By Madeline Baker, Times Chronicle

The Town of Osoyoos’s service departments presented their second quarter reports at the August 9 Committee of the Whole meeting, giving council a look into their activities between April 1 and June 30.

Community Services

The community services department hosted several programs and events while also preparing for those to come later in the year. Blastball, sports, and woodworking were among their most popular programs, and a new art program developed in partnership with Artists on Main was offered for the first time.

Childrens’ day camps, like the preschool tykes camp, also drew high participation. Parents looking to enrol their children in summer camps may even have been disappointed, as the Cactus Kids day camp filled up fast and already has a long waitlist. Thankfully, there are also many special event applications in the works for family entertainment.

Sun Bowl Arena saw plenty of improvements this spring, as well as the hiring of Andrew Barnes as Lead Hand and Chief Engineer. The arena was shut down on May 1 and reopened on July 25 with new compressors in the plant room, as well as fresh coats of paint for the board room, office and bleachers. A new electric Zamboni will make its debut later in the year. 

Other projects around town saw the lawn bowling club’s retaining wall completed, landscaping completed at the Sonora Community Centre, the RV site at Desert Park completed, the community bus repaired and brought into operation, and several requests for memorial benches processed. 

Corporate Services

Corporate Services saw a swell of planned residential developments this spring, which meant a quarter full of public hearings. Residents in the area were invited to share their feelings about major possible developments on Oleander Drive, Lakeshore Drive, and Spartan Drive. Ultimately, the department issued five business licences and three building permits. 

Bylaw officers were called out on several unsightly premise and zoning complaints, particularly complaints of short-term rentals that violate zoning bylaw, and inadequate signage calls. Nuisance complaints in the town’s public parks and neighbourhood noise complaints were also high, along with animal control calls about roaming dogs.

Staff members attended various training sessions and participated in the RDOS-wide emergency services training exercise. At home they began preparations for the 2022 general local election along with their usual reception, land issue, Victim Services, transit, insurance, contract administration, lease, occupational health and safety and records management tasks.

Financial Services

Financial Services projected surpluses in the general fund, sewer fund, water fund, and for the Sun Bowl Arena in their income and expenditure statement to June 30. Two changes were made to the 5 Year Financial Plan bylaw, one to the Osoyoos Tax Rates bylaw, and one to the Recreation Service Fees and Charges bylaw.

A total of 310 properties in Osoyoos currently have an outstanding tax balance with financial services, 10 of which are considered delinquent and may be subject to tax sale. There are 25 properties with outstanding rural sewer balances and 294 with outstanding rural water balances. Even with all those red accounts, they processed 5,273 payments in the second quarter.

Fire Rescue

Many fire department members spent their second quarter in training and upgrading programs to receive new certifications, 65 hours in total over 49 varied topics. Four members even became certified vehicle instructors and can now train new recruits on the fire truck course, and six others moved from “outdoor” to “indoor” levels of qualification for firefighting.

They also received 60 emergency calls, 16 of which were false alarms caused by burning food. More seriously, four of those calls were for motor vehicle accidents in which $110,000 were lost, and two were for ambulance assists. Their average response time was five minutes and 280 overall personnel hours were spent on emergency calls.

Five new recruits were welcomed into the department as well as a new Deputy Chief of Fire Prevention, Robert Huttema, which should get their prevention inspections back on schedule. Later this year, they’ll also welcome new equipment and rescue gear and a facelift for two local fire halls.

Operational Services

Operational Services had many servicing jobs for water and sewer during the second quarter, ranging from installation of brand new sanitary services to the addition of a fire hydrant on Empire Street. An agricultural irrigation pump also had to be sent for servicing after a routine test showed some abnormalities in its performance.

There were also two beautification projects on their schedule: removal of rock landscaping from two sections of the Cottonwood Wall boulevard which were then filled with concrete to avoid unattractive sand buildup from the nearby beach. A gravel ring around the dog park’s gazebo was also added in hopes of dissuading dogs from digging and creating trip hazards.

Planning and Development

Planning and development services saw a rise in public interest regarding the possible use and redevelopment of downtown buildings and multi-family zoned properties, buoy and boat lift placement in front of properties owned by the Town, and the use of carriage and laneway homes for short-term rentals.

A new Official Community Plan was adopted in April, which kept the director busy fielding requests for proposals related to new zoning and short-term rental bylaws. 

Staff also continued their work on the boundary expansion plan at Hwy. 3 and 62nd Ave., the resort municipality initiative strategy for the next four years, and ongoing improvements at the airport.

On the economic development side, they issued 13 new business licences, 17 building permits, and three sign permits, secured locations for six new food trucks, and assisted an applicant to the entrepreneurial immigration program in preparing the future home of their new restaurant. 

Many residential and commercial development projects are still in progress.