Public transportation, library funding and expanding the sewer system are just a few topics delegates from Keremeos council will tackle during the Union of British Columbia Municipalities conference.
The conference takes place Sept. 10 to 14 in Whistler and brings together members of council from municipalities across the province, providing an opportunity for them to meet provincial ministers and staff to talk about issues.
Keremeos Mayor Manfred Bauer and councillor Jason Wiebe will attend on behalf of the village.
Bauer said several meetings are setup with ministers.
The representatives will meet with MLA Claire Treveena who is the minister of Transportation and Infrastructure to talk about the discontinuation of Greyhound.
“We did already meet with Minister Treveena this spring but it’s very important. It’s important that a way is found to connect residents in our valley to other areas,” he said.
He noted recently at the regional district table strides have been made to start a BC Transit bus to run from Penticton to Kelowna, but he said that wasn’t enough and residents all over the province needed access to transportation.
The Keremeos representatives will have meetings with minister Rob Fleming to discuss the future of library funding. Bauer said previous meetings about setting up special funding for rural libraries didn’t gain any traction.
“We met multiple times with the previous government, we met with Minister Fleming once, at that time (of the meeting with Fleming) the government was in the process of reviewing a new approach on education and financing education. They said libraries were not on the priority list. But we want people it’s not forgotten and it’s on our priority list,” he said.
Other meetings include one on the sewer expansion and the current review on the phase 3 application and improving telecommunication by installing fibre optics in the village.
Bauer will also be in several meetings as the vice-chair of Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen including siting cannabis production facilities, policing in the South Okanagan Similkameen, flood water management and prolific sentencing.
There area also clinics and workshops held each day covering a wide variety of topics pertinent to municipal politicians.
