​August 2019 has been the one month so far since my election to Town Council that has been the least active for me. There was one regular meeting of Town Council this month. The rest of my schedule was pretty light with just 12 events scheduled and two of those ended up getting cancelled. Here is a quick look at what my month was like:
 
Regular Public Meetings
 
Aside from the single Town Council meeting on Tuesday, August 6, I had just a handful of other meetings to attend related to the committees and boards I sit on.
 
Thursday, August 15 – Princeton Museum Society
Tuesday, August 20 – 3 PM – Princeton Health Care Steering Committee
Tuesday, August 20 – 7 PM – Princeton Exhibition Association
 
Other Meetings
 
There were a few additional meetings I attended that were outside of the regular ones I typically participate in.
 
Tuesday, August 6 – I had a meeting with members of SOHC (Support Our Health Care) to gain a better understanding of the Community Health Centre concept and how it fits into a Primary Care Network. This is related to a project I am assisting the Mayor on for next month’s UBCM. (*)
 
Tuesday, August 13 – PXA Site Inspection. This was a walkabout to observe issues that need to be remedied at the facility.
 
Wednesday, August 21 – Meeting with Bryan Safarik of BC Green. I attended this lunch meeting with staff and other members of Town Council to meet and speak with the company that is developing the large project at the Princeton Industrial Park.
 
(* denotes meeting attended alone. All other meetings include members of Town Council and Staff).
 
Out-Of-Town Meetings
 
My August did include two road trips for out-of-town meetings. Here are the details on what they were:
 
Thursday, August 8 – Meeting in Tonasket, Washington. I drove to Princeton’s Sister City to meet with City of Tonasket Councillor Jensen Sackman to discuss the Sister City relationship. I am in a rather interesting position for this as I was at the original meeting that put the Sister City plan in place back in 1987. Jensen and I have also known each other for the past several years so it was nice to meet with her in our official capacities to try to come up with a plan to help build the Sister City relationship between our communities. I also met with City of Tonasket Mayor Dennis Brown who was clearly supportive of Sackman and me working together on this project. Watch for more on this to come. (*)
 
Friday, August 16 – I was in Penticton for another follow up meeting to the Primary Care Community Workshop. One more is scheduled for September.
 
Other Activities
 
Tuesday, August 13 – As part of Heritage & Culture Week, leading up to the annual Traditional Music Festival, I was once again a ‘guest speaker.’ This is the fourth year I have done this and each time I put together a PowerPoint presentation that involves my wife, Brenda in giving me assistance. This year I made a presentation titled, “History of A Small Town Newspaper” and shared a brief history on the Similkameen News Leader. I also included several ‘secrets’ about the business that was enjoyed by all in attendance.
 
Next Month
 
September looks to be a hectic time for all of us on Town Council with all committee meetings back on track. The month will end with a week in Vancouver for UBCM (Union of British Columbia Municipalities) which will see elected officials from throughout the province in attendance for workshops, meetings and other activities. I’m looking forward to being there!

With the number of regular Town Council meetings cut in half during July and August, it by no means indicates that things are a lot slower. In fact, my schedule was only slightly lighter than normal with a total of 15 events planned with 2 of those getting cancelled on short notice. Here is a complete breakdown of the things I did during July 2019:
 
Regular Public Meetings
 
There was just one regular meeting of Town Council – Tuesday, July 2. The biggest news to come out of that meeting was probably the decision to refer to the 2020 budget a garbage can replacement project that would see $36,000 (plus installation) earmarked for bear-proof containers. These would be replacing about 16 or so existing public-use garbage containers in and around the Town.
 
Other Meetings
 
Almost all of my regular committee meetings still took place in July. Here is a quick list of what they were:
 
Thursday, July 11 – Arts, Culture & Heritage Committee – this is a new committee struck in December by Town Council and this was the first meeting of the group.
Tuesday, July 16 – PXA, Princeton Fairgrounds (*)
Wednesday, July 17 – Princeton Arts Council, Riverside Centre (*)
Thursday, July 18 – 10:00 AM – Interagency (*)
Thursday, July 18 – 5:30 PM – Princeton Museum & Archives Society, Museum (*)
Tuesday, July 23 – Pickleball/Tennis User Groups Meeting
Monday, July 29 – Princeton Posse (*)
 
(* denotes meeting attended alone. All other meetings include members of Town Council and Staff).
 
Out-Of-Town Meetings
 
I did end up out-of-town more frequently this month than in the past. Here’s where I went and what I was doing there:
 
Friday, July 12 – Primary Care Community Workshop, Penticton – this was a follow-up to the initial workshop I attended last month. Another one is set for September to wrap all the discussion points together. (*)
 
Wednesday, July 17 – Youth Graffiti & Mural Art Display, Keremeos Skateboard Park – this event got rescheduled minutes before I arrived but I have been following this project for a possible local event. (*)
 
Wednesday, July 24 – Community Talk, Community Foundation/LSCSS, Keremeos – I attended this discussion on accessibility concerns that was held in the Keremeos Seniors Centre. (*)
 
Other Activities
 
Monday, July 1 – Canada Day Celebration, Veterans Square – both my wife, Brenda, and I got involved in this event. She helped with decorations and manning the activity table where you could pick up Canada flags and pins. Bren even applied Canada Day temporary tattoos on a lot of children and adults (including an RCMP member!). We had a great time!
 
Monday, July 5 – I met with Ed Staples of the Princeton Health Care Steering Committee to discuss a possible promotional project. The PHCSC meeting set for the following day got cancelled so we won’t be discussing the project again until next month.
 
Tuesday, July 23 – I attended a meeting at Town Hall with the organizers of HUMM (Horizons Unlimited Mountain Madness). This is a rally-style motorcycle event that is exploring options to either expand or relocate.
 
The Juggling Act
 
Just a reminder that all members of Town Council have busy personal and professional lives. For me, I operate my own home-based business (Looseink Freelance Ninja) and Brenda has hers (JamBusters!) which keep both of us very occupied. However, because I work from home, I have a fair deal of flexibility that permits me to attend a high volume of meetings as part of my Town Council duties. We are all working hard in Town Hall to make Princeton a better place for all.

​June 2019 was a bit more like a ‘normal’ month of activity for me. Well, that is compared to recent months, anyway. This month had a total of 17 meetings/activities scheduled with one of those getting cancelled and another one missed due to a time conflict. There was actually one week during June where I only had two appointments on the calendar but as has been the case since getting elected, I have one really full week a month with another not so busy and two that can go either way. Here’s a breakdown of my activities in June 2019:
 
Regular Public Meetings
 
Town Council had two regular meetings this past month (June 3 and June 17) with the first of them preceded by a Public Hearing. There was also an afternoon Committee of the Whole meeting on June 19 where we sat through three different delegations. What made this meeting even more interesting was that it was held in the Library Meeting Room in the centre of the downtown core.
 
Other Meetings
 
There was a cross section of different meetings that I attended during the month related to my committee/portfolio appointments as well as other additional meetings. This is the list:
 
Tuesday, June 13 – Primary Care Workshop, Penticton
Tuesday, June 18 – 3 PM – Princeton Health Care Steering Committee
Tuesday, June 18 – 7 PM – Princeton Exhibition Association *
Wednesday, June 19 – Community Foundation *
Thursday, June 20 – Princeton Museum
Tuesday, June 25 – Princeton Parade Meeting *
Thursday, June 21, Similkameen Valley Planning Society, Princeton
 
(* denotes meeting attended alone. All other meetings include members of Town Council and Staff).
 
Other Activities
 
In addition to the ‘regular’ list of meetings I attended during the month of June I also participated in a few special events. Each of these I was able to take my wife Brenda along which was fun for me. I sometimes think that spouses and partners get ‘forgotten’ or ‘left out’ when they are in reality as much a part of the family of Town Hall as the elected officials are. The two events Bren joined me at included:
 
Sunday, June 9 – Boundary Similkameen MLA Linda Larson BBQ, Oliver *
Thursday, June 27 – Farewell Dinner for Museum Manager Terry Malanchuk, Princeton
 
The Larson BBQ was an easy one for us to attend as it was taking place just blocks away from our weekly vending location in the Oliver Indoor Flea Market. At that event, Larson announced her retirement from politics at the end of this term.
 
The Farewell Dinner for Terry Malanchuk was for a pal of ours we’ve known for several years who has chosen to take a career change and head back to his former stomping grounds in Chilliwack. Both Bren and I got to know Terry and Tamara in the time they were in town with our history dating back to when we owned the Similkameen News Leader. I had recently been working closely with Terry when I was Princeton Museum President prior to getting elected to Town Council.
 
Highlights
 
There were two events that took place this month that were most definitely highlights for me. They were:
 
Friday, June 21 – Indigenous Peoples Day – Signing of the MOU between the Town, RDOS and USIB
Saturday, June 29 – Princeton Days Parade, MCing the Parade
 
I was proud to be part of the process with other members of Town Council, the RDOS and USIB which reached an apex with the signing of the MOU between the parties at a small but significant ceremony during the National Indigenous Peoples Day celebration in Veterans Square. Brenda was able to attend this with me as well and was responsible for the photo that accompanied the official press release that was widely distributed the following week.
 
And the Princeton Parade was truly an amazing milestone for me. The Town of Princeton was working alongside Princeton Rotary and Chamber of Commerce to help build the annual parade into a bigger and better event. One of the suggestions was to have an MC at Veterans Square to more or less provide a description of the entries as they passed by. During organizing meetings, the role of MC was basically handed to me and virtually minutes before the parade started it was decided that I would be riding on the historic Town Fire truck with the rest of Town Council with a wireless mic. I was to ‘provide flavour’ and once reaching Veterans Square I would hop off and continue with the commentary. It was a lot of fun and I’m sure the new twist we added to the parade will not be forgotten anytime soon. I was actually going to use some notes but ended up adlibbing the entire event which was a little easier than I expected and allowed me to have a little fun with some of the entries.