The Union of BC Municipalities successfully concluded #UBCM21 under the theme “Obstacles to Opportunities”. This year marked the 118th Annual Convention and only the second time the UBCM Convention was held in an all-digital format. Just over 1000 delegates registered and enthusiastically engaged online over five days of keynotes, plenary presentations, concurrent workshops, cabinet town halls, a special virtual networking event and tradeshow. For any registered delegates who may have missed some of the live-streamed sessions, quality on-demand recordings will be available for viewing on the Pheedloop virtual convention platform for the next six months. Simply navigate to the [Virtual Library] tab on the left-hand menu and scroll, filter or search the sessions. (Log-in credentials will be required for access.) To get a glimpse of what it takes to bring an all-digital Convention to life during a pandemic, there are several interesting behind the scenes photos posted on the UBCM flickr account.

Now that 2021 UBCM Convention live event is over, it is important that we hear from our members about your experience. If you haven’t already, please take five minutes to complete our Convention Evaluation Survey. This survey will help guide us to improve future UBCM Conventions and other virtual events. Tell us what sessions you liked, what areas need work and how we can best direct our efforts to keep delivering value and useful content to you.

Providing your opinion through this survey not only gives us critical feedback to plan future Conventions, but as an extra bonus your name will be entered to win a great prize. Any Convention Evaluation Surveys completed before Friday, September 24 at 4:00pm will be eligible for the draw for a Premium Emergency Survival Kit. This 72-hour, two-person emergency survival kit contains all three essential components of emergency preparedness: rescue items, a waterproof first aid kit, and various survival support products. Help us to help you thrive and survive! Complete the survey and you will automatically be entered to win.

After serving as the UBCM first vice-president for the past year, City of Quesnel Councillor Laurey-Anne Roodenburg was acclaimed and installed as President, Union of BC Municipalities on the virtual convention platform last Friday, September 17^th. One of the last official duties of the UBCM outgoing President Brian Frenkel was to adjourn the 2021 Convention and pass the reigns to Ms. Roddenburg, who will now move UBCM forward for the 2021-2022 year. “Our new UBCM executive is ready to move forward on the numerous concerns discussed at this year’s convention, ranging from local government financial challenges, to dealing with the potential impacts of another devastating heatwave in the future,” said president Roodenburg. “The discussions at our virtual convention gave us the direction we need to address the many local governance and other issues facing BC’s municipalities today.”

We are also excited to extend a warm welcome to these officials joining the UBCM Executive for the upcoming year. Councillor Jen Ford of the Resort Municipality of Whistler has been acclaimed First Vice President. Mayor Ange Qualizza, City of Fernie was elected Second Vice President. Councillor Claire Moglove of the City of Campbell River has been acclaimed Third Vice President. Members also elected five Directors at Large [in alphabetical order]: Councillor Sadie Hunter, (Kamloops); Councillor Gord Klassen (Fort St John); Councillor Amy Lubik (Port Moody); Mayor Sarrah Storey (Fraser Lake); and Mayor Gaby Wickstrom (Port McNeill). Congratulations to the successful candidates, and many thanks to all candidates for being willing to stand.

The UBCM Annual Convention brings together its local government and First Nations members to identify key policy issues and engage with other orders of government. The Resolutions Session is the heart of each Convention, and the means by which individual local government members bring forward issues for consideration by the broader membership. UBCM Delegates held two separate 3-hour resolutions sessions at the 2021 UBCM Convention. For reference, here is the 2021 Resolutions Book and Policy Book as well as the summary of the decisions during the Wednesday, September 15th and Thursday, September 16th proceedings. The official results will appear in the Convention Minutes.

The 2021 UBCM Virtual Trade Show was a tremendous success with 45 organizations showcasing their expertise, products and solutions targeted to the local government ecosystem. Even though UBCM Convention week is over, you can still use your Pheedloop credentials to log-on to the platform to revisit our exhibitor’s booths. We encourage you to explore their virtual libraries, to review and download any presentation materials or to connect directly with the contacts listed in each booth.

This year’s addition of a Virtual Scavenger Hunt as one of the Convention’s online activities, proved to be very popular with many delegates, and most welcomed by our sponsors and exhibitors. With over 35 prizes to be claimed, the friendly competition was fierce and the hunt for codes served as a fun networking and conversation kick-starter. Congrats to all our Virtual Scavenger Hunters! Our pinnacle point earners and bragging rights goes to: Alton Toth from Sechelt, Jen Leach from Lillooet, Cori Ramsay from Prince George, Sarrah Storey from Fraser Lake and Owen Torgerson from Valemount. These delegates raced to redeem their points first for the top prizes. All delegates that successfully claimed prizes using their accumulated points will be contacted by email later this week. UBCM staff will reach out individually to arrange delivery of your scavenger loot! Many exhibitors expressed how much they enjoyed connecting with delegates online and emphasized how important it was to renew and establish connections this year, however everyone looks forward to meeting together in-person in 2022.

On Tuesday, September 14th, then UBCM First Vice President Laurey-Anne Roodenburg was joined by the Honourable Josie Osborne, Minister of Municipal Affairs to announce this year’s winners of the Community Excellence Awards. Local Governments are leading the way with vision, creativity and innovation and UBCM is very proud of the work our members do to make their communities stronger and more sustainable places to live. These awards gives UBCM an opportunity to acknowledge and highlight several community successes, and to recognize the hard-working elected officials and staff that are leading the way in several distinct areas.

This year’s award recipients feature four main categories. Under the Excellence in Governance category – the City of West Kelowna is this year’s winner. Under the Excellence in Service Delivery – the City of Surrey takes the top award with an Honorable Mention to the City of Richmond. For the Excellence in Sustainability category, the top award goes to City of Nanaimo and the City of New Westminster is presented with an Honorable Mention. The winner for Excellence in Asset Management is awarded to the qathet Regional District with the District of Highlands securing the Honorable Mention in this category.

In 2021, a new awards category – the Presidents Committee Choice Award recognizes a community for its outstanding response to the pandemic. The City of Coquitlam received this special award. The unique circumstances that communities across BC faced during this difficult time brought to light many innovative ways that local governments adapted to the impact of COVID-19.

In case you missed it, the next UBCM Convention is scheduled for September 12-16, 2022 hosted in Whistler, BC. Watch for future Convention announcements and updates on ubcm.ca under Convention & Resolutions. Two additional sources to find the latest Convention related info are to search the Latest News section on our newly launched website, and to sign-up for our weekly newsletter, The Compass, via the subscribe box in the lower right corner.

And finally, with the deepest appreciation, UBCM would like to thank our 2021 Sponsors once again for their generous support at this year’s UBCM Convention. Without our Sponsors – our Convention would not be possible. We can’t wait to ‘see’ everyone next September in Whistler. Sponsorship Packages for the 2022 UBCM Convention will be available starting next February. Please email Kelsey Mackay-Smith for details.