First of all, thank you for electing me mayor for the first term. I knew from my previous experience on council that it is an unenviable position, especially considering the aging out of our infrastructure and the urgent need for replacement of so much of it at once. The fire hall, breaking sewer and water lines, rec centre repairs, the poor state of roads, derelict buildings. So much that has been neglected and needs addressing. And every improvement has costs. I do feel fortunate that we inherited from the previous council professional and competent staff who have made our jobs and decision making abilities so much easier. In this term, we have brought in $10 million in grants. In addition, we are flush for cash with $822,000 in reserves. Our total financial obligations to meet the requirements around our grants add up to $480,000.
With this money, we have improved flood control in the valley with construction of a detention pond and installing a high volume pump to help insure that this, along with planned dike upgrades, will help keep the severe flooding experienced in the '90's in the past. Other communities have not been so lucky and climate change demands that we proactively adapt.
With the fire hall being condemned, we have after much debate, decided on the most pragmatic and cheapest course of action which is to move it to the school, after retrofitting the disused wood shop. We dont want to be in the situation of many other communities such as Zeballos losing their fire protection services and the attendant rise in risk and insurance costs that goes with that. Plus, we have a contract with Moutcha Bay for fire protection that brings in money for our fire service.
The recent poor condition of the Head Bay Road has been one of the biggest inhibitors of tourism and economic development, as well as being unsafe and causing damage to our vehicles. I have gone to bat on this one, meeting repeatedly with Ministry of Transportation and Mainroad Contracting, with council being forced to do a Freedom of Information request to find out if they were in contract compliance. We encouraged citizens to make claims to MoT for damaged vehicles and I organized a pothole filling event that got the media's attention. Thanks to all that came out for that, it made a difference. Being the squeaky wheel can work and we are all seeing the results of the $3.25 million spent by the ministry in the last two months. The road is now sealcoated from Malaspina Lake to town and maintenance has improved overall.
We have taken steps to improve drinking water safety as the current well is close to the first Tahsis dumpsite. To that end, we have put in test wells and are now doing regular testing for industrial contaminants.
I have been working closely with the Mowachaht Muchalat First Nation and Western Forest Products on old growth preservation around town and across the region. This dovetails with the provincial government's old growth strategy and we are the only community on Vancouver Island that had a plan in place, with mapping, that is agreed on by both the logging company and First Nation. This is based on science that incorporates areas of highest biodiversity, flood mitigation for Tahsis and also includes First Nation cultural values and wildfire safety for our community. Without the work we have done, there would have been a road across the mountain above the school and that ridge would already be logged. This would have been a huge risk to town both for wildfire and rockfalls triggered by rainfall or earthquake. In addition, we are finalizing protection of our intact old-growth watershed, McKelvie Creek. This has positive implications for flood control, biodiversity and tourism.
I have a close working relationship with all the First Nations in our region and we will partner in creation of a community forest in the Tahsis watershed that would create jobs for both Tahsis and MMFN while conducting logging on a sustainable basis that would not create new risks to the community. This in turn could lead to a return to milling lumber in Tahsis, on a smaller scale than the previous boom and bust that occurred here. I am also assisting Nuchatlitz First Nation with their court case over their land claim and have spoken at two separate media events at Owissista in support.
We want to see an aquaculture industry developed in Tahsis for shellfish and seaweed production and have been meeting with companies and assisting by advocating with the provincial government for streamlining the permitting processes. We advocate for moving fish farms to closed containment and recognize the damage they are doing to the smolts from our fish hatcheries, most of which dont make it out to sea due to the sea lice and other pathogens they are subjected to on their journey to the Pacific. This has a huge negative impact on our sport fishery and we are happy that the federal government is moving in this direction.
Next year, construction will begin on the new government dock for Tahsis. It has been a long, drawn out process, but it is at the planning and permitting stage. This redevelopment will be a boon to boaters and help our plans for aquaculture. Our boat launch will also be rebuilt to the correct grade.
Tourism is a major draw for Tahsis and I want to use grants to develop the trail networks around town so that we can promote them. While the ATV trail to Zeballos failed due to rejection by Rec Sites and Trails BC due to slope failure concerns, this frees us up to apply for new grants. While on the subject of grants, I sit on the Island Coastal Economic Trust Board, which is starting to run out of money. We just met with Jobs Minister Kahlon and Premier Horgan regarding recapitalization of the Trust and I am fairly confident that our $150 million ask will be approved. This will provide a major benefit for economic development across Vancouver Island.
In this term, we have cleaned up Pete's Farm and removed all the derelict vehicles, as a joint effort of volunteers and Public Works. Thanks to all that helped.
We are currently working on an asset management plan for Tahsis which identifies what we have, what we need and is a springboard to applying for further grants in future.
Our power outage this winter was a difficult time for our community and strained our resources. I have had meetings with the provincial government and BC Hydro to lobby for changes that would reduce the risk of this happening again in future.
We have increased the minimum starting wage for public works employees to $20/hour and brought in a medical plan in order to help attract new employees.
We continue to fight for improved wages and working conditions for our ambulance service. This is a big problem across BC for small communities and I would like to be able to continue to fight for this.
I should also let people know that there is a $550/month daycare subsidy coming from the provincial government that will be very beneficial for our working parents.
At the regional district level, I have been advocating for a regional transit strategy that would see weekly shuttle buses serving the small communities and giving our citizens access to Campbell River for shopping and appointments. The regional district is now working on this strategy and we should be seeing progress soon.
Also, the Connected Coast project will be bringing high speed fibre optic cable to Tahsis, which will finally bring internet speeds into the 21st century. Road to home links have been delayed by low signup of only 55% in our community so I would urge everybody that uses internet to get on board so that we can get this done.
