Short But Busy Month

Although February is the shortest month of the year, it was one of the busiest ones I’ve had in quite some time. In addition to plenty of activity at Town Hall, I have been kept busy with many committee meetings both in Princeton and out of town. 
 
Here’s a quick look at my schedule for February 2020:
 
Out of 17 scheduled meetings/events, I attended all but three. One was canceled and the other two conflicted with other meetings I had scheduled.
 
Town Hall Meetings
 
Monday, February 3 – 7:00 PM Public Hearing
Monday, February 3 – 7:30 PM Regular Meeting of Town Council
Friday, February 7 – Special Meeting of Council
Wednesday, February 12 – Special Meeting of Council – 2020 Budget
Tuesday, February 18 – Regular Meeting of Town Council
Friday, February 28 – Special Meeting of Town Council
 
Regular Committee Meetings
 
Tuesday, February 18 – Princeton Health Care Steering Committee, PGH
Wednesday, February 19 – 5:30 PM - Princeton Arts Council, Riverside Centre (*)
Wednesday, February 19 – 6:00 PM - RDOS/Town of Princeton Budget Presentation, Riverside Centre
Thursday, February 20 – Princeton Museum Society, Princeton Museum
 
Out-of-Town Meetings
 
Wednesday, February 19 – 9:30 AM – Okanagan Regional Library Board, Kelowna (*)
Friday, February 21 – Local Government Primary Care Workshop, Penticton
 
Special Events
 
Thursday, February 20 – Toured the BC Green Pharmaceuticals building in the Princeton Industrial Park
 
Tuesday, February 25 - Attended the Princeton Posse Award Banquet on behalf of Mayor Coyne who could not attend. (*)

​Wednesday, February 26 - Pink Shirt Day - I participated in Pink Shirt Day activities at Town Hall with other members of Town Council and Staff.

(*) denotes meetings attended as the lone representative of Princeton Town Council.
 
My busiest day this month was February 19 where I had four different meetings scheduled in three different communities. I was able to attend three of them. The Mayor’s schedule makes mine look pretty slow, as it turns out.
 
Highlights
 
In no particular order, I was introduced at the Okanagan Regional Library Board meeting on February 19 in Kelowna as the new ‘lead’ representing Princeton. Last year I was an ‘alternate’ but attended two of the four regular meetings held.
 
In the February 18 Regular Meeting of Town Council, we approved a Staff Recommendation to spend $14,683.60 on 1,600 Blue Boxes. These will be distributed to each household within the Town of Princeton to be used for curbside recycling pick-up.
 
On February 20 I joined other members of Town Council and Staff on a tour of the BC Green Pharmaceuticals structure in the Princeton Industrial Park. By the time you are reading this, the rooms will be filling up with marijuana plants for production. The facility is extremely high-tech meeting and exceeding standards set by Health Canada and other regulatory bodies. The rooms are built to “clean room” and “hospital grade” guidelines and there are several vestibules in the hallways to keep the environment as clean as possible. It is truly a stunning marvel of engineering on the inside right to the air showers and cameras in every possible corner. Following Health Canada approval, the facility will go into production which could be March or April.
 
February was Budget Meeting time. Town Council has taken an aggressive stance going into the rest of 2020 with the annual budget. Expect to see a good chunk of it spent on infrastructure needs both above and below ground. Details will follow from Town Hall.