciting future.
This past Saturday I held a Coffee with the Mayor meeting at the A & W. Thank you to Jamie and his staff for putting up with us and thank you John Arndt for coming by to talk to the public. Lots of great questions, comments, suggestions it was a very worth while meeting. I think well do it again later next month at a new location. Ill let you know as soon as Ive booked it.
Tonight we will be unveiling our goals and objectives. We have been working on this for several weeks. It is important that the public know, our first priority is getting the WTP up and functioning to its full capabilities.
However, we have lots of goals regarding water, transportation and organizational issues just to name a few. We have not put these in priority order because we are working on all of them at same time, throughout our term. The goals will be reviewed on a regular basis and updated on a yearly basis.
Janice Perrino,
Mayor
Mayors Report
February 9, 2009
The Finance Committee meetings have started and I am sure the Chair, Councillor Elia will talk about it more in his report but I would like to say thank you in particular to so many of the councillors attending the all day staff presentations and in particular our two volunteer public committee members for their participation. There is another meeting tomorrow night and the public and the media are welcome to attend.
February 18th there is an event being held at the Summerland Waterfront Resort called the Summerland Economic Outlook Conference 2009, hosted by RE/MAX Orchard Country. A variety of speakers will talk about Summerlands current economy and the future. This will be a very positive evening, with details about all of Summerlands exciting possiblities. This event is more for folks that have a business or business opportunities. If you would like to attend, call 250-494-8881 or drop into the RE/Max Orchard Country office on the corner of Victoria and Main St. There are only a limited number of seats.
Im going to be holding the first of what I hope will be several Mayors Coffee Shop Meetings. The first one is scheduled for Saturday, 9:00AM 11:00 AM on Feb 21, 2009 at the A & W on Rosedale.
The public is welcome to come and ask questions, tell me your community concerns and Ill have a major question for you to think about and discuss. The only deal is you must buy your own beverage, breakfast, whatever you like to eat and drink. We are there to support the restaurant and about every two months or so when I plan these meetings, we will pick a new location and we will support another restaurant. Councillors are welcome to attend all of these meetings and listen.
There are other advisory groups of people I will be meeting with, along with a group of people I e-mail to. These are people I go to, to hear their thoughts and wisdom on different issues. If you would like to be a part of either of those groups, please feel free to e-mail me at mayor@summerland.ca and Ill make sure you get put on the list.
Janice Perrino,
Mayor
Report from the Mayor
January 26, 2009
Last week, the Minister of Agriculture Stan Hagen passed away quite suddenly. I met him at a UBCM convention years ago and I remember being impressed with how kind and intelligent he came across. He will be greatly missed throughout the province.
On another provincial issue, three of us attended the retirement gala on Saturday night for our own MLA, the Honourable Rick Thorpe. There is nothing more humbling than having your children roast you they know all the funny things about you. Ricks children were the highlight of the evening. It was truly an evening of celebration and friendship. We wish him all the very best in his retirement years.
Rick Thorpe also attended our Council of the Whole meeting this morning and is checking on our grant that is currently in the system for transportation. He has always been a great help to this council.
I attended a meeting with members of the Summerland Chamber of Economic Development and Tourism (SCEDT); just over a week ago, to talk about business growth. I think their strengths have really focused on tourism over the past three years and its paid off, which has been a great benefit to Summerland.
Now I have asked them to focus heavily on the business community. There may be a downtrend in the economy but people still have to work so we need to encourage good business growth. They are going to work on that and we will be reporting to you more about their plans over the coming weeks.
On Friday, Council hosted an all day Goals and Priorities meeting with management. We came away with both short and long term goals and we will be sharing that with the public hopefully by next week. It has to be put to paper by staff with final review by council. It was a great day, we got a lot accomplished.
The public surveys are coming in fast and in huge numbers. I am just so pleased. I encourage you, if you have not filled out yours yet, please take time to do so and send it in. We have just been glancing at some of the comments and it is really interesting to see. The public know what they want and their suggestions are excellent. After Feb 6th, we will start compiling them and sharing the results with the public. Thank you to everyone who has responded so far.
Janice Perrino,
Mayor
Report from the Mayor
January 12, 2009
I had a meeting with a member of the Okanagan Valley Healing Society. They are hosting a learning session called Fostering Resilience in Childhood and Adolescence by Dr. Gabor Mate on January 28, 2009 at 7:00 at Centre Stage Theater. This author has quite a profound insight into children and teenagers so this evening might be of real interest to local parents. We are very lucky to have him speaking in Summerland. There is a $10.00 charge and everyone is welcome.
I would like to say congratulations to Crime Stoppers. They have been in existence since 1992 and because of their work 631 arrests have been made; $1,555,825 in stolen property has been recovered and the drugs seized to date have amounted to almost $7 million dollars.
My least favorite topic of conversation the past month has been Snow Removal. Just to let you know the budget was $167,845 and as of the end of December the cost was $199,117 ($31,000 over budget) and that does not include all the snow from last week. Yes, we do have some funds in reserve for this but obviously we are concerned and between you and me I would be just as happy if we did not get another flake of snow until next year.
I want to thank the Public Works Department for all of their hard work in getting the road cleaning under control. It was a huge, difficult problem and we appreciate everything the staff did to keep traffic moving.
Council had a meeting this morning to discuss staffing issues. Our concern is as we go into budget review we want to keep costs down. In the end we came up with three resolutions that we feel will give the management team clear direction when doing their budgets.
1. The Budget: must have meaningful and substantial reductions in (budget) costs this year. Next year the process will be done by zero-based budgeting.
2. Staffing: There will be an immediate hiring freeze for new staff and no re-structuring for six months. Any changes to this will be up to councils approval.
3. Council must have an evaluation of all service levels throughout, before final approval of this years budget.
The reason for these changes is easy to explain. The economic downtrend is all around us. We will see very little residential growth and new business development over the next year so, we must tighten the purse strings and cut back. The public has already seen an electrical increase of $4.6% and there may be other increases that we will have little ability to change. We want to have a good handle on what is happening throughout the departments before we agree to anything new.
Finally, I cant remember a time when so many long time Summerlanders have passed away. The past four weeks have been very sad. On behalf of council, we wish to send our condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones. We all know what sorrow is but that doesnt make it any easier.
One person I would like to mention in particular was a member of our own District staff; Carol Trotter. Carol worked as the secretary in the Parks and Recreation department for several years. She passed away very suddenly on January 3. What I will remember the most about Carol was her incredible smile. That smile spoke more about good customer service than anything. Her personality was fun, warm and gracious. Carol made life better and we were blessed to know her.
On behalf of this council, we would like to send our deepest sympathies to her family.
Janice Perrino, Mayor
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