City transit links
Squamish could be linked to the Lower Mainland in the coming years.
During Tuesday’s committee of the whole meeting, council was updated by BC Transit representatives Paula Smith and Matt Boyd about some possibilities from interregional and regional transit discussions. One of these could be a connection from Squamish to the Vancouver area in a couple of years. The idea is still preliminary and would require questions such as governance and funding to be settled first, as well as whether there is sufficient demand.
“There are so many people that want to take the bus downtown right now,” Coun. Ted Prior said. “Sometimes I think we spend too much time thinking about things and not acting on them.”
BC Transit also informed the District of Squamish about other developments such as a pilot project from Comox and Vernon for revised handyDART service to better serve clients. The pilot will involve three more communities in 2017, and the district would have to apply.
BC Transit is also conducting an online survey in the Sea to Sky region and urged council to get residents to fill out the survey.
Upgrade faces challenge
A project to upgrade the children’s section of the public library needs an upgrade itself.
Library director Hilary Bloom informed council of changes required for the renovation of the site during Tuesday morning’s finance and audit standing committee meeting.
The plan included adding a bathroom for children to the area, but once work started an engineer found that they could not make further changes to a load-bearing wall.
Coun. Doug Race mentioned the possibility of a new municipal building in the future that could include a library and was not sure about the logic of investing in a site that might be replaced.
“I’m concerned that we might spend money that wouldn’t be justified,” he said.
Bloom informed council that the renovation will require another $8,000 for structural work, though to revert the structure to its previous design and use it for storage would require $5,300.
District IT plans
IT manager Conrad Kordel updated council on the District of Squamish’s $3-million technology transformation plan (TTP) Tuesday morning.
Some of the highlights included how 2,000 people have signed up for the district’s public notification system. Kordel also discussed a public engagement tool to assist the district with its budget preparations, network improvements and server upgrades.
He also spoke about the transition to SharePoint’s document management system and how different departments are making the switch to the new system.
“Every department is a little bit different. There’s quite a bit of customization happening,” he told council.
Kordel also differentiated between the TTP and the district’s broader digital strategy, of which the TTP is a piece.
