Westview Ratepayers Society is moving toward the new year striving to be an inclusive organization, with broad membership in the Westview region.
Rick Craig, president of the society, said the organization has just concluded its annual general meeting, looking back on a busy year of activity. He said the society is striving to be transparent and working in a proactive way in the community.
One of the important features for the group is a significant growth in membership. Craig said over the past year it has been a priority to add members, to make the society as broad and diverse as possible.
“We’ve been reaching out and we’ve grown from about 50 to 239 members,” said Craig. “We are going to continue the membership drive because we want to grow even bigger. It’s an opportunity to bring people together and help them get access to information.”
He said the society has also created a Facebook page with the Townsite Ratepayers Society and Wildwood Ratepayers Association, called Powell River Ratepayers.
“We tend to run the page because we’re in a better position to do that,” said Craig. “It has grown from where we started to more than 500 members.
“We plan to reach out to attract new members and what we plan to do with that is try to be a positive voice to keep people informed. The goal is to put a lot of effort into letting our members and anybody else who joins the Facebook page know about what we think are issues of local concern, and at the same time, allow them to have input by telling us what they think.”
Craig said if there are issues the ratepayers think are particularly important, then the ratepayers as a group will discuss them and ask if there is anything they can do in order to help ensure residents are not impacted in a negative way.
In addition to the Facebook page, Craig said the ratepayers society is providing constant email updates to the membership, because not all members are on Facebook.
Future focus
In the coming year, the ratepayers society is going to focus on education, with the idea being to look at some of the topical issues where people are willing to speak on them and disseminate the information through meetings.
He said the society has been active in the past year in the matter of community safety, and it will be an important item going forward. He said it is important to build up the city’s block watch program. He added that it was down to one person during COVID-19, so his group is reaching out to ratepayers throughout the community to find more captains.
“It’s one of creating a stronger sense of community, with people supporting each other,” said Craig.
He said the society has been involved in a complicated process with Lift Community Services.
“We’ve had a number of meetings with Lift and we had one with the board at the end of June and came up with a collaborative agreement of eight points we thought should be worked on,” said Craig. “We also had a meeting with Lift and BC Housing recently. Some of the issues that are of concern aren’t really things that Lift can deal with.
“I see this helping the whole agenda on supportive housing. If there are community concerns, we can’t ignore them. The goal is to say ‘can we address them,’ and make sure it works for the clients, but doesn’t impact residents.”
He said the society is not trying to be negative or naysayers, but is trying to find positive solutions to issues with supportive housing.
Craig said City of Powell River needs to reconstitute a table to deal with housing and homelessness.
“Right now, what I see is that there is no clarity on where we are going,” said Craig. “Where should we be in five years? What is the need and how do we deal with it? Our whole goal is to be proactive, in a positive way.”
In terms of its civic connection, Craig said the society has made two presentations to city councillors and will continue to bring up matters that are important. He said they are inviting councillors and senior officials to attend ratepayers meetings, so they can discuss with the membership what is going on.
“There are a lot of concerns and people are worried about quite a number of things,” said Craig. “That engagement with the decision-makers is important. It’s good for the city because it allows them in an organized way to be able to engage. People who come to meetings are directly interested, so there’s a chance to have a frank and open discussion, and for the city officials to hear what the concerns are.”
Going forward into the city’s taxation discussions, Craig said his group is keeping an eye on the mill taxes.
“The whole question of the assessment for the taxing of the mill is going to be an interesting one that comes out in early January,” said Craig. “Whether that has a negative impact on the taxes of everyone else is going to be a big issue. That is definitely an area we are looking at.”
Craig said the society is also doing outreach to all its members to determine issues of importance. In January, the priorities will be prepared for the coming year.
To seek more information or to join the Westview Ratepayers Society, email [email protected].
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