The Houston Hospice Society's request for a fee waiver tied to its purchase of the house at 2222 Tweedie was granted by council at its Oct. 15, 2024 regular meeting.
The society is transforming the residence into its local operational, administrative and equipment storage headquarters but first had to have the property appropriately rezoned.
That cost $1,500 and the society formally asked the council Oct. 15 to waive the fee.
"We are a nonprofit organization that relies solely on donations from our community members and small grants," wrote society vice chair Kelsey Giesbrecht in a letter to the council.
"Our volunteer-based members work to pursue goals that are meaningful to our community members, not to make a profit."
There were no objections to the waiver with councillor Troy Reitsma moving and councillor Rebecca Hougen seconding the required motion.
A second motion by Reitsma, and seconded by councillor Jonathan Van Barneveld will have staffers develop a policy in future cases of non-profit society's asking for fee waivers.
"I'd like to see us develop a policy involving this, as opposed to one off, one off, one off," said Reitsma. "This could set a precedent for others that aren't necessarily nonprofit. So we have to be very clear that we're doing this because it's a non profit."
Councillor Lisa Mueller absented herself from the discussion as she is the chair of the hospice society.
New CAO welcomed
The District of Houston's new chief administrative officer was present for his first in-person council meeting since arriving in the community several weeks ago.
Ryan Nitchie, from Armstrong, was a virtual attendee at a previous meeting.
Speaking briefly, Nitchie acknowledged the welcome he has received since moving to the community.
"I especially want to thank all of the staff, especially those that are present tonight who have been incredibly helpful," he said.
"It's been a pretty steep curve and I'm still climbing," he added of the first days on the job.
Community hall lease approved
Council has approved lease conditions reducing the cost to the Dze L K'ant Friendship Centre of using facilities at the community hall.
The friendship centre will have exclusive use to Room 102 at an annual rate of $1 to operate its childcare program, pay a full day fee of $102.60 as a non profit agency to use the hall's kitchen every Wednesday and pay a weekly rental of the main hall for one and a half hours every Wednesday at a non profit rate of $25.80.
Leisure services deputy director Maia Kerr noted that the above requests are temporary in nature so that the programs can continue while the friendship centre first demolishes its current building and replaces it with one better designed and suited to its needs.
"This continuity of services contributes to the sustainability of the local community by ensuring that essential programs remain available to residents," she wrote in an explanatory memo.
Tax write off wanted
Council wants to write off a $1,309.02 tax bill it can no longer expect to collect.
That's because it is a bill against a mobile home which no longer exists, finance director Jennifer Larson told council in a memo.
The home was owned by a person who died. That was followed by the property being declared by the BC Assessment Authority as uninhabitable in 2023 and a demolition permit being granted this September.
"Manufactured homes that are on property owned by someone else are taxed separately, however the District cannot sell the the manufactured home at tax sale," Larson also told council in her memo.
That leads to other collection attempts but those can be stymied when the home burns down or is demolished or otherwise declared uninhabitable, she added.
That is what happened here when the assessment authority deleted the home from its tax folio inventory.
"As the folio has been deleted and the trailer no longer exists, it is not possible to collect the outstanding taxes," Larson stated.
Council gave its approval to writing off the taxes owed but it must also seek the blessing of the provincial finance minister.
Benefits money bylaw adopted
Council has formally adopted a bylaw placing its share of a region-wide $250 million from the provincial government in a separate reserve account.
Houston's share of the Northwest B.C. Resource Benefits Alliance grant is $13.97 million and will be paid out over the next five years.
Setting up a reserve account is a requirement set by the province so that there’s more transparency and it also allows it to be tracked more efficiently.
The first year payment of $2.794 million was received on Aug. 19 and has been in the account. Reserve accounts are either placed with the Bulkley Valley Credit Union or the provincial Municipal Finance Authority, whichever provides the best return.
Council has yet to outline how it intends to spend this year’s portion of the grant.
