Annexation Ranchlands and the Crowsnest Pass

The following story appears in this week's Nanton News written by Sheena Read.
I have provided a few quotes from the story if you wish to read the rest it is available at the following link.


http://www.nantonnews.com/2013/10/11/ranchland-brings-in-experts-for-annexation-issue

Ranchland brings in experts for annexation issue

Chief Administrative Officer Greg Brkich said Klauer hadn’t heard about the Crowsnest bid for annexation of Ranchland area before he had contacted her, but after she researched it, she told Brkich she’d “gotten a real good laugh out of it.”
“It seems that everyone who hears about it gets a good laugh out of it. But for some reason, the Crowsnest Pass doesn’t seem to be laughing,” said Davis.

The Ranchland letter stated that if the annexation occurs, the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass (MCP) is also requiring Ranchland transfer $200,000 per year for five years to the MCP to cover the cost of servicing the proposed annexation area prior to any new potential tax revenue being realized. 

“The MCP proposes that the MD of Ranchland raise its mill rate on linear, commercial, and machinery and equipment to pay for this transfer of funds. In other words, tax the Ranchland ratepayers to subsidize the MCP,” the letter stated.
Ranchland council and administration has stated that the annexation proposal does not meet its mandate to act in the best interests of its ratepayers.

Coal mining coming back to the Pass?

Well not really in the Crowsnest Pass, at least until we annex the area, but never the less good news.

Altitude Resources inks exploration and option agreement with Elan Coal

http://www.coalguru.com/north_america/altitude_resources_inks_exploration_and_option_agreement_with_elan_coal/11948

Second company sets its sights on Crowsnest Pass coal

http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Second+company+sets+sights+Crowsnest+Pass+coal/8780202/story.html

Notice where the spokesman from the company states it takes seven years to work through the regulatory process.

"Unvarnished facts and truth" edition number two "The Mayor's corner

Below is another fine example of providing the "unvarnished facts and truth" once again using the Mayor own words. Please don't forget to vote on my poll to the right to voice your opinion on the Mayor's newsletter.

Mayor's Corner

Well the end of June and beginning of July will certainly be remembered as very wet and very hot. I have several issues I would like to comment on this month. First the flood, I won’t waste your time discussing the details as you have seen them on our website and heard them on the radio. Suffice it to say people are being well taken care of through the exemplary efforts of our Provincial and Municipal governments. During the past weeks I have visited the flood areas on foot, by car, and helicopter. I found myself asking why did we have this much damage and the resulting discomfort? We have had previous floods in 1995 and 2005. Our emergency preparedness plans were in place and executed properly. Granted we have had one of the greatest rainfalls in our history. I think the right answer came to me in a conversation with our Operations Director. We were discussing a large dam of logs on Lyons Creek (see our website for pictures) and I asked how long would it be before we could remove it. His answer was it may be difficult because they are not within our boundaries. Therein I felt was the answer to my question: Why do we suffer through this every decade or so? I think the answer lies in communication, planning and a working integration of government departments and our municipality. Government departments fulfill their individual mandates very well (even if we occasionally disagree with them) and they cooperate with municipalities whenever requested, however each department has a mandate to fulfill. Sometimes they don’t quite fit with Municipal objectives. From my perspective it is our job to create a situation where several government departments, our municipality and citizens with historic knowledge come to the table to seek solutions to our issues rather than avoiding the issue “till next time”. As such I will be discussing with Council the formation of a Task Force consisting of representatives from various government departments, from our municipality, and our citizenry, as well as others with expertise in municipal issues. At this point at least three major contentious situations have been identified as they have previously caused issues. They are: the Drum Creek/Byron Creek situation, the Lyons Creek situation, and the Blairmore Creek situation (above the hospital). Perhaps other areas will be identified. I don’t want to see a repeat of what we have just experienced given that our best planning “may” be able to prevent this from happening again keeping in mind that Mother Nature absolutely refuses to read our plans. Hopefully Council will agree. The second item I would like to comment on is Ranchland. A number of people have asked me why? Well we are in an inequitable position relative to an area with around eighty residences and seven times our size. We have around 5,000 people in a much smaller area and very little linear assessment. As such we are forced to maintain our costs basically on our taxpayers' backs and to my mind this is inequitable. As a municipality we can only stretch a dollar so far and ultimately we have to go to the taxpayer. I had been looking at the Ranchland situation well before the Riversdale Mine appeared on the horizon. The mine simply reduced the amount of land we need to annex for our future sustainability. From my perspective the partial annexation of Ranchland will have a minimal effect on their current and future sustainability. However let me, from a layman’s perspective, demonstrate what such an annexation would mean for us as taxpayers. Annually, we would receive a tax levy of $3,800,000 from this new industrial base. Maintained in reserve and invested, at the end of a ten year period, the compound interest would provide approximately $1,850,000 of interest income to support the Mill Rate Stabilization Reserve and $38,000,000 for community building. The first year interest can easily be applied to the Mill Rate Stabilization Fund which will begin to stabilize and offset our taxes for many years to come. At year five we would have $19,000,000 being available for community building. In year ten, we would have $39,850,000 in our tax stabilization plan and community building enhancement. Early in the process we could perhaps begin work with the Crowsnest Cando group on a recreation centre. Of course there will be costs related to the property annexed such as roads, trails and bridges, etc. however I see this area as a major future tourist draw particularly for quading, camping and snowmobiling. As I say these are a laypersons’ thoughts “for demonstration” only. In reality we would be seeking both internal and external financial advice. I think this is the way to overcome our tax issues. Arguing over trucks, equipment, numbers of employees, expenditures on consultants and other ways to stretch the dollar while our community deteriorates is a waste of breath. We must take steps to alleviate our basic problem. To this end we have discussed the matter with Ranchland to no avail. As such I will be calling for a motion to begin the annexation process with the M.D. of Ranchland at the July 16th Council meeting. I hope the Council agrees with me, as I hope you do. It will, if approved, be a long and grueling process (at least two years), but it needs to be done. On another matter, we have had a rough and disappointing month with our hotel development. To put it in a nutshell, here is what has happened to us. A chain from Fernie, which belongs to the Best Western group, has complained to Best Western that our hotel would infringe on their business area. The “complaining” process took five months (if you remember I was very unhappy over these delays). The Fernie group successfully delayed our progress. In the meantime, the Medican investors took their money and went elsewhere with it. Medican then decided to let our contract run out, although the Best Western Board of Governors still approved us locating a Best Western here. At this point we are still working with the Vachon group (hotel finders) to attract a Best Western or other hotel chain to build. In order to retain our right to build a Best Western for two years, we need to consider putting up $50,000.00. A decision regarding clearing the property will also have to be made very shortly. So there you have it. These things happen in building a hotel, but business is business. There are ups and downs, but we will persist. On the positive side, I attended a meeting with a developer who is considering building either a mini-storage condo or a smaller hotel next spring. (Thank heavens he already owns the land) Very shortly I also plan to meet with an individual to discuss the possibility of a convention centre separate from the hotel – more to come this fall on both of these potential developments. Please remember most of these projects take several years to complete, so have patience. In closing, I can’t help but poke some fun at our local “Cavers”. It appears that this newsletter, committed to truth and fact, is somewhat unnerving to the “oracles of rumour and misinformation.” Perhaps they are losing their stature on coffee row or on the silly blogger circuit. This month the usual material has ranged from bad-mouthing our emergency procedures and our people, and of all things, to undermining our newsletter. The actions and success of our Administration and crews speak for themselves. As to our newsletter being political; well, I am the Mayor and I will make some political comments and I do trust that you will form your own opinion. So far no complaints, except from the Cavers. Please note that this newsletter is budgeted for and falls within our plan to improve communication and transparency. It costs you about $0.65 per month and I have many requests for twice a month. Further, the Council expects to have a report on streaming our Governance and Priorities Committee and Council meetings directly to you, hopefully by September. We would also like to arrange for our seniors to view us “in living color” at the York Creek Lodge, Long Term Care and our Senior Centres. Soon I hope you will all be able to see and hear us – and watch us commit our errors and omissions (which we are learning to make fewer of as we progress). Have a wonderful summer! “The truth doesn’t hurt unless it ought to.” - B.C. Forbes Note: Cost of administration $4325 per day

My neighbour will not give, should I take

Interesting article in today's Nanton News regarding the attempted annexation of Ranchlands by the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass by Sheena Read

Couple of quotes

"Imagine having something, and your neighbour decides he wants it, and sets a plan in motion to ensure he takes it from you."

"Now imagine finding out that there’s not one, but two industries wanting to develop right in those areas that the neighbouring municipality wants, and that’s what the neighbour is wanting. There will be development, and that means taxes.
Imagine not telling your neighbour that such developments were going to happen on his land."

Rest of the article available at:

http://www.nantonnews.com/2013/06/19/on-the-neighbours-side-of-the-fence


Note: Keep in mind one very important number $4325

Crowsnest Pass Ratepayers Letter to the Editor

Here is the letter from this weeks letter to the editor also check out the ratepayers Facebook page for other information on the organization.

http://www.facebook.com/notes/crowsnest-pass-ratepayers-association/other-side-of-the-story/538457979539095

Other side of the story

The Ratepayers do not have access to the taxpayer funded municipal communications system. It becomes very expensive to advertise on radio, in the papers, mail inserts.

It leaves the ratepayers association seeking other alternatives to getting out our concerns, comments and questions.

In response to the Mayor’s latest newsletter. It is good to see that our restructured administrative staff is working well as a team with our staff.

Maybe the talk of morale at the municipality being at an all time low is not accurate.

The Mayor addresses the issue of differences of opinion in a healthy organization is he referring to Councillor Saje recent statements? Were those the only times that process was not followed? Is Councillor Saje the only one that has concerns?

The hotel development, the selling price of the property was $1.1 million.

The municipality actually only receives $300,000 in cash with $100,000 of that used to put in a playground at the site. The developer was given an allowance of $800,000 to remove the building by August 30. There was a request for proposals, last year were there bids for less than $800,000?

Medican is a company that has had serious financial problems, they are now

in the process of coming out of CCAA court protection.

More news in the Mayor’s newsletter at the open house with Riversdale Mining, there spokesman clearly stated that every thing going perfect the mine would be starting up in 2017, the Mayor now suspects the mine will be in place sooner than anticipated.

The Mayor is also excited about the branding project, that cost the taxpayers $47,000 don’t we all feel “naturally rewarded”. The Mayor’s task force report in May of 2011 clearly recommended the use of the “Mountain

Freedom” brand, that would have cost us nothing. That same report also stated a top priority would be the hiring of an Economic Development Officer

by Sept 2011, the job is finally now being advertised, will it be in place prior to the election?

Ranchlands is going to meet with our council, it would be great news for the taxpayers of the Crowsnest Pass to know when we will be reducing our high tax rates, franchise fees and other various charges with the additional income that Ranchlands will provide. The Mayor should provide us with examples of other municipalities where this process has taken place, we can only find examples where communities anticipating tremendous population growth were allowed to annex their neighbors.

Finally, the Mayor basks in the glory of the Emergency Services Open House, it was great that it brought back memories of a cardboard helmet from his early childhood. What about the memories of the individuals that put 20-40 years of there lives into those organizations.

This will be the first letter to the editor from the Ratepayers Association, we have many more issues to raise, we ask all residents to take the time to think about these prior to October 21. (This letter was written without the assistance of any Public Relations firm)

Everything is wonderful, we just have not realized it yet

Well the Mayor's newsletter was just released and it sounds like somebody is "telling a story" is it just me or has the tone of the newsletters changed since December.

 I had heard rumblings from some of the municipal staff that there was some morale and labour relations issues plus only somebody that been trapped in the jungle for the last year would have missed Councilor Saje's letter. Obviously in the last few week's those issues must have been addressed, according to the latest newsletter the appearance is given that all the team are pulling together. Check out the newsletter @ http://www.crowsnestpass.com/

Just a short quote "Our restructured administrative staff is working has a team with our inside (office) and outside (public works). Differences of opinion abound but this is normal in a healthy organization and when something needs to be accomplished all come together".

The Mayor goes on to talk about a future economic opportunity  in the same newsletter. At the end of May, he is of to Vancouver to meet some individuals (experts, consultants) who have a great deal of expertise in creating destination resorts.
Lets hope these experts, consultants what ever you care to call them don't cost us anywhere near what it cost us to put in place our peace officer program.

Remember when everybody was shocked that we the residents of the Crowsnest Pass were paying $1,000 a day plus $2,400 a month for accommodation and mileage to an expert.  Check out the following address at the web site that just keeps on giving and giving I admire the job this person has done gathering information.

http://transparencycnp.shawwebspace.ca/blog/post/ts_peace_officer_proposal/

Next we have the annexation issue hopefully with a little bit of "common sense and good will by all those involved" (Ranchlands) the linear taxation will be flowing in by Budget year 2014 just in time to pay for all these positions that we have created because soon or later we are going to have a workforce with all positions filled for a full year. Making the numbers work by dragging your feet for two months to fill every position is only a short term answer to balancing the books. It's like buying furniture at the Brick on the "Do not pay for three year plan"

One of these days running four operators short in public works will catch up to us, when your snow removal plan becomes having a mild winter every year with much "less than anticipated precipitation" it will catch up to us.