This evening we welcome you and thank you for attending this the Inaugural Meeting of our new Council.

 

As we are all aware from our own personal experiences, community service in Sidney is great work, but it can be a challenging job with always more to do than time allows.  Municipal leadership in Sidney means much more than just filling an elected position.  It is for each member of Council a commitment to serve our community and its citizens with integrity, accountability, a respect for the future, a regard for the present, and an understanding of the past.

 

Our Council is a community resource elected to set a direction, to move forward working together with the community to implement goals and objectives developed by the community.

 

Communication and openness are the key ingredients which make Councils successful.  “Openness” is just a word, it doesn’t mean anything without action.  It means listening to many sides of a discussion without hostility towards the parties involved.  It means being willing to have a public debate on the record and being willing to take the fallout from making difficult decisions.

 

Our Council during the past three years has followed these guiding principles and we take this opportunity to thank them for their support, commitment, and dedication.  Our community as a whole thanks each and every Council member for the many personal sacrifices they have made along the way and for their efforts and willingness to deal with issues and to make decisions for a better community – Sidney has been well served.

 

This evening we extend a special thank you to our two retiring members of Council – Councillors Hughes and Plint.  We wish them success in all future endeavours, may they enjoy good health, new challenges and happy days.

 

Our Councils -- past, present and future -- would not be able to fulfill mandates to be successful without the support of our dedicated, hard working staff, who day in, day out, provide us and the public with our basic services and related resources.  Without the support of these dedicated people we could not move forward, we would be at a standstill, unable to make those critical decisions for our community.  We thank them for this continued support.

 

Delegation to and participation with community volunteer resources is central to our community’s success.  This can be a serious, high risk, vulnerable process on the part of Council, requiring a great deal of trust as it reaches out to share its accountability with community volunteers, groups and organizations.

 

We are fortunate that in Sidney the community, as a whole, considers our volunteers by definition to be community leaders who undertake many things, motivated not by authority, but by ideas and accomplishment.  They are roving leaders, our most valuable assets, and we thank them for their considerable contributions to our community.

 

To the many members of our volunteer advisory committees, members of our Vision Committee, other Council committees, our Volunteer Fire Department, our Town Criers, and our Police Department members, all of whom work and volunteer with such dedication and enthusiasm while ensuring our basic value of caring for one another has not been sacrificed, we sincerely say thank you.

 

We thank our Peninsula Celebrations Society volunteers for all they do to make “Sidney Sparkle”, our Community Development Office and SBA for those wonderful Thursday Night Summer Markets.

 

I would like to also take this opportunity to thank our member of parliament, Gary Lunn, and our MLA, Murray Coell, for their help and assistance during the past three years, particularly with those successful infrastructure grants.

 

Tonight we welcome two new members to our Council.  Larry Cross has been an enthusiastic community member and supporter for many years.  His involvement with community groups and organizations is well known and we welcome his experience and energy to Sidney Council.

 

Garry Crispin brings a new perspective to Sidney Council and will provide valuable input for us when considering youth issues at Council.  He will have a great deal to learn and we are looking forward to his contribution on the many serious issues Council must consider.

 

A year ago council outlined its goals and objectives for 2005 and has met most of them.  I would like to share with you two things, where we have been and where we are going.

 

(a)  Our Seniors, Youth, and Families Sub-committee of the Community Vision Committee was tasked with undertaking a process to identify present and future needs within our community.

 

      In November this hardworking group of community volunteers, following considerable citizen input, presented Council with a full report, implementation suggestions and an action plan.

 

      We thank these volunteers for their dedication and report which will be presented to Council in the New Year for implementation.

 

(b)  Our Community Vision Committee was asked to review our Vision 2000 document and to consider options for a new Vision 2010 document.

 

      Thanks to the assistance of Jane Hall the review has been completed and in early 2006 the committee will decide the future structure and direction of the committee.

 

(c)  Council was asked to consider a process for a full review and update of our Official Community Plan, which is required every five years.

 

      In September our staff were directed to provide Council with background information so in early 2006 our new Council can begin to seek input from our citizens for the future direction of Sidney.

 

(d)  Council was asked to commence the new hotel / marine museum project at the foot of Beacon Avenue and to relocate the Customs House to a new site in Sidney.

 

      Hotel construction is now above ground level and the Customs House has been moved to the Beacon – Bevan Avenue Park area where it will become the Community Development Office.

 

      The hotel construction is moving ahead on schedule in a timely manner but Council and staff will have to closely monitor the plans for a New Marine Museum and Marine Ecology Station which will be housed on the main floor of the building.

 

      We encourage our volunteer museum societies to be diligent with their planning as this component is needed to help keep the project on schedule.

 

(e)  Improvements on Beacon Avenue have continued as recommended by Council and the roundabout traffic circle at First and Beacon will be constructed when the majority of the hotel construction work is complete.

 

(f)   The Lochside Drive improvement project, including underground wiring is near completion and the final phase of pole removal, which has been held up by the Telus strike, will be done shortly.

 

(g)  Council requested that we hold an official opening of our new SHOAL Centre for seniors.  This was done in early 2005 and we were very pleased to have BC’s Lieutenant Governor present at the opening.

 

(h)  Council was asked to review options to create additional green space at Tulista Park in the boat launch area.

 

      Plans have been completed and in 2006 the existing parking area near the boat launch will be relocated nearer to Fifth Street and a new park area and walkway along the waterfront will be built.

 

(i)   Council was asked to consider completing the Bevan Pier project.

      Thanks to a Federal – Provincial Infrastructure Grant the project has now been completed.  We thank Reg Teeney for several years of fund raising in our community to help make this happen.

 

(j)   Council was asked to consider further extensions of our waterfront walkway from Port Sidney to Henry Avenue.  This has been completed and thanks to staff has now been expanded beyond Henry Avenue.

 

As Council continues with several of the projects mentioned, further new initiatives will also be undertaken.

 

(a)  Our Police Advisory Committee will be asked to work with Council and our neighbouring municipalities to establish a bylaw court in Sidney in the Sidney Courthouse building.

 

(b)  Council will work with our Town Criers to ensure the 2006 World Town Criers Invitational Competition in Sidney is a success.

 

(c)  Council will work with North Saanich and hopefully Central Saanich to move forward with the expansion of the Panorama Recreation Centre, which received citizen approval during the recent election.

 

(d)  Council will support the Saanich Peninsula Hospital community society in its efforts to ensure medical services are not curtailed or downsized at our hospital.

 

(e)  Council will be asked to appoint a First Nations liaison so Council can begin to improve relations with our Peninsula First Nations communities.

 

(f)   Council will be asked to review and consider recommendations which will flow from the Mary Winspear Centre operations study commissioned by Council, which is now near completion.

 

(g)  Council will be asked to help form a community organization task force to bring all our community groups together to explore opportunities to enhance future cooperation with one another.

 

(h)  Council will be asked to consider plans for residential housing opportunities, including affordable housing in the Bowerbank – Twin Oaks commercial – industrial area.

 

(i)   Council will be asked to consider a public / private partnership which will provide our public works yard with a new facility at no cost to the taxpayer.

 

(j)   Council thanks our Chief Administrative Officer, David Bartley, and our Corporate Administrator / Special Projects Manager, Al Cameron, for agreeing to work part time in 2006 so Council can complete a process to fill the CAO position.

 

(k)  Council will be asked to consider long term options for the management of the Sidney Ferry Terminal.

 

(l)   Council will also be asked to consider a Phase Two to remove overhead wiring from Weiler to Ocean along Lochside Drive.

 

The task ahead for our 2006 budget is, as always, a challenge.  The provisional budget prepared by staff, which is a first wish list look at possible increases before consideration of cuts and deferrals, represents a 3.6% tax increase or approximately $36.00 per average residential property owner.  Council will work diligently in early 2006 to ensure any tax increase is kept to a minimum.

 

On behalf of Council I wish to thank you for coming this evening, for all you do for our community and for your continued support.  We wish each and every one of you compliments of the festive season, hope to see you at the New Years Day Levee and may 2006 bring you happiness and prosperity.

 

Working together we can continue to have a vibrant community which will look to the future with purpose and enthusiasm while ensuring our basic value of caring for one another has not been sacrificed.  As the late John F. Kennedy stated “there are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are for less than the long range risks and costs of inaction”.

 

We do have a great community!!

We do have a plan of action!!