Reporter: Roy Wood
Town hall targeted for heritage designation
The town and the local historical society will work together to designate the town hall as a heritage building, including the cenotaph and the John Oliver statue.
The Oliver and District Heritage Society recently raised the issue of protecting the town hall and suggested that such a project could be part of the town’s Canada 150 activities. However, the society proposed that the town lead the effort.
The town hall is already one of 25 locations that are part of a Community Heritage Register. That designation, however, doesn’t restrict property owners from altering the properties.
Naming the town hall a “heritage building” brings into effect restrictions on changes to the external appearance of the property. There are just two current heritage buildings: the museum, which was formerly the RCMP station; and the CPR station.
The town hall was originally the South Okanagan Lands Project office. The society is not certain exactly when it was built, but they know it was before 1923.
Council agreed Tuesday to wok with the society on the project.
Priorities to get closer look in May
Following a quarterly report from the CAO on Tuesday, council decided to take some time in May to discuss in more detail its strategic objectives.
Chief administrative office Cathy Cowan told council that while most of the priorities in the strategic plan are on schedule, there have been some delays because of staffing, particularly the recent departure of the chief financial officer.
The 2017 strategic plan priorities include:
•Downtown revitalization;
•Identify two Station Street projects to be started in 2018;
•Maintenance of town assets and a study into traffic calming and sidewalk implementation strategy;
•Meet community safety goals, develop a tax strategy regarding potential increased policing costs; and
•Enhance communication and community engagement.
Some disagreement emerged among council members over the possible strategy to increase taxes to protect against increased police costs should the town’s population exceed 5,000 in the next census.
Mayor Ron Hovanes suggested that at Cowan’s next quarterly report in May council take an hour or so to discuss the priorities in more detail.
Park Place will be asked to waive age rule
Council will approach the strata council at Park Place to see if it will waive the age requirement to allow the town to rent the condo it owns to visiting at the hospital.
CAO Cathy Cowan brought the matter to council after a resident of the 55-plus Park Place development suggested it as an ideal location for the so-called “locum” physicians who bolster staff at the South Okanagan General Hospital from time to time.
The town is generally agreeable to renting the unit to visiting doctors. However, the 55-plus age restriction would have to be waived for younger physicians.