A COMMUNITY UPDATE FROM THE VILLAGE OF PEMBERTON
MARCH 2015
WWW.PEMBERTON.CA
THE PEMBERTON PAGE
Growing Arts & Culture
in the Pemberton Valley
Get Involved!
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Pemberton Arts & Culture Council
Annual General Meeting
Monday • March 16 • 7pm
Pemberton & District Community Centre
Say Yes to Arts AND Culture. Save the Date for the Pemberton Arts Council AGM,
March 16, 7pm at the Community Centre. It’s not a wedding, but it could be!
Arts and Culture are hitching up together, to ensure a more fruitful union in the
Pemberton Valley and celebrate all forms of self-expression for professionals,
amateurs, life-long practitioners, dabblers and kids. Find out what’s on the AGM
agenda, as the Pemberton Cultural Roundtable disbands, and the Pemberton
Arts Council amends its by-laws to reinvigorate that organization to be more
inclusive of all forms of culture and all types of practitioners and appreciators.
Join the Board. Invest $30 in a membership. Say yes to arts and culture. Find out
more by visiting: www.pembertonartscouncil.com.
Pemberton, Where Are You At?
We know that it takes time to
stay engaged, so the Village of
Pemberton is making some changes
to our community outreach efforts,
to ensure we’re reaching you
where you’re at. In addition to our
ongoing Coffee with the Mayor
dates, we’re actively posting news
and updates on the Village of
Pemberton Facebook page, to the
NEWS section at www.pemberton.
ca, posting community events at
the Roundabout sign, and sending
out the eNews every two weeks.
This spring, we’re also shifting our
Pemberton Page in the Question to
a bi-monthly schedule. Every other
month, the Pemberton Page will
come as a mailbox drop, delivered
to your door. We’re not investing any
more dollars into communications –
just spreading our outreach across a
range of platforms, hoping to catch
you when you have some free time
to catch up on local news. We’re
always interested in your feedback.
The best way to get that to us is by
email: [email protected].
Management Team in Place for
2015
February was a busy month at the
Village of Pemberton, particularly
for the newly appointed Manager
of Operations & Development
Services, Pete Neff, and Manager
of
Finance
&
Administrative
Services, Lisa Teggarty, who brings
the management team to full
complement.
Teggarty immigrated to Canada
for “lifestyle” in 2006. “Pace of
life in England can be a little bit
stressful,” she says, “and we love the
mountains. We’re outdoors people.”
Teggarty and her husband settled in
Canmore, before moving to Terrace
to take up a position as Assistant
Director of Finance for the 12,000
person city.
“Pemberton was one area we really
did like when we first arrived,”
says Teggarty, “but the work
opportunities weren’t here at the
time.” Now juggling a 19 month old
toddler and two dogs, Teggarty has
also arrived just in time to tackle
the year end financial reports and
the 2015 Budget for the Village of
Pemberton.
move to Pemberton, he left one
of his two cruiser bikes in Victoria.
“It was a cruiser I fixed up with
fenders and a basket and I walked
it out to the bus stop, put the
kickstand down and walked away.
Someone will get a freebie.” So, it
seems there’s room for one more…
“I’m looking forward to continuing
the good work that Nikki Gilmore
has done. It’s always great when
the CAO knows the finances and
budget inside-out, and the fact that
Nikki has lived here for so long is a
real asset. It’s so much harder to get
a new person caught up on all that
history and context.”
“I was here briefly two years ago.
I really liked Pemberton. The
weather, the mountain biking, I
understand the skiing is usually
pretty good. I’ve been collecting
mushrooms with my family
forever, and I’m looking forward
to doing some gardening. I grew
three tomato plants in Victoria and
got some pretty good yield, so I’m
hoping to take advantage of the
agricultural scene here. Honestly, I
don’t know why the whole planet
is not moving here.”
The team is also joined by Pete
Neff, as Manager of Operations &
Development Services, a position
that adds the oversight of new
development to the operations role
that Lonny Miller recently vacated.
“I envision it as the cradle to grave of
infrastructure,” says Neff. “Installing
infrastructure, taking care of it, then
renewing it.”
An engineer with over 15 years’
experience, Neff most recently
worked with the City of Victoria
in the engineering department
with
infrastructure
planning,
focusing mostly on underground
infrastructure.
An avid mountain-biker, Neff’s been
busy getting up to speed on the
Village’s systems. “I came just after
the flood, so our “storm system”
is definitely something I want to
get educated on, to inform myself
about the weak points, where the
water gets into the system, where
sandbags are most need. I’m very
technically orientated. For me,
there’s nothing better than putting
a system in place that works well.”
Neff is excited about experiencing
Pemberton by bike - he’s already
got his eye on an electric bike, so
he can “electrify” his bike-commute
from the Plateau to muni hall.
Luckily, because of the space and
time constraints associated with his
COMMUNITY
EMERGENCY
PREPAREDNESS 101: Do
you keep your gas tank full?
If an emergency happens
in our community, it may
take emergency personnel
some time to respond to
you. Individual personal
preparedness is key to
being able to take care of
yourself and your family. The
Village of Pemberton will be
sharing regular Emergency
Preparedness tips to help
us become a more resilient
community.
Keeping your vehicle fuelledup, having a battery-powered
radio to access weather
warnings and disaster
instructions from the radio
station, and an emergency
supply kit (food and water,
medications, flashlights,
toiletries, cash, ID and
important documents), are 3
signs of preparedness. How
does your household rate?
COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: SENIORS SOCIETY SET SIGHTS ON A MEN’S SHED
How do you transition from being a warrior to being an elder? It’s a rite of passage every man
must face, but there’s no real place to do that work in Pemberton. At least, there hasn’t been,
until now. So, the Pemberton Valley Seniors Society have dedicated their energy to the
development of a Men’s Shed in Pemberton.
Marnie Simon, with the Pemberton Valley Seniors Society, cites the statistics that have
motivated a trend of Men’s Sheds around Canada over the past four years - the highest rate of
suicides in Canada are in men 67 or older. This stoic, often isolated segment of the population
isn’t necessarily well-versed in talking about their feelings or asking for help. “The women in
the PVSS have, over the last years, been worried by how few men we have participating in the
activities we hold.”
In European towns, senior men are often hanging out at the local square, playing dominoes or
chess or bocce ball, watching the world go by and offering their wry commentary on it. In the
New World, older men don’t have a space or a ready-built community to join, on retirement
from the work-force.
As Simon says: “There’s a saying: men work shoulder to shoulder and women work face to
face.” Men’s Sheds are a solution that sprang out of Australia, where blokes
don’t have man-caves - they have backyard sheds. Frances
Hopkins, the Vancouver Coastal Seniors Supported Housing Coordinator had direct experience
with them. The Seniors Society has now successfully received three grants to get a Men’s Shed
running in Pemberton. They’re also part of a pilot project being run by the University of Manitoba,
funded by Movember, to develop a Men’s Shed toolkit, giving the group comprehensive
resources to get going. “It really seems to be falling together,” says Simon of the momentum
the project has gathered in a few short months. “And the projects are coming in, too!”
Doug Mackie founded the first Men’s Shed in Canada four years ago, in Winnipeg, where
members meet to play card games, go for walks and work on projects. He visited Pemberton
earlier in the winter to share his experiences.
The initiative will also benefit from the wisdom of Bill Reynolds who co-founded the very
successful tool-lending library in Vancouver and is in the process of moving up here to
Pemberton to be closer to family.
An Advisory Committee has been set up in Pemberton to represent the men, while Hopkins
and Simon keep the money rolling in and the vision growing. Right now, the group are most
keen to receive donations for a tool-lending library. “We’d like to have that viable by April.” To get
involved, find out more, or donate tools, contact Marnie at [email protected].