Ashcroft Council Meeting March 21, 2021

Ashcroft Council met on Monday, March 22, 2021. All members were in attendance. The meeting began with a presentation from Ashcroft resident Anne McKague about small changes that can be made to make Ashcroft a more colourful and inviting place for residents and tourists. Using the Village's own Strategic Plan, she outlined what changes could be made to the community, including planting drought-resistant vegetation and trees, painting murals on empty sides of buildings, and creating a walking trail through the downtown along the river.

Council discussed the public engagement aspect of making changes to the current burning bylaw.  Last spring, Council made a motion to defer the consultation process until after COVID-19 restrictions had been lifted and public meetings could once again be held in person.  A year into the pandemic, they talked about virtual ways that may work for the consultation process. A decision was made to look into virtual ways to hold a community meeting, and to also create a questionnaire that could be mailed to ensure the whole community could be reached and have their voices heard on the matter.

A request had been made to council from a community member asking that a second, open question period be added to the end of council meetings.  Council changed the question period from the end of the meeting to the beginning about a year ago so that comments could be taken into consideration during the meeting.  All the councillors agreed that they liked the public input period at the beginning of the meeting as it allowed them to hear from the public regarding agenda items before they were talked about and voted on during the meeting.  Councillor Anderson reiterated that the request had not been to change the order of the public input, but that a second, more open, period be added to the end for items not necessarily on the agenda.  A decision will be made at the next meeting. 

All of the councillors agreed that they are enjoying the working group format that began a few months ago.  Councillor Tuohey noted that she felt like she was more a part of the creation and completion of a project, and that it was a great way to work in conjunction with Public Works and other village staff.  Council was excited by the first preliminary plans of the new community garden presented from the Community Garden Working group.  The plan is to put in a garden, either for anyone to pick from, or for community members to have private plots to access, near Heritage Park downtown.