No members of the public turned up to hear the Village of Burns Lake council's goals and objectives for 2013.
The special public meeting was held recently in council chambers.
Mayor Luke Strimbold said to councillors that he hoped members of the public would have attended the meeting, but that he understands people are busy.
"We were hoping for some feedback from the public," he said to council.
The 2013 goals and objectives were developed by council following a number of recent strategic planning sessions.
According to council, the objectives set out an attainable plan for long term municipal asset management.
Among the goals, council plans to build relationships with members of the public in an open and transparent manner, encouraging public input and engagement.
They say this will be achieved through engaging the business community in regular scheduled roundtable breakfast meetings with Mayor Strimbold, as well as by developing a communications strategy and conducting an internal review of village corporate procedures.
Council say they will also continue to build on relationships with local organizations, such as Comfor Management Services Ltd. and First Nations.
Goals also include exploring the possibility of expanding municipal boundaries in order to provide services to an expanded area of the Lakes District as well as promoting the development of social health and wellness resources through the newly formed Lakes District Health Network and by working cooperatively with Northern Health.
As reported in the Lakes District News edition of Feb. 29, 2012, the Lakes District Health Network was formed earlier this year following the restructuring of the Lakes District Health Advisory Committee (LDHAC). At that time, council cited difficulty reaching quorum at LDHAC meetings over recent months, which they said slowed the progress of community initiatives, resulting in the need to restructure the committee.
For recreation, council is set to begin the implementation of the Lakes District long term recreation plan, in partnership with the Regional District of Bulkley Nechako and they also plan to develop an annual recreation and event guide to support the recreation plan.
Councillor Susan Schienbein expressed concerns about including the Regional District of Bulkley Nechako (RDBN) in municipal goals and objectives. She said, "It is important that we capture our intent and desire to work with the Regional District of Bulkley Nechako for recreation. It is critical that we find a way to cross fund recreation programs, but in saying this, we want to be careful about making this a municipal goal when we don't have control over the RDBN's participation. On the other hand, we need the funding base to be broader than what it is."
Council's goals and objectives also include developing an asset management plan for municipal services and facilities, creating a financial plan to ensure that infrastructure replacement is tied to taxation and investigate grant funding opportunities to contribute to the downtown revitalization project.
They also plan to continue to lobby the provincial government for infrastructure replacement and carbon credit programs as well as encouraging the clean up of CN Rail properties and local brownfield sites.