Columbia Valley Advisory Committee: MEETING HIGHLIGHTS

The Columbia Valley Advisory Committee, formerly known as the Columbia Valley Directed Funds, is comprised of the 5 RDEK Directors as well as 5 community members: Wendy Booth (Chair), Dee Conklin (Vice Chair), Ute Juras, Clara Reinhardt, Gerry Taft, Gerry Wilkie,  John Rouse, Barb Cote, Tara Morgan and Rick Thompson.

 This Meeting Highlights provides a general overview of discussion items and major decisions made at the Columbia Valley Advisory Committee (CVAC) meeting on November 8, 2016 which was held at the Windermere Fire Hall, Windermere, BC. It excludes confidential information such as business negotiations, personnel issues and legal matters.

• The Committee received the following project updates:
  • Columbia Valley Marketing and Branding (Wendy Booth)
  • Downtown Invermere survey (John Rouse)
  • Recreational access management planning (Gerry Wilkie)
  • Valley Wide Visitor Services (Wendy Booth)
  • Resident Retention/Attraction Strategy (Gerry Taft)
  • DOI multi-use facility (Gerry Taft)
  • Environment Centre study (Clara Reinhardt)
  • Backcountry recreation (Gerry Wilkie/Clara Reinhardt)
  • Imagine Kootenay (Clara Reinhardt)
  • Columbia Youth Network (Wendy Booth)
  • Columbia Wetland Stewardship Society (Gerry Wilkie)
• Guest Andrea Tubbs reported on the marketing and branding committee’s work done to date.
• Guest Wayne Lundeberg, Director, Delivery of Benefits, Columbia Basin Trust participated in a conversation around the future of the Columbia Valley Advisory Committee and the results of a recent survey of its members.
• The committee has been meeting for a year to provide oversight for ongoing Valley projects that came out of the Community Directed Funds (CDF) process, and to support groups to continue to work collaboratively –
• Now that Valley groups such as Family Dynamix  and  the Columbia Valley Branding and Marketing Committee are working together to advance Valley initiatives and most Committee members are participating in one of these, the Committee felt they had fulfilled its role to transition the Valley from the CDF program structure to a made-in-the-Valley collaborative solution.
• Committee members passed a motion to disband the committee and are confident the Valley will continue to take a strategic and collaborative approach to regional initiatives.
• Members were thanked for their hard work during the past year, the Windermere Fire Department for hosting the meetings and to the Trust for its support.

Columbia Valley Advisory Committee is supported by Columbia Basin Trust.