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Parksville Fire Rescue
Recruitment Campaign
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Are you ready to answer the call? Check out these VIDEOS to find out! | |
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During our annual recruitment campaign, we look for positive, energetic and community-minded men and women to join our team of volunteer paid on-call firefighters. If you reside in the Parksville Fire Protection area and are interested in learning more about our team of dedicated and skilled firefighters, we’d like to hear from you.
We rely on the commitment of volunteer paid on-call and career firefighters dedicated to public safety and community service to provide fire and emergency response services in the Parksville Fire Protection Area. We responded to almost 800 calls in 2024 related to structure fires, rescues, motor vehicle incidents, medical assistance, and public service requests. Our firefighters are highly skilled professionals who value integrity, honesty, selflessness, commitment, courage, and are hardworking and family oriented.
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We offer an outstanding training program and an opportunity to make an unforgettable difference in people’s lives.
- Professional firefighter certification and ongoing training.
- Opportunity to serve your community, team environment.
- Personal growth, sense of achievement, chance to be awesome.
- Great benefits - paid on-call, WorkSafe, additional accidental death and disability insurance (on and off duty), and more.
We are your neighbours, co-workers, family, and friends and need your help with our recruiting efforts; please encourage those you know who may be interested to contact Parksville Fire. We’d love to chat about what we do at Parksville Fire Rescue; call us at 250 248-3242 to speak with an officer and arrange a tour. Application deadline is Friday, February 28. Recruitment details and general info on our website.
Our members serve the Parksville Fire Protection Area which covers the City of Parksville and contract areas within the Regional District of Nanaimo - San Pareil, Morningstar, Columbia Beach, French Creek, and the Fourneau Road, Wildgreen, and Martindale Road areas.
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Understanding Your Property Assessment Notice
Parksville property owners will soon receive their 2025 assessment notices from the BC Assessment Authority. 2025 property assessments reflect market value as of July 1, 2024. The average increase in property values for your class of property is shown on your assessment notice.
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We encourage property owners to visit BC Assessment Authority to search your property, compare assessments and review recent sales of nearby properties to see if your assessment is reasonable. The deadline to appeal your 2025 assessment through BC Assessment is January 31, 2025. Should you have questions about your assessment, contact BC Assessment at 1 866 825-8322 (Monday to Friday, 8.30 am to 5 pm.)
It is important to understand changes in property assessments do not automatically translate into a similar change in property taxes. If your assessment percentage increase is the same as the average residential increase for the City of Parksville, then the City’s portion of your property taxes will likely rise by only the amount of the tax increase approved by Council. For the City of Parksville, the 2024 typical assessed value (on July 1, 2023), of a single-family residential property was $743,000. The 2025 typical assessed value (on July 1, 2024) increased by 1% to $750,000. Information about Vancouver Island property assessments here.
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Parksville’s 2025-2029 Financial Plan
The City’s 2025-2029 financial plan bylaw received three readings in December and will be presented to Council for final approval on January 20. Guided by Council priorities, the City’s five-year financial planning process included input from City departments, Council briefings and public consultation. This financial plan sets the priority services, programs and initiatives for the next five years and how the City will pay for them. Refer to Let’s Talk Parksville for financial plan details including presentations.
Property tax rates and utility rates for the City of Parksville will be set in the spring. The forecasted rate increases for 2025 are 7% for property taxes, 6% for water fees and 6% for sewer fees, which will result in an increase of about $175 over 2024 for an average residential property.
The increases to property taxes and utility fees include increased investments in current and long-term critical infrastructure renewal to support a sustainable long-term financial plan for the City. Significant projects in 2025 include drinking water master plan, Parksville Pathway, accessibility upgrades to City facilities, completion of the transportation master plan, upgrades to utilities instrumentation and controls, and works at the water treatment plant.
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Our Snow and Ice Control Program
It’s been a mild winter to date and should the weather turn, we are ready to go. We monitor road and weather conditions throughout the winter months and when snow and icy conditions are forecast, crews and equipment are prepared and when it snows, crews are dispatched to clear roads on a priority basis. Information about our snow and ice control program is available on Let’s Talk Parksville.
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SIDEWALK CLEARING PILOT PROJECT – REMINDER TO BUSINESSES
Council recently approved a budget for 2025 and 2026 to support the City’s sidewalk snow clearing pilot project, which is proposed to improve and enhance accessibility for Parksville residents who need to navigate sidewalks in the downtown area. Council endorsed the temporary amendment to the snow and ice policy to include a pilot project to increase the level of service and prioritize clearing of designated walkways in the downtown core and secondary clearing of sidewalks adjacent to City parks and facilities.
This temporary project is not intended to remove responsibility but to support owners and occupiers who are required to clear sidewalks bordering their property (Traffic Bylaw 1436). The City’s Snow and Ice Policy 8.10 states, “every owner and occupier of property is responsible to remove all snow and ice from sidewalks bordering their property within twelve hours of the end of the snow fall event.” We encourage owners to clear their frontage within the outlined timelines to avoid a fine. During prolonged snowfall events, all sidewalk clearing is dependent on the City being able to secure staff capacity to cover shifts and access to equipment is available. More info here.
Downtown sidewalks are categorized into first, second and third
priorities as detailed in the map.
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Opening for Members on Advisory Design Panel
The City is inviting interested individuals to apply for consideration of appointment to the Advisory Design Panel. The purpose of the panel is to advise Council on design matters associated with the architectural form and character of specific development permit applications. Members are expected to have design experience and qualifications. Some members must be architects, landscape architects, or individuals with a design related degree or experience in universal design. Preference may be given to residents; however, all interested individuals are encouraged to apply. This community service work does not receive remuneration.
Please apply to the City of Parksville, PO Box 1390, Parksville V9P 2H3, or by email to planning@parksville.ca. Please include relevant background information. Deadline to apply is Friday, January 31.
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2025 Licence Renewals
Business licences and dog licences are now due.
Business licences must be paid by January 31. Payment options are listed here:
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ONLINE - Credit card (Visa or Mastercard) payments from the City’s website
- MAIL to P O Box 1390, Parksville V9P 2H3
- DROPBOX at City Hall (100 Jensen Avenue East)
- IN-PERSON at City Hall (Monday to Friday, 8 am to 4 pm) with accepted payment by Visa, Mastercard, debit or cheque.
Business licence fees which remain unpaid after January 31 will be subject to fines. A late fee of $50 will be applied on February 1, and every thirty days to outstanding business licences. Questions to biz@parksville.ca or 250 954-4650.
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Dog licences must be purchased in-person to obtain the dog licence tag. If you currently own a dog, please purchase in-person from City Hall (open Monday to Friday, 8 am to 4 pm) or the BCSPCA (open Tuesday to Saturday, noon to 4 pm).
All dogs over the age of six months must wear a municipal dog tag, which must be renewed yearly. Residents can renew their dog licences for a discounted fee before January 31.
By January 31
Spayed/neutered $20, not spayed/neutered $30
After January 31
Spayed/neutered $25, not spayed/neutered $35
The main benefit of licensing is the quick return of dogs should they become lost. Fees collected help to offset the cost to maintain our off-leash dog park, provide bags and dispensers throughout the City and provide bylaw enforcement to handle public safety concerns of stray, off-leash and dangerous dogs.
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REMINDERS AND THINGS TO KNOW | |
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The RDN’s new mandatory waste source separation bylaw is now in effect. The bylaw requires commercial, multi-family and institutional properties throughout the RDN to have separate, partitioned waste containers for garbage, recycling and organics. To help property owners and managers implement the new waste diversion program, the RDN is focusing on education rather than enforcement during the first six months.
Properties impacted by the bylaw include:
- Island Health facilities/medical clinics
- School districts and Vancouver Island University
- Municipal facilities
- Hotels, motels and other similar accommodations
- Restaurants and other food service businesses
- Office buildings
- Condominiums and apartments
Drop-in information sessions in Parksville-Qualicum Beach will be held from 3-5 pm on:
February 5 Parksville Community Centre, 223 Mills Street
February 13 Qualicum Beach Civic Centre, 747 Jones Street
For more information on the bylaw, to ask questions, watch a recorded webinar and subscribe to receive project updates, visit getinvolved.rdn.ca/waste-separation.
Parksville Fire tree chipping fundraising event this past weekend was successful thanks to community support of the Parksville Firefighters Association second tree chipping event which raised $2,119.70. Huge thanks to Hud from Branching Out Urban Forestry for the donation of time and equipment and Wembley Mall for the space. Funds from this successful event will support local causes and events throughout this year.
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Win your dog’s licence renewal in the Parksville Pooch photo contest! We’d love to see photos of your dogs and hope you will share on social media. Photos will be entered into a draw to win one of two free 2025 Parksville dog licences and some doggie treats. Don’t wait to renew, we will refund if you win! Contest is open to Parksville residents until January 31:
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Visit our Facebook page and upload the photo in the comments section on any contest-related post.
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Upload photo on Instagram using hashtag #parksvillepooch and tag @parksvillecity.
Recycle BC pop-up depot in Parksville will continue through 2025, accepting free of charge, flexible plastic packaging, white and coloured foam packaging, glass packaging and paper packaging and cardboard. Materials may be dropped off from 10 am to 3 pm at 1080 Industrial Way, Parksville. For dates and more info visit, Recycle BC website.
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NEXT COUNCIL MEETING
Monday, January 20 at 1 pm
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- Meeting agendas are posted to the website on the Thursday before a Monday meeting.
- Meetings may be viewed from webstreaming on our website, both live and archived.
- We post meeting highlights to the website the day after the Council meeting, a great way to catch up on decisions made by Council.
- The public is welcome to attend meetings in person. Meetings are held in the Forum, 100 Jensen Avenue East.
- Comments may be emailed to council@parksville.ca. Residents wishing comments to be considered by Council prior to the meetings, should be received by 4 pm on the working day before the meeting.
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