McBride Council: train station, water source, cemetery fence

By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG

McBride Council discussed accessibility upgrades for the train station, the status of the Village’s alternate water source research, and the progress on getting cemetery fencing during its regular meeting on June 24th.

Mayor Gene Runtz called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Council amended the agenda to add four new items: a presentation from Northern Health, a discussion about upgrades to the train station, a discussion about scheduling meetings at an upcoming convention, and a report from CAO Jeanette McDougall. Additionally, the description of the in-camera meeting was amended to include a section of the Community Charter which allows closed meetings to discuss personal information about an employee of the municipality.

After approving the amended agenda, councillors adopted the minutes of the June 10th regular council meeting.

Healthy Communities

Lead advisor for Northern Health’s Healthy Communities program, Jeff Kormos, gave a presentation about the program and the ways Northern Health could collaborate with the Village. The program is a public health initiative which aims to improve residents’ well-being by reducing the risk factors that lead people to seek health care. For example, by limiting the spread of infectious diseases or reducing environmental hazards, public health programs can reduce the pressures on the health care system, Kormos said.

In that vein, Healthy Communities connects with municipalities and residents to discuss grants, collect data on community health, and discuss each community’s health priorities, according to Kormos’ presentation. Program employees can work with local governments to co-create public policies, provide access to public health programs, and brainstorm ways to improve community health.

In McBride, Healthy Communities could help connect government leaders to experts on public health issues, form working groups to create public policies, and draft action plans for any common health issues facing residents, Kormos said.

Councillor Joe Kolida asked how the seniors’ fair on June 18th went. Kormos said it was a success.

Runtz thanked Kormos for his presentation and for sharing his email and phone number with councillors.

“I just want to make a comment about how important our health services are,” Runtz added. “That’s the keystone of Canada… even though there [are] problems, it’s still so much better than anywhere else.”

Runtz, who was born in the U.S., said he had to have an operation one week before his first birthday. His parents did not have health insurance and decided to mortgage their property to pay for the medical bills, which were not paid off until shortly before Runtz completed university.

“I know we have problems here, but the key thing is, we have people trying to make it better all the time,” he said.

He added that the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George often works closely with Northern Health, and he appreciates the cooperation between the two. He also said McBride is grateful to have good doctors in the area.

Kormos asked if a new doctor was hired at the McBride hospital, and Councillor Glen Frear confirmed that the new doctor would be moving to McBride within a week.

Councillor Joe Kolida asked if there would be an opportunity to work with Northern Health on getting a dentist to visit the village periodically. Kormos said a private practice dentist already visits the clinic.

Kormos said he could connect the Village with the Northern Health staff who work on dental care. He added that he’ll check if there are any public practice dentists in the Northern Health system, in addition to the dental hygienists who work out of Northern Health clinics.

Kormos added that most of Northern Health’s data on rural communities is aggregated, rather than being community-specific. This means that instead of data on McBride in particular, the agency looks at data on the Robson Valley in general. The agency is hoping to fill in those gaps for communities trying to improve public health.

“If there’s particular community data – health data, or other kinds of data that is helpful for communities to make decisions with, we have an epidemiology team,” he said. “If there’s ways that we can provide information that’s helpful to you in decision-making, certainly get a hold of me and we’ll see if we can make some connections for you to help you find that information.”

Runtz thanked Kormos again, and said the presentation helped him understand what public health is and how the Village could work with Northern Health in the future.

Train station upgrades

The Village received $450K from the Destination Development Fund, a grant the B.C. government established to support tourism infrastructure during the COVID-19 pandemic. The grant money was earmarked for accessibility upgrades at the McBride Train Station, which includes renovating the washrooms to be wheelchair-accessible, installing an automatic door opener at the 1st Avenue entrance, and replacing the flooring in the lobby.

In early May, Prince George-based architectural firm Chernoff Thompson issued a call for bids on behalf of the Village, with a due date of May 29th. Two contractors – neither of whom were local – responded, with one offering a bid at about $482K and the other offering a $729K bid. Both bids only focused on the internal renovations to the washroom and flooring and did not include the automatic door opener, according to the staff report.

Staff recommended re-tendering the project in three bids: one for electrical work, another for plumbing and another for construction. The report says tailoring bids to specific trades and allowing more time to issue a bid may encourage more local contractors to apply.

Councillor Tina Bennett asked if there was a reason why the bid was for the entire project, instead of separating it into more specific bids in the first place.

Public works employee Phil Strain said managing one contractor for a project is ideal, instead of juggling several at once.

“We were hoping that we’d have local contractors that would bid the whole thing,” he said. “But in this case, we came in way over budget.”

Staff decided to move forward with separate bids after discussing how to make the project accessible to local contractors with McDougall and public works manager Brian Taphorn, Strain said. He added that new tenders would allow for a more flexible start date, so that contractors don’t have to work on the train station during the busiest times of the year for tourism.

Kolida asked if staff could bring decisions about tendering bids to Council before issuing bids in the future.

“This is all new to me. We had no discussion on anything,” he said.

Runtz said he appreciates that staff put the item on the agenda.

“It sounds to me like it’s set up the best it can be to get the local input,” he said. “But I do hear that Council [would’ve liked] to see [Strain] and be involved when it first didn’t go through… I don’t think the purpose was to keep Council out of it at all.”

Kolida said many councillors are contractors, including him, and would have known that a single $450K bid would be hard for a local contractor to fulfill.

Bennett asked when contractors would start working on the projects after the bidding period is over. Strain said a September or October start date may be ideal, since summer is a busy season for contractors and the fall will be a less disruptive time to work on tourism infrastructure.

Council approved issuing three tenders for the project.

Meeting requests

McBride councillors and staff will be attending the Union of BC Municipalities’ (UBCM) Annual General Meeting this September, where they will be able to meet with provincial officials to discuss community needs. At the June 10th council meeting, CAO Jeanette McDougall asked councillors to send her their requests for which government officials they would like to meet with, so she can submit the Village’s meeting requests before the convention. McDougall listed the requests in a staff report to receive Council approval before sending them to UBCM.

There are six requests in total: a meeting with Premier David Eby to discuss getting better reliability from BC Hydro, a meeting with the Minister of Energy, also to discuss BCHydro, a meeting with the Minister of Forests to discuss the decommissioned forest service roads in the McBride area, a meeting with the Minister of Transportation to discuss getting an affordable gravel supply for the municipality, a meeting with the Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs to discuss how to pay for aging infrastructure needs, and a meeting with the Minister of Health to discuss expanding rural health services.

Runtz said he was pleased that each meeting request has a specific topic, and that having six meetings is reasonable to keep the Village focused on specific issues.

Frear suggested adding the Ministry of Tourism to the list to discuss decommissioned forest service roads, since limited access to backcountry recreation activities is affecting local tourism. The Village could also discuss funding for small museums and art galleries with the Ministry, he said.

Council voted to amend the meeting requests by adding a request for the Ministry of Tourism. Then, Council approved the amended meeting requests.

Alternate water source

The Village has been searching for an alternate water source which can be used when Dominion Creek is dry or has high turbidity for over a year. In a report to council on village projects, including the alternate water source project, McDougall wrote that consulting firm Western Water began drilling a test well at the Public Works yard in late May. However, the side of the well they were drilling was damaged during drilling activities.

Kolida asked for more details on what happened during the drilling.

Strain said the clay the company was drilling into was too thick.

“They got down to around 350 feet, and the six-inch casing sheared off about 50 feet down,” he said. “They’ve been sourcing a cutter so they can cut that six-inch casing off the damaged part, and then our plan is to put a five-inch casing down inside the six-inch and go down to the target depth of 500 feet.”

Kolida said he’d like more Council involvement on the project.

“This is another prime example of [how] it’s too bad we’re not a little more involved,” he said. “With CN engineers and where they drill, I don’t think you’re going to find nothing but clay there. It’d be nice to be drilling next to a water source.”

He asked Strain if the idea was to use a well in the Public Works yard as the Village’s alternate water source. Strain said the test well would be compared to potential surface water sources, which would be summarized in a report that Council could use to make a final decision on where to build an alternate water source.

“If the clay is that dry that it’s shearing pipes, it’s still worth going another 150 feet?” Kolida asked.

Runtz asked if Western Water employees or Village staff know what depth the clay stops at.

Strain said contractors still think reaching the 500 feet target is worthwhile. He added that nobody knows what depth the clay stops at, and CN has previously drilled down to 450 feet and still been in a layer of clay.

Runtz said he’s heard groundwater is found between layers of rock and clay, and asked if there were plans to drill deeper if contractors don’t find water at 500 feet.

Strain said Warren Grafton, a hydrologist with Western Water, had recommended drilling as close to the Fraser River as possible. The Public Works yard was the closest place they could drill, and people who have drilled there previously found water at shallower levels, according to Strain.“The biggest thing is [to] cover all our bases,” Strain said. “In my mind, surface water to our [treatment] plant is the ultimate. But we’ve got a feasibility study to say, ‘What are other options?’”

Runtz thanked Strain for answering councillors’ questions.

Canada Day festival

The McBride and District Chamber of Commerce organizes a Canada Day children’s festival each year. Treasurer for the chamber of commerce, Linda Fry, wrote to Council asking Mayor Runtz to give an opening address at the festival, and requested a small grant to help cover the costs of the event. In previous years, the Village has contributed $250 to the event, which is also supported by volunteers, donations from local businesses, and funding from the chamber of commerce.

Council voted to write back confirming that Runtz and other councillors would attend the event. Additionally, Council approved a $250 grant in aid to the chamber of commerce for the event.

Tax rates bylaw

Council adopted the amended version of the 2025 municipal property tax rates bylaw. According to the Community Charter, municipalities must adopt a tax rates bylaw by May 15th of each year. However, the bylaw which council adopted earlier this year contained a clerical error in the rates schedule, as some numbers were taken from the incorrect spreadsheet, according to a June 10th staff report. The tax rates sent on notices to property owners were calculated correctly, but the bylaw needed to be corrected, the staff report said.

Legal consultants confirmed that municipalities are allowed to change their tax rates bylaw after it has been adopted if there is a clerical error, according to the staff report.

OCP draft

Council received the first draft of the Village’s updated Official Community Plan, a list of policies and goals that municipal governments use to help make decisions on land use management and planning. The updated plan incorporates new information from strategic documents such as the Water Conservation Plan, Housing Needs Report and Main Street Revitalization Plan.

Council approved receiving the report for information. Now, staff will send the draft to other local governments and agencies – including the Regional District, BCHydro, Northern Health, and Lheidli-T’enneh First Nation, among others – for feedback.

In-camera

Runtz adjourned the open session of council at 7:45 p.m. Council moved to an in-camera meeting to discuss matters related to Section 90 (1) (a) and (c) of the Community Charter:

(a) personal information about an identifiable individual who holds or is being considered for a position as an officer, employee or agent of the municipality or another position appointed by the municipality; and