September could be busy travel month for City Council members

September is travel season for members of Prince Rupert
City Council with the annual UBCM meeting just over the horizon

Two major conferences that representatives of Prince Rupert normally attend are set for later this month, making for what should be a busy travel month for the city's elected officials and staff members to pack their suitcases for.

The first of the potential destinations of note for the month is Haines, Alaska where the Southeast Conference is hosting their annual convention from September 18th to 21st in the community located 92 miles north of Alaska's capital city.

The Southeast conference is a regional gathering of Alaskan communities that Prince Rupert has often attended in the past, normally through the participation of the Mayor.

As City Hall rarely posts any travel itineraries, or cost breakdown of travel for the mayor or council members, to this point there has been no indication as to whether any civic representatives will be making the journey north for this years get together.

However if the Mayor and any other city representative  should attend, a full couple of days of networking and policy review will be on the agenda.

Among the themes that our neighbours to the North plan to discuss are Economic Development Strategies, Regional Planning, Workforce Development and Energy development issues.

Wednesday perhaps offers up the day of most interest for Prince Rupert officials, when the delegates discuss issues related to Transportation and the Alaska Marine Highway System.

A look at what is planned for the conference can be reviewed here.

Later this month, what should be a much larger delegation of civic representation will be heading south, taking part in the annual UBCM convention in Vancouver.

The theme for that gathering of municipal and provincial officials is called Roots to Results.

Much larger in scope than the Southeast Conference gathering, the UBCM meetings offer an opportunity for municipal officials to exchange ideas, review policies and gain access to a range of provincial cabinet ministers and government officials.

The Vancouver meetings take place from Monday, September 25 to Friday the 29th and will feature workshops and planning sessions for delegates, as well as the opportunity to sit in on a string of guest speakers throughout the five days.

The Keynote address for the 2017 UBCM  will be delivered by the highly acclaimed journalist Terry Milweski on Wednesday.

As is tradition, the Premier will bring the gathering to an end, with the NDP's John Horgan making his debut as the leader of the government at this years event.

Some of the areas where Prince Rupert delegates might take some interest include sessions on Green Innovation and environment policy, as well as discussions focused on small and medium sized communities.

They also might be interested in the range of Provincial Cabinet Town Hall sessions, workshops on Affordable housing and the state of the provinces LNG industry, as well as clinics on Infrastructure issues and how to make BC's Regional Airports Successful.

A snapshot of the Vancouver meeting can be found here.

Also attending the Vancouver sessions will be members of Port Edward's District Council and representatives of the North Coast Regional District as well as First Nation officials and other local and regional participants and observers.

We'll direct more attention towards the event and explore the themes of the UBCM gathering later this month.

As we have in past years we will offer up both a preview of the annual gathering and as the week moves forward offer up updates on the week of politicking.

The only City Council session scheduled for September is set for this coming Monday, it will offer the only opportunity for the month for the Mayor and Council to outline their travel itinerary for the weeks ahead, as well as to explore what they hope to bring back from their efforts of all that networking.

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