The Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) has implemented a new agreement for municipalities within the region to participate in rural planning.
At a City Council meeting on Monday, Council agreed to participate in the RDEK Electoral Area Planning Municipal Participation Agreement at a cost of 20 per cent, or $22,341. The City previously paid 39 per cent of the cost, or $36,579, to have a seat at the planning table. The agreement is for a five year term, from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2023.
Manager of Planning Services Troy Pollock says there are at least a couple of other municipalities within the regional district that opted out of the rural planning function (at a cost of 39 per cent), which does not allow them a seat at the planning table or the ability to vote.
Mayor Don McCormick explained that up until this point in time there has been no working contract or agreement in place with the RDEK for participation in planning.
“That $36,000 represented 39 per cent of the planning cost. In other words, the municipalities were picking up 39 per cent of the planning function cost of the RDEK and the electoral districts picking up the balance,” said McCormick.
Last fall, Elkford and Sparwood essentially opted out of participation in planning, says the Mayor, due to the fact that they thought it was an unfair cost.
He added that as a result of the actions of those municipalities, the RDEK has come up with this agreement and revised the cost for participation in planning.
“Paying for 40 per cent of the planning function that has peripheral impact on the municipalities was definitely a fairly high percentage. The electoral districts agreed, and that’s what has resulted in the decrease to 20 per cent,” McCormick said.
He says that it’s important to be able to sit at that planning table, for projects and initiatives happening within Kimberley’s periphery.
“Being able to sit in on that is definitely an important thing for us to do,” said McCormick. “I’m pretty happy that the compromise on the finances were made…”
Councillor Darryl Oakley asked why the City has to pay to have a say in RDEK’s planning. McCormick responded by saying you have to “pay to play”.
“It’s Kimberley interests that are being voted on, if you’re going to sit at the table and weigh in on the interests, you need to pay to play,” he said. “At 20 per cent it’s definitely not an onerous cost on the part of the municipalities. I think pretty much all of the municipalities have chosen to stay in at the new rate.”
