SHUSWAP ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES

Note: The following minutes are subject to correction when endorsed by the Committee at its next meeting.

Meeting #:
Date:
Time:
-
Location:
CSRD Boardroom
555 Harbourfront Drive NE, Salmon Arm
Committee Members Present
  • J. de Vos (Chair), Wabybrook Farms
  • K. Brown, South Shuswap Chamber of Commerce
  • T. Rysz, Mayor, District of Sicamous
  • P. Demenok, Director Area 'C'
  • L. Morgan, Director Area ‘F’
  • R. Talbot, Director Area 'D'
  • R. Martin, Director Area 'E'
  • R. Marshall, Community Futures Shuswap
Staff Present
  • R. Cyr, Economic Development Officer
  • S. Goodey, Ec. Dev. Clerical Assistant
  • E. Johnson, Electronic Records Management Facilitator

The Chair called the meeting to order at 9:40 AM.

The Chair acknowledged the guests in attendance:

Kyle Dearing - Kyle Dearing Consulting, Shuswap Economic Development Consultant

David Barritt - Film Commissioner, Columbia Shuswap Film Commission

Jodi Pierce - Manager, Financial Services, Columbia Shuswap Regional District

Jay Simpson - North Shuswap Chamber of Commerce

 

  • Motion
    Moved ByP. Demenok
    Seconded ByL. Morgan

    THAT: the agenda of the December 7, 2017, Shuswap Economic Development Advisory Committee meeting be approved.


    CARRIED
  • Motion
    Moved ByT. Rysz
    Seconded ByP. Demenok

    THAT: the minutes of the September 7, 2017, Shuswap Economic Development Advisory Committee meeting be adopted as circulated.


    CARRIED

At the November 16, 2017 Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD) Board Meeting the District of Sicamous announced their intention to withdraw from the Shuswap Economic Development Service.

The following motion was then passed.

THAT: the Certified Resolution from the District of Sicamous, dated November 9,  2017 indicating that the District of Sicamous Council is serving notice of its withdrawal from the Economic Development Extended Service Bylaw No. 5268, effective January 1, 2018, be received,

THAT: the notice of service withdrawal be referred to the December 2017 Economic Development Commission meeting for discussion and consideration of the implications of the Service Withdrawal on the remaining service participants (Electoral Areas C, D, E, and F);

AND FURTHER that the District of Sicamous be advised that it should make budget provisions for 2018 in relation to the Electoral Areas C, D, E and F Economic Development Service while the CSRD is going through the service withdrawal process.

 

The Economic Development Officer provided three new documents to the committee (attached to the HTML version of these minutes):

  • Budget documents that were developed prior to the notice from the District of Sicamous;
  • Budget documents that have been modified to show the impact that taking the contributions from Sicamous out of the budget in 2018 would have at this late date;
  • A budget impact analysis outlining three options for how to go forward funding the Shuswap Economic Development Service in 2018.

The documents show different scenarios and show the financial issues that would occur if the committee endorsed the withdrawal of the District of Sicamous effective January 1, 2018.

The budget impact analysis options were:

  1. Status Quo – Because the District of Sicamous did not provide notice early enough, the committee may compel the District of Sicamous to stay in the service until 2019.
  2. Same program without Sicamous – the four electoral areas must increase their tax requisition to replace the funds from the District of Sicamous.
  3. Tax requisition without replacing contributions from Sicamous – This requires cut backs to the current program.

The Mayor of Sicamous explained the position of the District of Sicamous Council, indicating that the decision had come after years of deliberations. The Council would like to use the funds it is withdrawing from the Shuswap Economic Development Committee to create its own Economic Development Corporation. The District of Sicamous envisions this corporation working with the Shuswap Economic Development Service in a similar way to how the Salmon Arm Economic Development Society is working with the Shuswap Economic Development Service.

The committee members were generally supportive of Sicamous’ proposed approach but were concerned about the financial implications for the Shuswap Economic Development Service.

The committee discussed the options and considered additional budgetary considerations not noted in the budget impact analysis. One such impact was that the withdrawal of Sicamous from the program in 2018 would reduce the likelihood of success in obtaining monies from the Rural Dividend application. This would further exacerbate the financial impact. If the District of Sicamous were to withdraw on December 31, 2018, the Rural Dividend Application would have a much more likelihood of going through.

 

  • Motion
    Moved ByR. Marshall
    Seconded ByP. Demenok

    THAT:  in considering the withdrawal of the District of Sicamous from the Economic Development Extended Service, the Committee recognizes that there are operational and contractual obligations for the 2018 budget / operating year that cannot be changed at this late timeframe.

    AND THAT: the Shuswap Economic Development Committee recommend to the Board that December 31, 2018 be the withdrawal date for the District of Sicamous to no longer be a participant in the Economic Development Extended Service established by Bylaw No. 5268.


    CARRIED

R. Cyr gave the committee an update on the Shuswap Economic Development strategy and the structure review and the community engagement portions of the strategy.

On November 28, 2017 the Shuswap Economic Development Committee met with ECDC Consulting to go over the new strategy in detail. The committee had discussed the review, community engagement, and strategy at that meeting. R. Cyr answered questions about the meeting for the benefit of the committee members who were unable to attend the meeting.

On the subject of the restructuring of the Shuswap Economic Development department, the committee agreed that the third option was the best.  This option also is an effective way to streamline the business retention and expansion meetings as the committee would be made of business owners within each electoral area. There would then be one committee member that would be appointed to the Shuswap Economic Development Advisory Committee.  Shuswap Economic Development will be moving forward with the development of these committees in January 2018. There will be an application process and a terms of reference developed for this committee before the recruitment process is started.

 

Community to Community (C2C) Forums are funded by the Union of BC Municipalities to facilitate discussion on developing communication protocols and formal agreements between First Nations and local governments.

The committee discussed the recent Community to Community Forum that took place on November 23, 2017. The forum was attended by R. Cyr as well as CSRD Directors. The attendees provided their comments on the process and noted that they felt that it was the first C2C meeting where everyone at the table agreed on the process and came away with a positive outcome of moving forward.  The report from the C2C forum has been attached to the HTML version of these minutes.

Director Demenok spoke to the committee about the Shuswap Labour Market Project and provided the committee with a copy of the draft Shuswap Labour Market Assessment & Action Plan for Area C, completed by the Ironsight Business Strategies (report attached to the html version of these minutes).

Director Demenok explained that:

  • A focus workshop was held to create a 2-year action plan to implement the Area C labour market assessment and action plan.
  • The table on page 3 of the report outlines the community’s priorities.
  • The table on page 4 outlines the steps that need to happen to  move the action plan forward.

The committee discussed the benefits and drawbacks of this kind of study, noting that it can be helpful to understand the needs of various communities but to understand that the goals of this committee are still region wide strategies.

At the December 1, 2017 CSRD Board meeting the following resolution was passed.

Moved by Director Morgan, Seconded by Director Talbot:

THAT: the Board authorize the submission of an application for $441,500.00 to the BC Rural Dividend Program for the two year implementation of the Shuswap Economic Development Strategic Plan and that the Board support this project through to its completion.

R. Cyr noted that the application is due next Friday (December 15th) and that there are some final touches still required for the application. Some of the highlights of what is planned include:

  • Advisory and electoral area committee training
  • community profiles
  • website update and communications plan
  • economic recovery plan (in the event of emergencies)
  • annual business walk
  • developing an agricultural association as well as agricultural marketing
  • way finding programs - regional signage
  • regional marketing initiatives
  • producer tours, image bank, and marketing initiatives for the Columbia Shuswap Film Commission

Kyle Dearing gave the committee a very quick update on the Stats Canada project. The 2016 census data has been sent out throughout the year from. K. Dearing noted that there is a lot of data that hasn’t existed before or hasn't existed since the last long form census. K. Dearing states that this data will be useful as we move forward with economic development initiatives in the Shuswap region.

 

R. Cyr renewed the Shuswap Economic Development membership with BCEDA (BC Economic Development Association) for 2018.  For 2018 Shuswap Economic Development has joined as an organization membership, this includes 2 voting members, plus an UNLIMITED number of non-voting members from within your organization (i.e.: Economic Development Committee and Staff, Mayors, councillors, Board Members, etc.).  This will allow all members of the committee access to the annual summit at the membership rate.

David Barritt gave the committee an update on the current Columbia Shuswap Film Commission (CSFC) work. Film production develops a positive economic boost for our region. For example, there was a Hallmark production in Revelstoke in March that was there for 10 days bringing in a production crew of 50-75 people. The City of Revelstoke enjoyed economic benefits to the community from the film crew purchasing accommodation, meals and other items for the 10 days that they were in production.

D. Barritt stated that the film industry in Canada is starting to choose Vancouver as its western Canadian hub. Film producers like Universal Studios, Netflix, Sony, Apple, Warner Brothers, Hallmark, Disney, etc. have either have set up studios in Vancouver or are looking to in the near future. D. Barritt also stated that a new film production studio has opened in Kelowna called Eagle Creek Studio. With the studio in Kelowna, it will be easier for crews to shoot in the CSFC area as it is near the studio and so they will be able to use the CSFC landscapes for their scenes within the region.

D. Barritt noted changes in the film industry that we would be embracing and will help us to develop film activity in the region. These changes include a move to vloggers (video bloggers) where anyone can now create content. When a YouTuber gets a large following, film producers try to tap into that following by helping the vlogger to produce content. This means that content is getting shorter. One example of a vlogger in our area was Gumboot Kids. This is a CBC show written for children aged 2-5 that produces five minute content. They produced an episode in the Roderick Haig Brown Park and at the Turtle Valley Bison Ranch.

D. Barritt also stressed on the importance of showcasing our region with film producers. The Hallmark producers who produced a film in Revelstoke would like to come back due to the professional services that they received in the CSFC region. Once the film producer sees our region first hand, they are more likely to think of it when they are considering locations to film. D. Barritt is working on familiarization tours with film producers to bring them to our region to consider the Columbia Shuswap as an area for future filming.

R. Cyr noted that the committee would need to review the cost of maintaining the CSFC into the future and that a review of the funding structure of the CSFC would be completed in 2018.

The committee thanked D. Barritt for his presentation and for his work with the CSFC.

 

  • Motion
    Moved ByL. Morgan
    Seconded ByK. Brown

    THAT: the December 7, 2017 Shuswap Economic Development Advisory Committee meeting be adjourned.


    CARRIED