DAWSON CITY – Issues discussed and voted on at the Sunday morning AGM of the Association of Yukon Communities (AYC) ran the gamut from highway brushing to government decentralization and banking. Delegates also discussed the provision of 911 service outside Whitehorse.

Brushing of the highway and powerline rights-of-way was the morning's first issue. It dealt with both sightlines for safe driving and the prevention of power interruptions from falling trees.

The government and the power companies were urged to "co-ordinate their brushing activities to ensure better use of resources and adequate brushing to address safety and visibility concerns.”

There was a lengthy discussion of a request that the government should communicate "regularly with communities on the needs and opportunties within each community to discuss positions that would be better suited to be delivered within these communities.”

It was noted in the discussion that the natural tendency of bureaucracy to consolidate and control frequently gets in the way of its actual purpose, which is to provide service. The resolution was entitled Rural Employment Stability.

Some of the communities are not content with the cost of the health insurance plans offered to their employees.

The AYC itself was instructed to "explore other options for group benefits, such as joining the Government of Yukon group benefits plan.”

Delegates were happy to learn during Friday's Minister's Round Table that expanded Beverage Container Regulations for recycling are in the works.

However, the membership resolved to "engage with the Yukon government, Yukon business community, and stakeholder groups to review and expand the range of materials under the Beverage Container Regulations in a timely fashion.”

Solid waste disposal is a major issue for all the communities. Some time was spent tweaking a resolution with the intent of adding oil and special waste related to hydrocarbon products to the list of designated materials.

Connnected to this one was a resolution on extended producer responsibility, which would move things toward more of a user-pay system for financing the disposal of such wastes. At this stage, the resolution calls for a collaborative process to "draft, develop and implement such a scheme in a timely fashion.”

The process whereby rural communities have their property assessments done is found to be confusing and inconsistent, and changes to the property tax roll have not shown any advantage for communities.

The resolution on this issue "strongly urges that the minister of Community Services ensures good communication and co-operation between the property and assessment department with municipalities when dealing with properties in municipal boundaries and changes to the tax roll.”

Delegates were in substantial agreement that the provision of essential services in the communities suffers from too high and too rapid a turnover of necessary personnel, especially at the RCMP detachments and nursing stations.

The resolution submitted by the Village of Carmacks, which recently waited two years for the local detachment to be brought up to full strength, was that "the ministers responsible for ensuring essential services staffing in the communities be aware of the problems that occur, including issues caused by turnover of staff, and as a result the ministers work toward finding permanent solutions to address these staffing issues.”

Community banking services in most of the communities are provided on a contract basis with the TD-Canada Trust Bank.

Lately, the branches have been insisting that a person must have an account there to access services. The branches also stipulate that signing authorities for a variety of organizations can only be arranged or altered by having all the signatories make the changes at the Whitehorse branch office.

There have even been reports of branches refusing to accept cash payments for various utility bills.

The community banking resolution resolves that "the AYC requests that the minister responsible for the community banking agreement works towards ensuring that the services agreed to within the contract are being fully met and are reasonable for all of rural Yukon.”

Two requests from the Town of Watson Lake grew out of items in the Watson Lake Challenges Report and dealt with business opportunties that a town might want to consider.

The resolution regarding municipal exemptions to the Yukon Utilities Act might allow municipalties to take on some ventures in utility provision, such as hydroelectricity or some other service.

Similarly, the resolution on municipal franchise agreements might allow a town to "enter into franchise agreements with private or public sectors” to generate revenue for the town.

Near the end of the day, a resolution from the floor referred to the government's plan to introduce an interim 911 emergency number prior to moving toward full 911 service.

The interim system would allow Yukoners outside 911 range — anywhere beyond the Whitehorse area — to dial 911 from a landline and choose from "autoselect options.” Residents could dial 1 for police, 2 for fire and 3 for ambulance, connecting them with local responders.

There was much back and forth on this.

While this is not yet the real thing, it was observed, it's much closer to the 911 number that's in the heads of most Canadian citizens these days. It's also much less confusing than the combination of 2222, 3333, 4444, and 5555 numbers that have to be combined with the local area three-digit prefix before they will work.

The resolution read: "AYC supports (the Yukon government's) bid to enable Northwestel to provide an interim 911 system in Yukon communities, and notes the urgency of having a permanent 911 solution in place as soon as possible.”