Sign, Sign, Everywhere A Sign

​I wonder how many of you recognize the words of the title of this blog post? If you said it was from the song ‘Signs’ released by the Five Man Electrical Band in 1970, you’d be right. Those lyrics have some significance to part of one of the meetings I attended during this past month. April was just as busy as the previous months have been so far. My total meeting count this month was 11 meetings attended, one missed due to a conflict and another one was cancelled.
 
Town Council Meetings
 
There were a total of three public Town Council meetings this month. The two regular ones on April 1 and April 15 plus a Committee of the Whole meeting on April 10. It was during the first regular meeting this month that a design for new street signs was revealed (here’s the segue from the opening of this article). Town Council chose to follow the recommendations made by staff to pick white reflective lettering on black instead of black lettering on a white reflective background.
 
The mock-ups presented at that Town Council meeting included the Town of Princeton logo on each street sign. I found the logo hard to read and understand in such a small space that would be suspended about nine feet off the ground. So I suggested that the logo be replaced with block numbers to assist first responders. I noticed this was how street signs in Oliver appear and I liked the look. The suggestion was approved unanimously.
 
Our Committee of the Whole meeting, which was also open to the public, featured a presentation from Joel Short of Urban Systems. Town Council is exploring ways to implement development fees to help fund infrastructure improvements and the presentation gave us a lot of things to consider as well as options. Whatever path we choose, it will have an impact on future development in the community.
 
Other Meetings
 
There were a number of the ‘usual’ meetings for me this past month related to my portfolio as well as a few extras that rounded out my schedule. Here is a quick breakdown:
 
April 2 – 1:00 PM - Meet ‘n’ Greet Weyerhaeuser CEO Devon Stockfish at Riverside Centre
April 2 – 7:00 PM – KVR Mixed Use Select Committee, Chamber building*
 
April 3 – Community Foundation South Okanagan Similkameen*
 
April 16 – 3:00 PM – Princeton Community Health Care Committee meeting, PGH
April 16 – 7:00 PM – PXA meeting, Princeton Fairgrounds office*
 
April 17 – 1:00 PM – Lower Similkameen Community Service facility tour, Keremeos
April 17 – 5:00 PM – Princeton Arts Council, Riverside Centre*
 
April 18 – Meeting with Princeton Recreation Department
 
(* Denotes meetings attended alone. All others included other members of Town Council)
 
Other Activities
 
The end of April will include an interesting event for me. From April 29 to May 3 I will be in attendance at the 2019 SILGA (Southern Interior Local Government Association) Convention in Penticton. I have signed up for several workshops that relate to my portfolio with a focus on economic development, downtown revitalization and involving local youth. I will be one of three Princeton delegates at SILGA and look forward to days of guest speakers, presentations and getting to know more local elected officials in our region and the rest of the Southern Interior.