By Sebastian Kanally, Times Chronicle
Oliver is working to continuously update its strategic priorities before budget discussions begin.
In May of this year, Oliver updated its 2023-2027 Strategic Plan, placing things like downtown revitalization, affordable housing, and the Station Street Market as top priorities for 2024.
One priority addressed in that meeting earlier this year was to revisit the strategic priorities more, and particularly to re-prioritize before budget discussions take place.
At their October 28 meeting, Wayne Anderson, chief administrative officer (CAO) for the town provided an update on the progress the town has made this year with the plan.
Anderson went through all the different priorities and what actions the town has taken. Towards the priority of downtown revitalization, the town sent out a controversial Request for Proposals (RFP) to develop town owned land on station street in August but received no inquiries or responses.
Towards the priority of transforming the downtown, the town had a successful first year of the Station Street Market, which ran on Sundays from June to September.
The Airport Master Plan was also completed by the town and they are acting on the recommendations.
The town also approved potential locations for two raised crosswalks on McKinney Rd. and Fairview Rd. for traffic calming measures.
The Oliver Parks and Recreation Master Plan was completed and adopted in September 2024.
The town has also established the Oliver Local Physician Recruitment and Retention Working Group, which has drafted a plan and established a website for physician recruitment.
Following Anderson’s presentation, Councillor Aimee Grice noted it was nice to see some items being checked off.
The update was preliminary. Council will be receiving surveys from town staff on how the town should re-prioritize and a more in-depth discussion about these priorities will be scheduled towards the end of November.
Anderson did provide the list of staff priorities for the remainder of 2024. These include revisiting the RFP for Station Street and building a list of vacant land whether private or town-owned for potential developers.
For affordable housing priorities the town will be looking for other opportunities for development on town-owned land.
For safe community priorities, the town will be putting together a workplan for implementing CCTV cameras at strategic locations in town.
Towards their relationship building priority, the town will have meetings with Osoyoos to look for opportunities to work together and have scheduled meetings with Osoyoos Indian Band (OIB) council and Regional District of the Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) directors.
The town will also be focusing on continuing to build the momentum of the new physician recruitment committee and formalize the residents’ housing for physicians and nurses.
The 2023-2027 Strategic Plan can be found on the Town of Oliver’s website under the Town Hall drop down menu, by clicking Mayor and Council, then Guiding Documents.
