This is a bit of a long one.
Things that NSInc. would have control over in an incorporated scenario. We would take a lot of the decision making out of the CSRD’s hands and bring it to local people. Things like solid waste transfer would likely be contracted to the CSRD as they have economies of scale to handle that, but most other decisions would be made here. This is a list of some things that would come here…

• local decision making
  • A Mayor and two or three Councilors would be elected.
  • These people, from our community, would be responsible for making all decisions, often with public input
  • There would be lots of input from the community as you will know all these individuals, and could accost them at the store or wherever, to give them your opinion.
  • They would be elected on a 4-year rotation, whenever there is a municipal election.

• • roads – rules, ticketing, parking, signs etc.
  • o The $965,000 that we pay to the province for BC Rural Tax would not be paid to the province and would be used for this service.
  • o NSInc. would be responsible for all roads except Squilax-Anglemont Road (SAR)
  • o IF MORE than the $965,000 was needed then NSInc. would tax for the required money to service all roads within the incorporated area.
  • o Road service, include paving, pot holes, all gravel road maintenance, winter road maintenance, painting lines (if any), etc. etc. will be the responsibility of NSInc.
  • o NSInc. could contract this out to local businesses or continue on with AIM or another company.
  • o STUDY NEEDED before the vote: There is no way to know at this time what amount would be needed to keep all the roads in good condition. This would be part of the study that will be completed before we are asked to vote.

• • ability to decide on road markings and bylaws
  • o MoTI would be responsible for SAR but all others would be NSInc.
  • o We could paint things like Xwalks or other markings on non-SARs roads, and could work with MoTI on SAR markings
  • o Other road bylaws could be approved such as no-parking on public roads, or no permanent parking on public roads.

• • control over planning
  • o Planning in the North Shuswap is one of the big frustrations of building out here.
  • o We have an out-of-date Official Community Plan, and lots of rules and regulations are in place.
  • o In general, these rules are in place to protect us from doing stupid things, like building a round house on the side of a hill, it’s just got to start rolling sometime.
  • o So, I can’t say that we’d be able to remove all the rules, regulations, and reports, but we can certainly look them over and decide what we want to keep, what to change and what to remove.

• • Ability to apply for grants
  • to build a sewage or drinking water solution, or other community desires. We wouldn’t be 1 area of 7 CSRD electoral areas vying for those grants.
  • o These grants are often for up to 75% of the cost, the other 25% would have to be raised locally through taxes, or money could be borrowed at good interest rates through the provincial MFA (Municipal Finance Authority).
  • o Usually if we work with a local Indigenous band we might get up to 90% of the funds through grants.
  • o Grants are available for a wide variety of community services; day care, senior accommodation, affordable/available housing, parallel paths, skating rink, water system, sewage, other parks, etc.
  • o Decisions on services and infrastructure like this would likely go to a referendum or public vote to ensure fairness and impartiality. The Mayor and council will determine this.
  • o this is a significant benefit and can result in millions of dollars flowing into our community annually. My Post #4 will discuss this in more detail.

For more info head to www.northshuswap.info/ns-inc/