By Lexi McFarlane, Times Chronicle
A new policy centered on getting youth engaged in municipal governance had its updated draft presented earlier this week to Town of Oliver Council, to unanimous approval.
At Monday’s Committee of the Whole (CoW) meeting, the proposed Youth Councillors Policy was brought forth. This is the second time it has been brought for consideration to Council, with the first time being on November 17.
During that November 17 CoW meeting, concerns were raised about how much funding it would require, and more significantly, the eligibility criteria.
Multiple members of Council, including Mayor Martin Johansen, took issue with the requirements of students from South Okanagan Secondary School (SOSS) needing to begin post-secondary education, and having proof of registration and attendance. Additionally, limiting it to just students attending SOSS left the possibility that not all youths of the specific grades for the Junior and Senior Youth Councillor positions would be able to put their name forward.
The revised draft of the Youth Councillor Policy seeks to address all of those concerns, with a total of four amendments made to the Policy since it was last presented to the CoW.
The $1,000 scholarship that would be offered to the Senior Youth Councillor would no longer require that youth to be enrolled in post-secondary immediately, allowing a period of up to two years following high-school graduation before the youth would be required to enroll at either a university, college, or trade school.
Eligibility will also be expanded marginally; the text of the policy now says it is open to “any students enrolled at SOSS, or any students that reside in the catchment area for SOSS”. This will allow students living within Oliver, but attending school virtually or in a different location, to still be eligible for the program.
Additionally, costs for the Town to send the Youth Councillors to the annual B.C. Youth Parliament Session, in Victoria, have officially been pegged at $545, to cover the vast majority of expenses.
Both the scholarship money, and the expenses for sending the Youth Councillors to Victoria, are proposed to be funded through Grant in Aid funding. This channel currently covers the amounts required to keep the Oliver Ambassadors program running.
Johansen, who moved the motion to bring the policy up at a future Regular Council Meeting, was satisfied with the changes made to the draft Policy.
“The changes are exactly what we discussed at our last Committee meeting, and they’ve all been captured in here, from my point (of view),” he said.
The motion, seconded by Councillor Aimee Grice, was unanimously approved.
