Council Agenda Highlights May 6, 2025 – To communicate council issues more effectively to the public, The Golden Star is trying to bring forward the agenda prior to the meeting. Council generally meets on Tuesdays, however, which is our press deadline, so we’ll add the decisions to the online version.
Following is a summary of the agenda for the regular council meeting on May 6th, 2025, primarily indicating the major topics to be discussed and decided upon, as well as presenting minutes from previous council meetings, detailing actions taken and resolutions passed.
Additionally, there are several pieces of correspondence addressed to the council or staff, covering diverse subjects such as traffic safety concerns, a request for recognition of a cultural event, an invitation to another event, and information regarding local government regulations on emergency management.
Finally, details about the Town of Golden’s financial plan and strategic priorities for 2024-2026 will be presented, outlining revenue sources, expenditures, and key objectives for the municipality.
Here are some points from the major presentations:
Food Security
A delegation comprised of Local Food Matters and the Golden Food Bank will present a request aimed at the renewal of civic investment in their ongoing food security work.
Their overarching vision is “Envisioning a Thriving & Resilient Food System in Golden & Area A.”
They define Household Food Security as the economic and social factors influencing an individual’s or family’s ability to access food. They define Community Food Security as a robust food system capable of providing sufficient, appropriate, and accessible food to all over time, resilient to disturbances.
They outline proposed food security solutions for 2025, including diversified low-barrier food access (such as cost-recovered/subsidised programs, expanded food recovery, increased local food at the Farmers Market, and the Glean Golden program), building a resilient local food system (increased local food processors, tourism that nourishes land and community), and education and empowerment (using the Poverty Reduction Plan and Food Security Strategy to inform policy, food literacy programming, Communal Garden, Farmer Incubator Program).
They highlight Food Security Deliverables for 2025, which include supporting 39 local households through an Affordable Market Pilot, selling 1540 Low-Cost Meal Kits and starting a New Food Rescue Program.
Other 2025 deliverables mentioned are a School Meal Program in development, expanded food recovery (29,000kgs valued at $230k), the Glean Golden program (gleaning 2500 lbs of apples from 52 trees with 32 pickers), establishing the Golden Threads – Poverty Reduction & Community Wellbeing Strategy, developing a Food Security Strategy – Local Food Production Assessment, tending & harvesting 16 Communal Garden plots, and developing a Growers Collective Resource Page.
They presented data on funding leveraged by Local Food Matters ($160,084 in 2024, with $114,144 already committed for 2025) and the Golden Food Bank ($453,901 leveraged with local government investment in 2024, stretching into 2026).
They identify 5 drivers of long-term financial sustainability for Local Food Matters, based on a consultancy report: Community involvement and profile enhancement, Regional connections and partnerships, Charitable fund development, a Primary Social Enterprise (Development of a Food Aggregation & Distribution Hub), and other social enterprises.
A significant part of their presentation focused on the concept of a Food Aggregation & Distribution Hub, describing it as a 3-year start-up investment involving infrastructure, business planning, supply chain development, regional scope, and a hyper-local focus. They project that in Year 1, such a hub could reach 918 households, distribute 23,200 lbs of local food, purchase $86,500 worth of local food, engage 14 producers, and develop 10 wholesale relationships. They view this hub as the anchor for an investment in a resilient Local Food System.
They also discuss their Affordable Meal Kits program, explaining that volunteers assemble kits with pre-portioned ingredients and recipes. These kits, valued at $35-$45, make 4-6 servings and are available to anyone who would benefit from an affordable, home-cooked meal. They highlighted the program’s success in 2024 (1400 kits sold) and projected increased sales (to 2100 kits/year) and potential profitability in future years with civic investment, allowing them to focus on meal kits around locally produced, seasonal food.
They provide a look ahead to Food Security Solutions for 2026-2028, including expanding meal kits, a robust School Meal Program, financially sustainable food access programs, expanding the Communal Harvest Tree Care Program, establishing distribution channels for local produce, supporting local businesses with local food, agreements with farmers for the food bank, seasonal food fluency education, expanding the Communal Garden, and using Food Security priorities to inform the OCP update.
They used the Squamish Climate Action Network as a model of local government support, highlighting their achievements, including community gardens, a school farm, a community farm, a food policy council, a food asset map, and a food aggregation & distribution hub in progress, supported by local government investment.
Specific Request to Council:
The specific request they made to Council is for a Food System Investment Proposal of $140,000 x 3 years. This investment would be allocated as $100,000 for Local Food Matters (LFM) and $40,000 for the Golden Food Bank (GFB). This proposal is anchored in supporting a resilient Local Food System, with the Food Hub and its food flows as a central component.
Create to Get Closer mural program
A group called La Francoderole made a presentation entitled the “Create to Get Closer” program.
La Francoderole initiated the program in partnership with the Official Languages Directorate of the Department of Canadian Heritage, which provides partial funding.
La Francoderole’s expertise in organizing activities and supervising children for large-scale collective murals is described as unique and turnkey.
La Francoderole covers initial promotion, registration, tour planning, and material purchase costs (except for mural panels and sealing primer). They also cover staff transport and accommodation expenses.
They are responsible for involving both a Francophone and an Anglophone school in participating communities, as the participation of both linguistic communities is essential for funding eligibility.
The program aims to involve children in creating collective and permanent mural artworks, with the objective of promoting civic engagement and highlighting the importance of official language minority communities and fostering cooperation between different communities.
While the Town of Golden’s role is primarily to explore participation, acquire the final artworks, install them permanently in a publicly accessible location, and bear associated costs, the delivery and organization of the program itself are handled by La Francoderole.
Emergency Preparedness: A New Provincial Framework and Local Action
The way local governments handle emergencies is changing across B.C., and the Town of Golden is already making moves to keep up. A new law — the Emergency and Disaster Management Act (EDMA) — came into effect in late 2023, replacing the previous legislation and setting stricter expectations for how towns prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies.
Under the new rules, municipalities like Golden are required to create and maintain three key types of plans:
1. Risk Assessments to identify and evaluate local hazards (like floods, fires, or extreme weather).
2. Emergency Management Plans that outline who does what during an emergency, including support for vulnerable people and animals.
3. Business Continuity Plans to make sure essential services, like water and emergency response, keep running during a crisis.
The act also places a strong emphasis on working in collaboration with Indigenous communities, especially when emergency actions may affect traditional or treaty lands.
To support communities like Golden, a provincial advisory group has been weighing in on how best to implement the new rules. Their advice? Make it flexible, recognize the different realities of urban and rural areas, and provide clear templates and funding to help towns meet the requirements, especially in regions dealing with large amounts of Crown land.
Golden isn’t waiting around. The Town has already:
• Approved the 2025 Integrated Water Strategy and Sanitary Sewer Master Plan
• Started work on updating the town’s Water Distribution System Study
• Begun planning flood protection upgrades to the concrete flood wall along the Kicking Horse River
• Awarded a contract for pipe lining upgrades, with more improvements scheduled for 2025
These steps are all funded in part through provincial emergency preparedness grants and aim to make Golden more resilient to future emergencies.
Building a Climate-Ready Golden
The Town of Golden has made climate resilience a top priority in its 2024–2026 Strategic Plan. That means thinking ahead about how to adapt to climate change and reduce its impacts — not just in theory, but in the everyday decisions the town makes about services, infrastructure, and planning.
Rather than treating it as a separate issue, Council has woven climate resilience into nearly every part of municipal work. This includes:
• Asset Management – making sure town infrastructure is built and maintained with climate challenges in mind (like extreme weather or rising flood risk).
• Service Delivery – embedding resilience strategies into the way town services are provided, from utilities to recreation.
• Communications – making sure residents understand what climate resilience means and how it’s being prioritized.
• Capacity Planning – aligning staffing, programs, and long-term projects (like Town Hall renewal) with climate-aware thinking.
• Council has also tied this work to other big goals, like Indigenous relations, emergency preparedness, and advocating for funding to remove gravel from the Kicking Horse River — a step that could help reduce flood risks.
Recent climate-related actions by Council include:
• Approving funds from the Climate Action Reserve to replace the shade tents and tarp at the outdoor pool and upgrade lighting in the Civic Centre Grand Hall.
• Using a provincial Climate Action Program Grant to invest in an electric vehicle, bikes, upgraded lighting, and wildfire fuel reduction work.
These efforts show that climate resilience in Golden isn’t just a buzzword — it’s a practical, ongoing commitment to making the town stronger and more sustainable in the face of climate change.
