Squamish council this week struck a task force to come up with a design for a new welcome sign along Highway 99 and devise a framework for signage in the area known as the Downtown Gateway.
At Tuesday's (April 24) Committee of the Whole meeting, local lawmakers voted unanimously to establish a five-member task force comprised of representatives of the Chamber of Commerce, Tourism Squamish, the Downtown Squamish Business Improvement Association, the Squamish Arts Council and the Farmers' Market Association.
A councillor and District of Squamish staff member will serve in an advisory capacity to the group. As per Coun. Patricia Heintzman's motion, the group will meet for six months with the short-term goals of coming up with a design for the Highway 99 sign that was obliterated by a wayward vehicle in February and devising a plan for signage directing motorists to and around the downtown area. As it's envisioned, the roll-out for that plan would be in 2013.
After six months, the task force will have the option of seeking another six months to complete its mandate.
A staff report on the initiative had used the term "steering committee" to describe the group, but according to Heintzman, "I think of this as much more of an ad hoc task force for, say, six months, that is very specific in its roles and not focused on too broad of a task."
Coun. Ted Prior made two separate motions to add representatives from the Inside Edge high-tech industry group and the new Squamish Civic Club. He said he felt the two groups had a lot of talent and energy to lend to the initiative.
Others, though, said they wanted to limit the membership as well as the scope of the group. Both of Prior's motions failed.
"I'd like to keep it a nice, tight group and I think the economic drivers represented by these five groups has a good synergy," Heintzman said.
Transit ridership up
Squamish Transit ridership has increased 44 per cent since the service was last upgraded in 2008, and surveys show that rather that wholesale changes, a bit of tweaking to schedules and routes is what's needed and desired to keep the service growing to meet the community's demands, B.C. Transit officials told council.
Tania Wegwitz, B.C. Transit transportation planner, said that while several options for changes were presented at open houses earlier this year, the desire for wholesale changes to service was limited. Heintzman suggested that perhaps that was because the options presented gave people only pieces of what they wanted but not the whole package.
Ridership, which is about 200,000 per year, and cost recovery are about average for transit services in similar sized communities in B.C. Wegwitz suggested having another look at the cost of monthly passes as a way to increase cost recovery. B.C. Transit's Johann van Schaik said a review of routes and schedules is needed to address a 79 per cent on-time record, which he said is on the border between "satisfactory" and "poor."
Council plans to have another look at transit and transportation options at a meeting on May 8.
Survey in the works
DOS officials plan to survey residents next month to gauge citizen satisfaction with the services provided by their municipal government.
The Ipsos Reid Citizen Satisfaction Survey, which will be conducted May 7 to 17, is part of the initial phase of a new DOS communication strategy that also includes action items in the areas of media relations, internal and external communications, social media and council relations.
The survey will give Squamish officials a yardstick with which to measure success alongside 55 other Canadian communities that are taking part in similar exercises, said Robin Arthurs, general manager of corporate services.
Because it's being conducted as part of a larger initiative, the survey will cost Squamish taxpayers $6,900 compared to the $20,000 it cost to conduct a similar survey in 2006, Arthurs said.
