Keremeos Village Council received a letter and a notice of complaint from Edgar Shiels, who resides at 400 Second Avenue in Keremeos.
Shiels raised issue with a catch basin installed in front of his property that he claimed needed to be brought up to standard because his driveway floods after heavy rains, the latest occurring on July 9. Shiels also made a request to speak to the board at the next council meeting.
Council agreed to receive the letter.
The Sizzlefest Committeee made a request to council for assistance to set up infrastructure for the 2012 Sizzlefest, coming up on Sept. 15. The committee requested the following:
- to have a dumpster left open
- access to electrical power
- bathrooms in the infocentre opened
- mark sprinkler heads
- rocks moved to allow access into the park from Eighth Avenue
- put up snow fence to delineate the beer garden
Council approved the requests, except for one which required the haulage of a trailer over to the beer garden.
The village released the results of its 2012 Citizen Survey,which council voted to receive for information purposes.
Six hundred, twenty-five surveys were sent to residents, to which 184 replied - a 29 per cent response rate.
The province recently released two white papers related to strengthening the provincial role as sole authority to adopt and provide interpretations for a uniform building code across the province. Chief Adminstrative Officer Laurie Taylor and council discussed a proposal related to a provincial levy of construction fees mentioned in the white paper. Concerns over the cost to municipalities to implement a certification system for building officials were also discussed before council acted on the administrative recommendation to send the Ministry of Energy and Mines a letter outling the concerns.
Council also received the first half building inspection revenues and expenditures report.
Building permit revenues to the village are down for the second year in a row, even though the number of permits issued are up. Fewer new residential permits have been issued this year, the average cost of a residential permit being $2,100, which partly accounts for the reduced revenue.
Building inspectors were working two full days per week in the first part of 2011, but dropped to two half days per week in the fall because of a drop in demand. Current statistics indicate an average of two to four inspections, two to three walk-ins, three to five telephone inquiries and two to three appointments per week, negating any need for additional hours for the service.
Council also received the mid year report on bylaw enforcement in the village.
Keremeos received 25 complaints in the first six months of the year, versus 46 complaints at the same time last year, 46 per cent reduction. Dog complaints and property maintenance issues make up the bulk of complaints received so far this year.