Four-Year Strategic Plan Adopted
Council adopted the 2019-2022 Strategic Plan as a guide for the municipality over the next four years. The plan identifies five priority areas that require more attention, expertise, research, strategic development, staff or financial resources, or a combination of these to move towards the shared goals for our community. The five areas are:
- Improving Active Routes & Transportation
- Addressing Cost of Living
- Nurturing a Model Environmental Community
- Preserving Heritage
- Strengthening Emergency Management & Wildfire Preparedness
Each of the priority areas has measurable outcomes by 2022, strategies to achieve those goals and specific actions and a timeline of tactics to get there. The plan has been in development for nearly a year, with a series of workshops held between May and November 2018 to review the previous four-year Strategic Plan, identify priorities from the Town of Banff Community Plan, and examine new information and challenges in the community.
Council received a What We Heard report on public feedback to the Draft Strategic Plan that was compiled in November 2018 to January 2019.
With the adoption of the Strategic Plan, Town administration has clear direction on new activities over the next four years, and council tracks progress through a work plan in every council meeting agenda and an annual review and any revisions to the document, in conjunction with annual service review.
The plan can be viewed at
banff.ca/strategicplan.
Council Decides to Split Costs for Sulphur Mountain Sewer Main
A new utility fee has been established for Sulphur Mountain sewer utility users. The Town of Banff owns the sewer pipe infrastructure, although it is outside the municipal boundary, and the three properties whom the utility services pay out-of-town utility rates for the service. The pipe needs to be replaced. This project is intended to be debt-financed with repayment through utility rates. Replacement costs for the sewer line are approximately $2 million. The Sulphur Mountain utility users will be responsible for 50% of this project cost, on top of their regular out-of-town utility rates.
Telematics in Town Vehicles
Council received an update on the Green Fleet plan for installing telematics equipment in municipal vehicles. Telematics are GPS systems that track fuel consumption, greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), idling, and speed. With increased monitoring and data collection, the telematics will enable the Town to reach the Green Fleet Policy’s goals of lowering fuel consumption and reducing GHG emissions. The system helps produce immediate results by reminding drivers to modify behaviours such as avoiding idling and to accelerate gradually. The data also helps the Town analyze the operational uses of the fleet to ensure when a vehicle is replaced, the most cost-effective and environmentally responsible vehicle is selected for the duties. Currently, 55 of 75 vehicles have had the system installed; the remainder will come online over the next year. Once all vehicles have the system, users will be issued a unique FOB so details can be tracked by department to gauge usage.