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Susie Gimse to head UBCM

Task will be implementing hundreds of resolutions
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Susie Gimse

After eight years on the executive of the Union of B.C. Municipalities, Susie Gimse of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District was elected as board president last week. She will also continue to serve as the Area C director for the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District.

According to Gimse, the position is already familiar territory.

“The decision to run for the president’s position really occurred several years back when I stepped up into a table officer position, primarily with the encouragement of other elected officials from across the province,” she said. “I have been with the executive for many years now, and have a solid understanding of how the UBCM works and what the issues are.

Gimse says it will probably take a little more time each week to serve as UBCM president, but has already set the time aside.

“I’ve heard some criticism regarding my association with the UBCM in the past and concerns that it would take away from my SLRD responsibilities, but I’ve always managed to do them both. I always point out that I don’t have a day job, or a night job for that matter; my kids are grown, and I’ve chosen to commit 100 per cent of my time to local government, which includes Electoral Area C in the SLRD and my involvement with the UBCM.”

As president, Gimse says her role is to see through the hundreds of resolutions adopted by the UBCM. Last year UBCM members voted on 260 resolutions, and the list of resolutions from the most recent UBCM conference covers 22 pages with 217 separate resolutions and the endorsement of four policy papers.

Many of those resolutions are of special interest to her constituents, she says, as well as to the rest of the province.

One of those issues is the Climate Action Charter, which has been adopted by a majority of municipalities and regional districts in the province. The SLRD has not voted to sign onto the charter, says Gimse, but will likely sign on after meeting with local governments to decide on a regional approach.

Another issue of special interest is the creation of a Community Charter for regional districts that would be similar to the Local Government Act adopted by municipal governments.

“The province committed to phase one of the Act to deal with municipalities, and once that was concluded the provincial government had indicated that they were prepared to move into phase two with regional districts,” said Gimse. “It was quite an implementation to form a community charter, and the province asked us to step back because of the resources required. Now enough time has passed, phase one has been fully implemented, and it’s time to start working on phase two.”

Another issue of special concern to Gimse is changing provincial legislation regarding the development costs charges for parklands. Currently developers can be charged by municipalities to build infrastructure and set aside parklands, but Gimse and other local governments would like to see the government definition of the charges to include amenities like trails, and recreational infrastructure like water parks and community centres.

“Right now it’s limited to things such as purchasing parkland, which is great to have but if you can’t develop it, it’s a bit of a challenge,” said Gimse.

Funding is also an important issue to address as local governments take on more responsibilities downloaded from provincial and federal governments, but local governments are still limited to property taxes for revenue. Whistler and other resort municipalities recently won a greater share of hotel taxes, but Gimse says all communities are looking for financial tools.

“A lot of local government concerns relate to a lack of funding and the lack of capacity,” said Gimse. “Downloading is certainly one of the factors.

“We’re also being challenged to follow Smart Growth principles and create compact, livable communities. But in order to provide the services and infrastructure we need to have a safe, healthy community and the only source of revenue we have to draw on as local government is property tax. There’s a limit to how much we can continue to put those costs on property owners.”

According to Gimse, less than eight per cent of all taxes paid come back to local governments.

“We would like to start looking at new financial tools for local governments so we can in fact provide what’s required so citizens can have a decent quality of life without continually taxing their property to provide it,” she said.

While the federal government continues to share a percentage of gas taxes with local governments, Gimse says UBCM members are concerned that tax transfer is set to expire in 2014. That in turn makes long term planning difficult for municipalities and regional districts, which would like to see the transfer of gas taxes become a permanent source of funding.

Among other things, Gimse says that money could be used to help fund the commitments outlined in the UBCM’s Climate Action Charter.

“I’m glad we’re heading in that direction,” she said. “We’ve been talking about the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for decades, but very little has been done. We’re delighted that the province has stepped up to the plate and said we’re going to do this, but in terms of moving forward there could be considerable financial costs associated with the plan for local governments. We need to look at how to achieve those goals and do it in a manner that’s cost-effective.”

Gimse’s tenure as president will last one year, until the 2008 UBCM conference and annual general meeting, but it’s not uncommon for members of the executive to serve more than one term.

In addition to her roles with the UBCM and SLRD, Gimse will also continue to serve as the chair of the Sea to Sky Regional Hospital District.