Board Meeting Highlights
October 17, 2005

The following information is intended to provide quick highlights of this scheduled Board meeting. Every attempt has been made to summarize these highlights as accurately as possible; however, the complete and official minutes will be posted on the web site on the Monday one week prior to the next scheduled Board meeting.

Meeting Agenda - October 17, 2005

CHAIR'S REPORT

The Chair announced the winners in the Park Board's Tree Tales writing contest; a celebration event will be held for winners October 29th in Queen Elizabeth Park. Upcoming official openings include International Sculpture Biennale on October 21st at Harbour Green Park, and redeveloped Kingcrest Park on October 23rd.

GENERAL MANAGER'S REPORT

A number of Park Board-related items are on Council and Committee agendas this week including: Community Visioning for Riley Park/South Cambie; relocation of Heather Marina parking for the RAV project; next stage for developer teams re: Southeast False Creek/Olympic Village; CD-1 rezoning for Hillcrest and Nat Bailey Stadium Parks; and Food Policy progress report.

STAFF REPORTS

By-law Repeal
To put in place a clearer and more comprehensive system of classifying and retaining corporate records, the Board approved repealing and replacing the current Records Retention and Destruction By-law #5201. The new by-law will provide more effective and standardized records management, maintenance and protection.

2006 Fees and Charges
Adjustments to the Park Board's schedule of fees and charges for next year were approved to reflect inflationary increases, comparable market rates, operating costs and issues, and feedback from residents. In general, an across-the-board increase of 2.75% for 2006 will come into effect, with some services also adjusted for other factors such as program improvement, maintaining market share, consistency and industry practice. The increases are expected to result in a shortfall against increased revenue expectations of Council by about $200,000 to $450,000. However, the Park Board has the option to adjust services or recommend actions to reduce expenses, to balance the budget.

Operating Statement as at August 31, 2005
After 8 months of operation, revenues are down for leases, parking and golf - all impacted by the relatively poor early summer weather. Recreation, marina and pitch & putt revenues are slightly above budget. All types of expenditures are up compared to last year, and spread across the Board's activities, with the exceptions of parking, administration, major parks, community centres and rinks. Staff are monitoring both revenues and expenditures and will work to curtail expenses not affecting service levels in order to achieve budget by year end.

Fundraising and Development
The Board received an update on the accomplishments, new initiatives and lessons learned from the first 9 months of full-time fundraising and development efforts. Significant improvements have been made to the popular Gift for Parks program. As well, new campaigns have been developed, grant applications submitted, and increased partnership support provided. An action plan will be put together and reported back to accelerate the fundraising program.

BY-LAWS

Records Retention and Destruction By-law
Three readings were given to enact the Records and Destruction By-Law #5201 Repeal By-law.

NOTICE OF MOTION

Commissioner Woodcock put forward a Notice of Motion for the October 31st Board Meeting recommending that a city-wide plebiscite be held during the 2008 civic election on the question of keeping whales and dolphins in captivity in Stanley Park, with the goal of testing public opinion in the interests of long-term planning for the Vancouver Aquarium's 2015 lease renewal; and that the plebiscite question ask "Are you in favour of phasing out the containment of whales and dolphins in Stanley Park?".

NEXT MEETING

The next regular meeting of the Park Board is at 7:00 pm on Monday, October 31st at 2099 Beach Avenue.