On March 9th I made the following request for information to David Allen;
David
I believe the following information would prove valuable to
council in its deliberation next week regarding the BC Climate Action Charter;
1. How much CARIP (Climate Action Revenue Incentive Program) was actually received in 2010,2011, and 2012?
2. Please provide copies of the Carbon tax calculation form?
3. Please provide copies of the CARIP public report for 2011 and 2012?
4. How were the CARIP funds expended?
5. Are there restrictions on how the CARIP funds can be expended?
6. Does the town know the tonnes of carbon the town needs to buy to achieve a state of carbon neutrality for 2012?
7. What will be the cost per tonne?
8. How much staff time was used to apply for the 2011 and 2012 CARIP?
9. How much staff time was employed in writing the CARIP public reports for 2011 and 2012?
10. How much staff time was employed in 2012 complying with the BC Climate Action Charter?
11. How much is in the 2013 budget for Carbon Emissions reduction and Energy and Emissions reduction?
Regards
Keith W Hern, Councillor
Town of Golden
And I received the following response;
Councillor Hern,
Providing this information will
require a council resolution, as it will require considerable staff time.
This would require a multi-year
project review, although most of the information is available through the
previous staff and CARIP reports that have been provided to council over the
last few years.
The 2012 CARIP report is due to
be submitted to the Province at the beginning of June 2013.
The cost of purchasing carbon
offsets from the CSRD is $16.25 per credit.
Regards,
David Allen
Not being easily put off I tried again:
David,
According to the Ministry of
Community, Sport & Cultural Development website;
“ to be eligible for the
conditional (CARIP) grant, on or before March 8 of each year, local governments
are required to report publicly on their plan and progress toward meeting their
climate action goals……
NOTE; Local governments that do
not submit a CARIP Public Report to the Province by the deadline of March 8,
2013 will not be eligible for the 2012 CARIP grant.”
Did the staff file a CARIP
public report before March 8th 2013?
Can you indicate where I can
find a copy of that public report?
Cheers Keith
To which he replied;
Councillor Hern,
Reporting dates were amended in
response to complaints that the provincial financial reporting requirements
didn’t coincide with municipal financial reporting, as noted in the email
below.
From: INFRA, CSCD CSCD:EX [mailto:INFRA@gov.bc.ca]
Sent: November-19-12 11:13 AM
Subject: 2012 CARIP
Sent: November-19-12 11:13 AM
Subject: 2012 CARIP
To: All
Municipal and Regional District Financial Administrators
Re: Climate
Action Revenue Incentive Program (CARIP)
The Climate Action Revenue Incentive
Program
(CARIP) is a conditional grant program that provides funding to Climate Action
Charter (Charter) signatories equivalent to one-hundred percent of the carbon
taxes that they pay directly. This funding supports local governments in
their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and move forward on achieving
their Charter goals.
.Process
and Deadlines – Note what’s new!
·
February
15, 2013: Complete
and submit a signed electronic version of the 2012 Carbon Tax Calculation Form
·
New
DATE* March 8, 2013:
Complete and make public your Final or Interim CARIP Public
report, using the Template provided, and submit to the Province. (Excel, non
pdf version of the Template). At the same time, Financial Officers must
also complete a CARIP Public Report Attestation Form and submit a scanned copy
of the completed Form to the Province.
·
New
Date June 1, 2013: If
applicable, update
your Interim CARIP public report, make it public and resubmit as Final
to the Province. (Excel, non pdf version of the template). . At the
same time, Financial Officers must also complete a CARIP Public Report
Attestation Form and submit a scanned copy of the completed Form to the
Province.
·
New
for 2012 Grant: the
Carbon Neutral Progress Reporting Section of Template must be completed and
submitted.
NOTE: Local governments that do
not submit a copy of their Interim or Final Public Report to the
Province by the deadline of March 8, 2013 will not be eligible for their 2012
CARIP Grant.
The Town submitted its 2012
interim CARIP Report by March 8th, will be able to purchase the
required 2012 offsets from the CSRD after May 1st, and will then
submit its final CARIP Report on June 1st. This will allow staff to
include this information in the 2012 Annual Report by the June 30th
deadline.
Regards,
David Allen
I made the observation:
David,
The new schedule still requires
an interim CARIP public report by March 8th. Can you please forward a copy.
Cheers Keith
He actually denies me a copy of what should be a public document!!!!
Councillor Hern,
No. It was submitted last Friday
– i.e. March 8th.
It will not be in its final form
until June (after we’ve purchased the carbon off-sets). This is an annual
qualitative report that isn’t due until after the quantitative
information is finalized.
Answering these repetitive,
detailed operational questions is taking staff away from other work. Staff are
beginning to feel interfered with, hindered and obstructed.
CC s. 153: A person must
not interfere with, hinder or obstruct a municipal officer or employee in the
exercise or performance of his or her powers, duties or functions.
David Allen
But I'm not giving up!!
Mr Allen,
I believe you are
misrepresenting the meaning of CC 153. I am not obstructing anyone but merely
attempting to obtain information about a controversial issue of great concern
to my constituents.
In as much as the CARIP report is relevant to the ongoing council
discussions, why aren’t the staff automatically copying council with a
submission of this nature when it is known to be an area of significant public
interest?
I talked with the Ministry of Community, Sport & Cultural
Development this afternoon and they confirmed that Mr Love filed an Interim
CARIP report on Friday however they were most perturbed that the report had not
been made public. It is a condition of the CARIP that the report, be it interim
or final, be made public before March 8 2013.
If you were give me an answer, I would not need to keep repeating the
same question.
Where can I find a copy of the public interim CARIP report?
Regards
Keith W Hern, Councillor
Town of Golden
Councillor Hern,
As is the case with previous
CARIP reports, staff correspondence is prepared and accompanies the CARIP
Report, and then is placed (as per the Town Council Procedures Bylaw ) on the
next council agenda.
This is the first year we have
had to submit an interim report, and the report was due and submitted last
Friday (March 8th). Staff correspondence will be prepared and placed
the next available agenda, in this case March 19th.
Ironically, you have clearly
demonstrated your propensity to interfere with staff and Town operations by
directly contacting staff at the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural
Development, without any direction from council to do so.
Furthermore this behaviour sends
a message that you don’t trust staff, and I plan on elaborating on my (and
other related staff) concerns during my exit interview with council at the
closed meeting today.
David Allen
At the open council meeting today Mr Love did state that the CARIP for 2012 was $11,000. This is somewhat short of the $14,000 reported in last week's Star. Information may be easier to obtain once DA leaves.
