Council voted in favour of having a question put on the October municipal election ballot regarding pay parking. The question will read, “Is there ever a time the Town of Banff should implement user paid parking?” Eligible voters will be able to cast their vote on October 16, 2017. A motion to not put a question on the ballot failed 4-3.
Council adopted Council Remuneration Policy C1005 and Acceptance of Gifts Policy C1006, both replacing older policies. A Council Remuneration Review Committee made up of members of the public is convened every election year to review pay levels of mayor and council, and to make recommendations for any changes. The new policy comes into effect when a new council is elected in October. Effective October 23, 2017 to December 23, 2018, remuneration for the position of mayor is $80,540 per year, and the position of councillor will be $26,900 per year. Effective December 24, 2018, remuneration for mayor is $93,426 per year, and for councillor it’s $30,185 per year.
Council voted to have administration return with options for naming the lane between the 500 block of Banff Avenue and the 500 block of Deer Street, which is informally known as Deer Lane. Council has the sole authority to name roads and lanes within the Town of Banff, and roads may be named after animals or trees native to Banff National Park, national parks, geological features, topographical features, or anything else council considers appropriate.
Council approved officially naming the Town’s new affordable housing development, Ti’nu. Ti’nu is a soft derivative of the phrase “okããc tidn u,” which means “come in” in the Stoney Nakoda language. Approval for use of the name was sought by Town of Banff administration through Stoney Nakoda First Nation Tribal Administration. In May 2017, at the collective chiefs meeting, the use of the Ti’nu name was unanimously approved for the Deer Lane affordable housing development.
Weekly construction updates for the project are available online.
Council voted to approve a resolution for consideration at the annual Alberta Urban Municipalities Association conference, which states: “the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association advocate for the amendment of the Alberta Capital Finance Authority Act, RSA 2000, c A-14.5 to include Part 9 corporations whose shareholders are comprised of a city, an educational authority, a health authority, a municipal authority, a regional authority or a town in the definition of ‘local authorities’ to enable these corporations to directly access Alberta Capital Finance Authority financing.” For municipalities who build, manage, and operate affordable housing programs through a corporation created under Part 9 of Alberta’s Companies Act, RSA 2000, c C-21, access to ACFA financing can only be accomplished through municipal shareholders. This requirement often results in convoluted and unnecessary intercorporate agreements to channel initial ACFA funds through the municipality to the housing corporation and debt servicing payments back through the municipality to ACFA.