A lengthy discussion centered around the hiring of a full time economic development officer (EDO) during a special meeting of Village of Burns Lake council last week.
The proposed economic development officer would be shared between the Regional District of Bulkley Nechako area B, Burns Lake rural and the village and the position would be funded partially through the RDBN’s economic development function, as well as the village. Bill Miller, RDBN director of area B also attended the meeting to discuss the issue.
According to Mayor Luke Strimbold, the idea of hiring an economic development officer spawned from a recommendation made by the Economic Development Association of B.C. (EDABC) in its report following a local economic development town hall meeting.
“This is something we talked about with the EDABC when they were here and I want to know if the RDBN is on the same page. Burns Lake needs an economic development officer here to help us. The position would be the Lakes District economic development officer and would be available to area B and the village to capture what is happening in the area,” Mayor Strimbold said.
Council has recommended that the economic development officer be based out of the village office and be under the supervision of village chief administrative officer, Sheryl Worthing.
“Both the RDBN and the village would have access to the economic development officer,” he added.
Worthing said she had previously spoken with Hans Berndorff, RDBN’s financial administrator and was told that the economic development function [which is a shared account between the RDBN and the village] has a balance of $113,000, but that a$58,000 contract for start up costs for the local visitor information centre still has to be drawn from the account.
“There will be a $20,000 grant towards the start up costs from the province, so we are looking at an amount of $75,580 remaining in the account,” Worthing said.
Miller said that while he has not had a lot of time to review the EDABC report he said he agreed with most of the recommendations they made. “It is all fairly obvious and straight forward recommendations in the report,” he said.
“The village is looking for economic development capacity and the RDBN has strategic development. We have a very clear, straightforward and accountable system so it is easy for me to justify the dollars we are drawing from the region to pay for this function. The EDABC recommendation has merit to the village and it is something that is needed, I have not qualms about that. I am a little concerned abut area B contributing to Burns Lake because I don’t want to see any doubling of efforts and I am cognizant to see how much money would have to come from area B to fund this position,” Miller said.
“What we ant to know is, will you support this recommendation when his worship [Mayor Strimbold] brings it up at the RDBN?” asked Coun. John Illes.
“I need to know how much money it would take out of the economic development function … I know it is a shared account, but I need to be accountable for those tax dollars,” Miller said.
Mayor Strimbold said, “Economic development is one of the things we are joint on and I don’t want to lose sight of that partnership,” Strimbold said.
Miller said, “I believe in consultation and collaboration … this has been my focus from the beginning although I don’t think everyone works that same way. We are one community. I have a certain amount of capacity to use my economic development officers at the RDBN and I have used them extensively over the last few years, for example getting funds for the bike park and numerous gas tax applications. I am asking how much money this position is going to take from the account because I need to know that there will still be economic development dollars left for projects.”
“The account still has $113,000 left …. if $113,000 was on offer I am sure we would have a lot of applicants,” Coun. Illes said adding, “We need a top notch applicant because of the situation we are in. Grant writing is only a minor part of the role, probably less than 10 per cent and we are looking for the economic development officer to start in 2012 … there will be moving expenses if the person is not local. For the position we are probably looking at $75,000 at the most, so because there will only be six months left in the year it will be half of that amount for 2012.”
Miller said the RDBN economic development staff don’t just write grant proposals.
“The do significantly more than that. I am not questioning the choice of hiring an economic development officer. I just want the same accountability that I have with the RDBN.”
Mayor Strimbold assured Miller that the village would contribute a similar amount of dollars to fund the economic development officer and said he saw the position as a benefit to the entire area.
“I look forward to this opportunity,” added Coun. Quentin Beach. “I live in area B, but we are all one unit. We can always try it and if we are not happy down the road, when can always change it.”
“I agree, we are one community and I would hope that we can do this in a collaborative and consensus built environment. Burns Lake has not had an adequate economic development function. My only concern is that the economic development fund is limited and I hope that council understands that there is other projects that need to be done. I don’t want to spend all the money in that account on an economic development officer,” Miller said.
Mayor Strimbold said he saw the hiring of an economic development officer as a long term position. “I don’t want to hire someone for six months and then say thank you and goodbye. A short term fix is not the answer, unless it is not working out.”
Bill Miller agreed to go to the RDBN board to propose the economic development position be partially funded by the RDBN but added that the village and the RDBN would still need to negotiate an amount of money that the RDBN would contribute.
“I don’t want to marginalize any community and I would hope that the economic development officer would also include projects in area E [Francois Ootsa rural]. I expect anything that this economic development office does will be for the benefit of the area as a whole.”
Councillor Beach said he appreciates Millers concerns and assured him that the position would benefit the entire area.
“If we were hiring an economic development officer just for the Village of Burns Lake it wouldn’t be necessary, we are only a small town …. but we need to give this a chance. We are going to hit this out of the park, if we get the right person.”
Miller said, “We all have to speak from the same song book. I know there has been some angst around the fibre supply issues that have separated the RDBN. We could have all gone to war fighting over the little scraps of timber left, but if we all work together we can achieve so much more.”
