Water shut off

 

Potluck this Thursday

 

Bingo on Sunday

 

Advanced voting municipal election

 

Thanksgiving at Esperanza

 

So… Thanksgiving is just around the corner and once again there will be a Thanksgiving gathering at Esperanza. All are invited. We’ll put out the boat schedule when we have a better idea how many would like to come.

Bring your appetite… bring a friend. Bring a salad or your favorite desert if you like but don’t feel like you need to bring anything. Just come as you are.

We’ll have a service at 11:00 and a meal at 1:00 pm. Probably not an exact schedule. . Look forward to seeing all who can make it.

Can call 250-735-9523 (Rick) for more info or to let us know you plan to come. 250-266-1284 is probably even better. (Diane)

Sunday October 11

Mayoral candidate’s response - Martin Davis

 1. Who are you?

I first came to Tahsis in 1980, fell in love with the place and became a frequent visitor until buying here in 1999. I raised my son here.  My work background was in forestry and I formed a research company in 1993 that specializes in cave studies, their relationship with the surface forests and the rare biota associated with both. I am a member of Alberta/BC Cave Rescue and President of the Canadian Cave Conservancy, a non-profit that funds cave research across the country using donations. My private company also manufactures and sells caving gear in Canada and the US. You can also see the large vinyl canopies that I built for businesses around Tahsis, as well as many boat canopies in the marinas.

I am a founding member and current president of the Tahsis Heritage Society that runs the TahsisMuseum as volunteers. I am also an avid hiker that over the years has helped build many trails around town, including the Leiner Bouldering Trail, Maquinna Trail, Coral Trail, and High Lakes Trail. While working for the Village in the early 2000's I ran the design/build of the Leiner Boardwalk Trail, with its viewing platforms. I successfully fought to stop road building and logging of the mountain directly above the school and the adjacent McKelvie watershed. We live in a dynamic environment and it is important to protect our citizens against risks from landslides and flash floods. To that end, we have accessed millions in federal grants to build an effective long term flood control system so that we can avoid what happened in places like Chilliwack in 2021.

I have served as a Village councillor from 2008-11 and mayor from 2018 to the present. I currently serve on the Boards of the Municipal Finance Authority of BC on behalf of Strathcona Regional District, the Island Coastal Economic Trust, Municipal Insurance Association of BC, Strathcona Regional District as well as Health and Solid Waste Management Boards and other committees. But the reason I ran for mayor is because I saw aging, failing infrastructure everywhere and no clear vision for fixing it all. Same story for developing tourism, improvingthe road to Gold River or expanding health services. Since becoming mayor, we have leveraged as many grants as possible to renew our infrastructure. Much of our taxbase was shifted to hydro utilities and vacant industrial lands to minimize the impact on taxpayers. From my two terms, here are a few achievements on behalf of Tahsis:

• New fire hall to replace condemned structure, mostly grant-funded. Relocated away from tsunami zone.

• Two unsafe bridges replaced or rebuilt.

• Sewer upgrades - shut down failing plant, upgraded remaining plant using grants and a loan.

• Flood control - flood detention pond, pumps, wall upgrade, riverbank armouring, access stairs, mostly grant funded.

• Recreation centre upgrades, in progress.

• Boat ramp replacement, launching/landing dock, washroom construction pending - federally funded.

• 16.5km of paving added to Head Bay Forest Service Road to Gold River plus improved maintenance. Provincially funded.

• Instituted quarterly HBFS Road stakeholder meetings to monitor and advocate for improvements in grading, signage, reflectors and issues as they arise. I also admin the Tahsis Road Conditions page on Facebook to keep our residents informed.

• Improved Emergency management, communications, seacan stockpiles, added second warning siren - mostly grant-funded.

• Museum building repairs and upgrades, grant-funded.

• Instituted a financial reserve program to build resilience by accumulating capital funds to handle catastrophic failures if they occur; this currently sits at $1.8 million.

• Instituted asset management - building a database of all our assets, condition, value and geolocations, which assists in planning and accessing future grants.

• Acquired dental chairs to complement the Share A Smile dental program.

• At the Regional District level, we have just opened the Just Like Home Lodge to provide low cost accommodation for Tahsis and other rural families during hospital stays in Campbell River.

• In partnership with Mowachaht Muchalat First Nation, we initiated Explore Nootka - a joint tourism promotion, website and signage program, all grant funded.

• Salmon Park program - MMFN and federally-funded initiative to restore and conserve salmon habitat, supported by Tahsis.

• Grease Trail reopening, Malaspina Lake boardwalk, composting toilets - all MMFN grant funded, supported by Tahsis, that builds local tourism infrastructure.

I am happy to see that during my terms, new businesses are locating in Tahsis, older ones are upgrading, a multimillion dollar resort is being built and seaweed harvesting has begun operations while tourism is growing and diversifying. Renewal is in the air and we will help to facilitate it wherever we can.

2. 60% of the Tahsis population is over age 55. How should this demographic affect how the village is run?

Accessibility and access to fitness, social and food programs are factors in ensuring healthy aging. Good medical care is also essential to help seniors age in place. While wait times at the clinic is problematic, I continue to lobby for improvements. My efforts, along with other small communities have led to reforms that have more than quadrupled Village paramedic capacity, accelerated response times and improved wages for on-call workers. While we are too small to have our own extended-care facility, the regional health board on which I sit is committing a $53 million contribution to building a much-needed new facility in Campbell River. We are still in negotiations with the Province on their share. 

 

3. What can be done to enforce the village bylaws?

Bylaw enforcement is a service we contract with the regional district as it is cheaper than hiring locally, which is problematic in a small community. For a long time, the regional district had trouble recruiting for the position but we now have an new enforcement officer clearing the backlog. Tahsis has a complaint-based system and forms are available at the Village office.

4. How can you improve communication between the council and public? 

A Village communication strategy is important and I am a strong advocate, but to create this requires buy-in from the majority of council. Installing a multimedia system in Council chambers now allows people to attend online and interact during Public Input. For my part, I continue to write reports to council which are carried in online meeting minutes and on this Tahsis Livingblog page. I have tried 'coffee with the mayor' but it was poorly attended due to the arbitrary times which don’t suit everybody. Being a small community, the easiest method is direct contact. I encourage chatting at a restaurant, the post office, by phone (250-204-7422) or email. Its the best way for me to get the pulse of the community and exchange ideas on how we can improve life for all our citizens. I want Tahsis to be an open and welcoming environment for all.

Thanks for this opportunity and congratulations if you read this far! I will be happy to serve another term as mayor of our beautiful village and with your help, I look forward to the challenge.

October calendar thanks Silvie

Tap image to enlarge.