Thursday, August 15, 2013

Hotel moving forward without a developer? and the on going myth that Insurance premiums will drop

Well the good news keeps on coming, the Mayor's latest Corner is out (available on the municipal web site link on the side of my blog). The optimistic  side of me says that he's basking in the long sunny days of summer has put him in a better mood. There are no attacks on the "Caver's", "wannabe's" "old boys club" or any other group that disagrees with him. The pessimistic side of me thinks that it's only two months before the election and that he is attempting to set the table for that event.
Any way I have to give this man credit in the sense that he is now putting the positive spin on every thing he can on the hotel deal and other issues. You wouldn't have thought it but soon we will actually be in a better position to move ahead on this project. As one of my readers keeps reminding me "which years snow fall was he talking about. 
"Our hotel project is moving forward again. The Council approved the moneys necessary to maintain our ability to build a Best Western hotel and to proceed with the demolition of the old hospital and centre. We should see the demolition begin in September. These moves will place us in a better position to attract new investors/developers, recoup our investment, and hopefully see our hotel under construction next year at this time."
On to the issue of Insurance and all the excitement over potential decreasing rates this is what the Mayor has to say in his corner.
"We are beginning to see results from some of our long term planning. The Director of Protective and Community Services, Mr. Albert Headrick, informed the Council that as a result of the restructuring of our fire services and providing more efficient fire services our community rating (provided by the Canadian Insurance Underwriters) has, and is improving, and within a years’ time our commercial/residential fire insurance costs should stabilize or perhaps be lowered. A full report will be upcoming on our website."
Councilor Gallant goes on to say the following on his blog about the same issue:
"While every insurer will be different, I would suggest that public/commercial property owners ask to review their building insurance policies as they should be able to realize some savings."
"While there is no guarantee at this moment that policies will change, insurers will be hard pressed to justify the current rates based on this new rating".
"Assuming that the Fire and Rescue Department is able to keep up with their current operational protocols, Underwriters will improve our rating to 2 out of 5 for urban areas. This should, in turn, be realized in savings to residential property owners." 
I would encourage every home/business owner to contact your Insurance brokers and question how these new ratings will affect your own policy. While your on the phone with your Insurance company ask them which bracket your property fell into prior to our new rating (protected, semi protected or un-protected) and ask them which category you will fall into after the new rating.  



14 comments:

Anonymous said...


I checked some historical weather data...Bruce is most likely correct in his "before the first snow flies" statements.

http://weatherspark.com/averages/30108/Phoenix-Arizona-United-States

Bruce is da man. Shouldn't there be a bronze statue as the centre piece of Gazebo Park? Hurry as there are only two months left to act. There must be some way to scrape together enough funding from our depleted funds.

Anonymous said...


This from Da Mares Corner (sic).

"These moves will put us in a better position to attract new investors/developers, recoup our investment, and hopefully see our hotel under construction next year at this time".

I keep wondering why we are left to worry about recouping an "investment". The "investment" should never have been made, but left to a proper developer to make the most of our asset.

"Well there is certainly enough summer left for a good vacation..."

Thanks for the heads-up Bruce. I can't afford to go on vacation, But feel free to take one yourself. Two months would make me feel refreshed and relaxed.

Anonymous said...

Brian,

I am already(and most of us are) in the 'protected' category. There is nothing above that. Maybe a handful of outlying acreages may benefit. For me, there are no savings. For businesses, it is the same situation.

"This should, in turn, be realized in savings to residential property owners".

I don't know if this is intentional 'spin'. Maybe Brian really can move mountains? After Oct Brian should run for a board position with the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

Anonymous said...

I refuse to even read the newsletter this month. Ignorance is bliss!

Anonymous said...

They have flushed $50, 000 down the drain. How anyone is viewing this act as an investment is perplexing. Look it Bruce.

Anonymous said...

Brucy, is getting even with all you guys that treated him like a nerd, when you were going to school with him and when he's finished paying you back he'll be leaving for greener pastures, like Arizona. Do you think he cares what happens here after he's gone?

Anonymous said...

Investments are limited to “securities” by MGA 250. If it's a loan it violates MGA 264.

I can't find anything in the MGA against an outright gift. Maybe I should be looking in the Criminal Code.

Anonymous said...

Outright gifts are allowed. I think it is called the Duffy Law.

Anonymous said...

Who can put all the wasted tax dollars into some kind of chart?

The amount of needless spending is unbelievable. $50,000 refund to a hotel consultant? What next? A trip to a hotel developers conference by a municipal official instead of the consultant whose name is on the hotel franchise application?

$50,000? This is a lot of wasted money for a small community. If the can't find $100,000 for senior housing how can the flush $50,000 down the toilet?

Anonymous said...

And to think that the charter of 42 MD-88 flights to Disneyland (allowing us all to really go to Disneyland) would cost us less than $400K.

The bill this current administration has racked up (even though they pulled a trick not unlike a person shuffling credit cards) is going to be ugly.

A trip to Disneyland may be money better spent than being left with the deficit that we will deal with for many years to come.

It may even be fun.

Anonymous said...

3:19,

A huge point! Why would a municipality pay to send an official to 3 hotel developer's conferences instead of leaving it to the consultant whose name is on the hotel franchise application.

Wow!!! This just gets uglier.

Anonymous said...

What if prospective developer's don't want to be forced into dealing with Group Vachon?

Anonymous said...

Anon 5:20pm. Because we are now in the big leagues with the EDO position. They are again treating the Pass like a metropolis, and as with the comm serv director, this is but a short resting place as the EDO position beefs up the Résumé for the next job. Money is no object, the delay in hiring gave Brucy the chance to squirrel away budget money for the position and justify that the EDO budget was not exceeded.

Pessimistic? You bet. These admin head people are all peas in the same pod. In for a dime, in for a dollar. What's your problem?

Anonymous said...

The spin in the newsletter makes me want to puke. First of all it should not be a political document. Second of all it sounds to me like a bunch of people trying to justify their positions by taking chicken feathers and bones. Then trying to tell us that we have great chicken pie.
How long before council and administration start trying to take credit for BCMI re opening. Wondering how they are feeling as they spend millions of dollars building a real hotel. While down the street you have the municipality taking tax payer dollars to lay the ground work for their competitor?