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What is The Social Planning Council?

Activities:

o Monthly Meetings: Attend meetings with guest speakers from within the community &/or presentations at each meeting. We currently meet the fourth Monday of every month (excluding summer) at City Hall with light lunch by donation.

o Facebook & Email Group: Utilize the network on Facebook. Start discussions, learn about & share upcoming community events, projects and meetings. If you don’t use Facebook, then join the email network instead.

o Inform City Council: The SPC provides reports to City Council regularly and the City keeps the SPC informed. Use the network and have your voices heard.



Strategic Direction of the Social Planning Council of Williams Lake & Area:

o Poverty Reduction and the local Living Wage Campaign.

o Community Collaboration and Networking.

o Retention and Succession of residents within the Area.



Community Social Planning:

o Supports communities in building an integrated approach to complex problems that take into account social, economic, and environmental concerns.

o Maximizes the effectiveness of often scarce resources by working to reduce duplication, overlap and competition.

o Provides an ongoing forum for communication, coordination and conflict resolution.



Friday, October 24, 2014

SPC Monthly Meeting Minutes - Sept 22, 2014


Location: Cariboo Friendship Society

In attendance (from sign-in sheet): Rosanna McGregor, Sharon Taylor, Matt Neufeld, Shannon Thom, Kourtney Cook and Jessica Knodel.

Accept Minutes & Agenda

Barriers to Transportation

An identified community concern is the lack of, and barriers to transportation within the City and surrounding areas. The SPC wants to take a few minutes to discuss and suggest options. We discussed successful ride sharing initiatives and will present these ideas as a potential UBC Field School Project at our meeting with them on Oct 7th.

Review Election Timetables
The tentative timetable for the election process:

October 10 candidates declare
October 14 Meeting with Chamber to determine forum structure & questions (SPC involved)
October 27 SPC monthly meeting
October 28 Chamber's Lunch with Mayoral candidates (by invitation)
October 29 Councillors' forum with Chamber and SPC participation
November 15 Election

Questions for All Candidates
We reviewed questions and themes our public survey has generated.

Additional Questions Generated:

  • Economically, what are your plans for economic security that is not tied to natural land resources?
  • What are your plans to address racism in our community?
  • What are you prepared to do to address the increasing poverty rates within the City?


SD no. 27 Facility Fee Structure
The Social Planning Council collected and shared community feedback with Kevin Futcher, Secretary/Treasurer of School District No. 27 about the proposed changes to the fee structure for facility user groups. A summary of the meeting is below.

Rationale for the new cost charges:

·    Policy has long required school staff to open the school, control the keys and be present when community groups were using the school. With budget cuts and the significant reduction in custodial time, this policy was not enforced. Many groups have multiple copies of keys, numerous people open & close the schools etc.
·        
     Liability is a major concern in these circumstances, as well as the lack of control and the cost of clean-up with the condition the schools are often left in.

Impact:
·        
     The cost increase will mainly apply to elementary school which do not have evening or weekend custodial staff.
·        
     Several measures are being planned to reduce the impact on user groups - Many groups have bookings for long hours or whole evenings and these will be reviewed and limited so more groups can share the facilities; Some groups will likely have to (or want to) change schools; in some circumstances, some groups may have to be able to find school staff to be present.

Expectation:
Most, if not all non-profit community groups will be accommodated. Any questions or appeals can be directed to Kevin Futcher &/or the Board although there is no specific appeal process for this.

Note - in comparing costs for other facilities the School district fees are not unreasonable.

Roundtable Updates
Sent out via weekly updates.

Meeting was adjourned - the next monthly SPC meeting is scheduled for Oct 27th at 11:30 am, location TBA.

No comments:

Contact Us

The Social Planning Council is made up of volunteers from the community. Many of us work in social services agencies or also volunteer for other organizations.

Our Mailing Address is Box 20045, Williams Lake BC V2G 4R1

To reach the Society Coordinator Jessica Dunn please email spc-coordinator@xplornet.com or call 250-243-2126

To reach the Communities that Care Project Facilitator Barb Jones please email communitiesthatcare.wl@gmail.com or call 250-305-4838

To reach the THRIVE Williams Lake Project Manager Anne Burrill please email annelburrill@gmail.com or call 250-267-7211

To reach the current SPC Chair Larry Stranberg please email happytrails@cfdccariboo.com or call 250-392-3626