District staff brought forth two initiatives at the last council meeting.
The new corporate services officer Gerald Pinchbeck brought forth a recommendation for Houston to join the BC Amber Alert program, which was passed.
Pinchbeck’s report said the Amber Alert helps with relocating abducted children by sending out emergency notices. It costs nothing to register but the District must post notices to its website, social media platforms and inform employees of any notices in order to assist with the location of the abducted children.
The report also mentioned that there will be increased expenditures as a result, to which Coun. Rick Lundrigan asked for an estimate from finance director Caroline Bidwell.
“Whether it’s over and above, you’re going to be taking someone away from their position, so I just felt that council needed to be aware of that,” replied Bidwell.
In that same meeting, Bidwell also notified council that she has engaged Luckett, Wenman & Associates to complete a review of the District’s GST procedures to see if there are additional funds to be recovered.
The terms state that if the company does not find any recoverable money, they will not earn anything, but if they do, Bidwell estimates a 29 to 50 per cent contingency fee.
This initiative does not cost the District anything. “I’m OK with that,” said Lundrigan.
In her report, Bidwell mentioned that she identified “some concerns and feel that we would benefit from an investigation of our GST input tax credits.”
She also mentioned that this review helps improve the District’s operations.
“When reviewing our files, they assess any system deficiencies we may have and inform us of their findings,” she wrote.