Joanne McQuarrie, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter | [email protected]
Council talked about the implications of paid parking in Jasper at their committee meeting Tuesday, July 14.
Public parking, the cost of construction, paving, painting, snow removal, sweeping and maintenance, is currently paid for with property taxes.
Mark Fercho, chief administrative officer for the municipality, and councillor Scott Wilson asked if Jasper residents want help in paying for repairs to roads that are also used by visitors.
Fercho said, "In Jasper we need to frame it as, 'Who pays for that?'"
Mayor Richard Ireland noted a study about paid parking was done internally a few years ago. He said, "Consider the impact on tourism. Right now is maybe not the right time to talk about paid parking."
About paid parking, coun. Paul Butler said, "It's really an inevitability. We need the revenue."
Construction of the new parking lot in S-Block, the industrial block south of the railway tracks, is almost finished. It was built to be used as designated parking for community members and council talked about parking fees to be put in place there.
Suggestions included having residents put their names on a list to use it, paying a monthly fee, and restructuring rates to be commercial, which may alleviate parking pressure.
Deputy mayor Bert Journault, said, "My concern is that they'll become storage spots."
Ireland said, "The vehicles stored there should get used on a regular basis," and added there needs to be a way to monitor it.
Accepting letters
Council discussed what parameters are needed in dealing with correspondence received from the public, and how it has been challenging for administration to manage since the beginning of the pandemic.
Staff called for maintaining, "a certain level of decorum and professionalism around what gets published on the council agenda".
It was acknowledged formal letters can be submitted by email and "thoughtful, considerate submissions can be presented in an email, but that, "it's the brief, sometimes ill-informed rants that are problematic to administer".
"The one thing I wouldn't want to do is stifle the feedback from the community," said Wilson, and added council members have thick enough skin to weather the more extreme letters.
Councillors Rico Damota and Helen Kelleher-Empey agreed, saying feedback from community members is helpful.
Mayor Richard Ireland said that in including such correspondence in agendas, it's important to not publish factually incorrect material. He reiterated the existing bylaw does not reflect reality and that, "this is an issue we've got to get a handle on".
Following a seminar about local governance in June, council expressed interest in considering the creation of an agenda committee. Administration suggested the proposed agenda for each council meeting be established by the mayor and CAO.
Ireland said, "I'm uncomfortable making the agenda the mayor's agenda."
Wilson said more formalities would cause more challenges.
"It is council's agenda. We have all the flexibility in the world to make it our own," he said.
Damota said some structure is needed and emphasized the need to prioritize items that are on the follow-up action list.
On the fitness centre
Councillors commented on two letters sent by Jasperites about the reopening of Jasper Aquatic and Fitness Centre.
Dave Ewanchook and Darren Thom wrote to council this week to express their disappointment in the scheduled September reopening date.
Ewanchook said: “We should realize that the centre is where the community goes to exercise, swim, take their family on any given day to enjoy what our facility has to offer.”
He suggested council should “dip into the savings and allow the centre to open within the guidelines and even more for the safe operation of this facility."
Thom described the delay in reopening the centre as “frustrating” as gyms were approved to open by the province on June 9.
He noted the fitness centre provides "a mental health stability tool… as well as recuperation from injury".
Enjoying the outdoors, he continued, has been hampered by "unseasonal weather" and "the benefits of resistance training far outweigh the risks that COVID-19 provide".
About the letters, Wilson said council will start seeing more letters of this nature, and reiterated the government has given the go-ahead to open such facilities.
"It's not prudent to sit on our hands. We should start moving forward with opening as soon as possible," he said.
Journault said if money is going to be spent on recreation it should go to children.
And Butler emphasized nothing is gained by reopening discussion about the opening date (Sept. 21). "We debated, we passed a motion," he said.
