Columbia Shuswap Regional District directors voted unanimously to send another letter to the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development to reaffirm its support for the Sorrento and Area Community Association’s request for an incorporation study grant.
Area C South Shuswap director Paul Demenok told directors at the Dec. 7 board meeting in Salmon Arm that, following a discussion with Shuswap MLA George Abbott, he had written a letter to Bill Bennett, minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development as a follow-up to a letter the late Ted Bacigalupo had sent a year ago.
“I have been asked by the Sorrento and Area Community Association to follow up on this matter and to indicate that I also support the request to fund the Sorrento Incorporation study,” he wrote in his Oct. 30 letter to the minister. “Could you kindly update me as to your ministry’s progress in your analysis of this funding request?”
Demenok advised CSRD directors that he is still waiting for an official response from province.
In response to a question from Area D director René Talbot on how big a community needs to be in order to incorporate, chief administrative officer Charles Hamilton advised there are incorporated municipalities with as few as 200 residents.
He said studies are undertaken to determine if there is a sufficient tax base to support what residents need and want.
Area E Rural Sicamous director Rhona Martin suggested that with some municipalities now relying on government grants as their sole source of funding, the ministry might be taking a closer look.
“I think they’d be looking at things with a lot more detail to see how successful they’d be,” she said. “I know some people in your community have been wanting to do this for a long time so I am happy to support this.”
Revelstoke Mayor and CSRD chair Dave Raven added his support considering the population of Sorrento is close to that of his city.