Mike Walsh
I have decided to put my name forward for the position as mayor for our village. For the residence that do not know me I’ve lived in Montrose all my life. I was elected in office in the early 90s at two consecutive terms councillor-and three consecutive terms mayor until 2006.
In the first term in office as Mayor for our village we had a major catastrophe with the collapse of the beaver valley pool that was located in our village. It was devastating to our residence of the Beaver Valley. Due to the fact that the City of Trail decided to build an aquatic centre in Trail it was not feasible to rebuild our Beaver Valley pool. So with the pool insurance money from the collapse of the pool Council decided to install a water park and at the old pool site a memorial park.
In my second term of office as mayor for our village council had another devastating problem with the closure of the Montrose school. The school ended up for sale and was purchased by an investor that wanted to turn it into housing for seniors but due financial cost of the project was not feasible to develop the site.
Council also upgraded the sewage treatment plant where all the effluent went into Filtration beds and Built a bag house for the solids. We all worked as a team on Council to address the issues that we had. We also had a developer that had developed golden acres subdivision. As the Mayor of Montrose I felt we had a great team effort that worked well together achieve our goals.
There was a by-election in 2015 and a councillor seat was vacant. I won the by-election in 2016. Years ago while I was on-council we developed a 10 year Paving program which was in the budget to pave certain areas of the village yearly. That now no longer exists. With ageing roads I believe we need to rethink this and start paving program again. Our infrastructure will always need upgrading. I also would like an open door policy back at our council chambers so people do not have to fill out delegation forms to be the agenda . I would like to see more Council involvement within our community. I also would like to see something develop at the old poolsite building with this age friendly program. I believe it could be a good place to go for the seniors. The building is just storage area for some of our works department materials and it used to be rented out for storage. I also would like to continue positive interaction with the beaver Valley recreation.
We need to keep on applying for grants to upgrade our infrastructure because with our small community sometimes it’s tough to do major jobs because of the cost and without raising taxes. We also need to upgrade our official community plan which hasn’t been done in a few years. We need to continue to revisit our existing bylaws and policies and omit ones that know longer need. With all the recent forest fires in the past years we need to develop a plan for fire prevention within our community. I have noticed in the past the village cut down trees and they’ve just been left over the bank to rot. We cannot keep this practice up because of that possibilities of fires. I have years of experience on Council. I am encouraging all eligible voters to come out on October 20 and vote to elect a new council for the Village of Montrose to move forward in a positive direction.
*****
Joe Danchuk
Over the past four years as Mayor, I have been working hard to accomplish the top priorities from our Strategic Plan. These priorities were developed in collaboration with the residents of the Village. I thank everyone for your participation as we continue to move our village forward!
Under my leadership, we have accomplished much over the past 4 years:
1. Infrastructure – through planning, budgeting and the success of grant applications we:
a. Completed the revitalization of the upper water tank;
b. Repaired the rapid infiltration basin (Waste Water line). The total cost was $800,000 of which the Village portion was 30%;
c. Had LED lighting installed through the main corridor of the village (successfully lobbied Ministry of Highways for the funds at no cost to the Village);
d. Assessed and improved our infrastructure throughout the village including roads, water lines, sewer lines and storm drains.
2. Beaver Valley (BV) Recreation – given our collaborative approach with our regional partners we successfully:
a. Negotiated a 5-year Recreation agreement with no increase of costs in 5 years.
b. Completed the Skate Park with a $150,000.00 Grant from Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) with the balance of the funds from BV Recreation budget.
c. Completed significant upgrades to the Beaver Valley arena.
d. Supported the Age Friendly Program – over the last 4 years we have partnered to make this a great success in the Beaver Valley.
3. Local Village Priorities – we augmented the Age Friendly Program with a grant of $25,000. We completed the assessment, development and adoption of the Age Friendly Program for our Village. Additionally, we continued with upgrades around the Village:
a. The funding (CBT Initiatives) for the Community Garden, the beautiful planters and flowers in the Village. We thank the volunteers who contributed so much!
b. The Community Hall saw a new gas stove, floors, chairs, upgraded electrical and a new roof installed.
Going Forward: The Next 4 Years – As Mayor, my leadership we will continue proactively to lobby and apply for grants especially for infrastructure projects. For example:
• We are awaiting the grant approval of the Waste Water Plant Upgrade for $2.9 Million,
• We are “shovel ready” with the 9th Avenue Paving Repairs, awaiting a grant approval for $2.2 Million,
• I continue to lobby the provincial government for the implementation of broadband internet in our community.
• I continue to participate with regional partners & B.C. Housing to provide a senior housing complex in our Village.
If I have the privilege to serve you for the next 4 years you can expect that I along with the Montrose Council and all of our great volunteers will continue to work hard to maintain our lifestyle at an affordable cost and to ensure Montrose is a great place to live!