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.
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