Information technology (IT) enhancements, asset management, administrative support and a new CRD signage north of Quesnel.
The Cariboo Regional District board has approved allocating $705,000 from the $3.947 million Growing Communities Fund grant it received from the province in April 2023.
During a committee of the whole meeting on Sep. 7, directors and staff discussed various suggestions from staff as to where the remaining $1,017,500 of the funds.
They were narrowed down to four and on Sept. 28 came to the regular board meeting for approval.
At the board meeting, chief financial officer Kevin Erickson said the funds have to be allocated by the end of the year.
Up to $30,000 will be allocated for repairs to the Welcome to the Cariboo Regional District sign north of Quesnel.
For the IT enhancements, the $175,000 will be used to fund improved firewalls and upgrade core servers to increase the network’s security.
The $150,000 allocated for asset management will be for buying suitable software, implementing it and training for it.
Finally, $350,000 will go toward administration support.
Erickson in a report, noted administration functions have had to absorb many one-off expenses and continues to do so.
“These expenses couldn’t be anticipated and thus adequately budgeted for. Without this allocation the services will have to be absorbed by the operating budgets over time through increases in taxation.”
Area L (Lone Butte, Interlakes) director Eric de Vries said he has heard from some of his constituents with suggestion for the use of the funds and asked what the money can be spent on.
“For instance I have request for pavement on top of a pickle ball court which is clearly recreational related,” he said.
Erickson said recreation qualifies for community works funds and said the instructions were for the growing communities fund was to go to accommodate growth in communities with the suggestion it was go to infrastructure.
“Towards administration, they said it should not go to recurring costs because that just defers potential tax increase, but they did not give any further definition as to what it could be used for.”
Area F (Horsefly, Likely, 150 Mile House) director Maureen LeBourdais said during the committee of the whole meeting there was a healthy discussion about the funds.
“We all have needs and wants in our communities but I don’t think that was the intent of this. We had some agreements that these were appropriate uses.”
She said asset management software has to do with managing the CRD’s infrastructure - water, sewer, toward the future.
Area D (Commodore Heights - McLeese Lake) director Steve Forseth said he had requests too, but said the direction from another CAO was that the money should be spent for regional services, not specifically one electoral area.
“I think we had a pretty good discussion,” Forseth said of the COW meeting.
Forseth voted in favour of three of the four, but was opposed to allocating $350,000 to administrative support.
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