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Community planning council holds AGM

South cariboo panning council AGM

The South Cariboo Community Planning Council (SCCPC) recently held its annual general meeting and elected its new board of directors.

Fifteen people turned out from the 20 member organizations, which SCCPC executive co-ordinator Lea Smirfitt says was a fair turnout for a summertime meeting.

The new board will work with staff on some strategic planning this fall, she explains.

A recently published summary of a study of the true costs to the province and its residents of having people living in poverty will likely be considered in that planning process, Smirfitt says.

"I'm hoping that [information] will rise to the top of what's important."

Staff will also engage with the new board in performing an environmental scan, which was last performed in 2009, she adds.

Smirfitt explains this is a kind of "temperature-taking" of the community, and will be facilitated by SCCPC's new ThoughtStream software.

"We will be updating and enriching the environmental scan as a result of using this collaboration software."

One activity at the AGM involved getting the membership to indicate their favourite place in South Cariboo on a map, including areas of arts, culture, First Nations, bird watching, and so on, and then describe what it is about the place that keeps them coming back.

This encouraged people at the meeting to reflect on what brings quality of life to people in the community, a key goal for the council.

"Hopefully, in our strategic planning, we will go deeper a few layers to determine how we want to bring out some of those elements."

Completing the second year of a two-year term on the board are Cheryl Christianson, Maggie Patterson-Dickey and Jeanne Best.

Joining the board this year are Ken Tassell, Chris Pettman, Katherine McKibbin and Maryanne Lockwood.

The board's executive positions will be determined at a board meeting in September.