Council managed to rattle off both the scheduled Commitee of the Whole Session and Regular council meeting in less than half an hour on Monday, tackling but two items from the Regular council Agenda and hearing some comments from the public in the COW before dashing back out in the evening.
With Mayor Lee Brain back from his month long vacation journeys, the main focus for Council on the night would be a review of a report from the City Manager on plans by the city to expropriate a parcel of land at Watson Island.
Council also approved a variance permit for a property on Sloan Avenue and heard some thoughts on derelict cars from Councillor Niesh before the short interruption to summer plans was over.
For some background on the items of note on the evening, the Agendas for the Regular Council session, Committee of the Whole and Public Hearing can be reviewed here.
Prior to the 7 PM meeting, Council also had a Closed Session Scheduled for 5 PM, the notice to close it to the public can be examined here.
Further information from our overview and placement in the video archive can be found below, with the permanent record of the minutes added as they are posted to the city website.
In attendance July 24, 2017
Mayor Lee Brain-- Present
Councillor Barry Cunningham-- Absent
Councillor Blair Mirau -- Absent
Councillor Wade Niesh -- Present
Councillor Nelson Kinney -- Present
Councillor Gurvinder Randhawa-- Present
Councillor Joy Thorkelson -- Present
Video Archive for July 24, 2017
( 0:00 -- 10:30 ) Committee of the Whole Session -- Two residents approached the microphone to share some thoughts for Council on the evening.
Shelly Starr offered up some comments related to the McKay Street Park initiative.
Larry Golden inquired into some aspects of the city's annual report and focused his comments on how the city allocates any surplus money that it accumulates into its various funds, recounting some of the past financial issues that the city had faced in years previous.
He also inquired about the nature of the city's burn bylaw and how he believes that it should be re-written with climate change issues in mind. He also observed that the city should be actively managing the forested areas of the city's control.
Councillor Thorkelson called on the City's Financial Officer to provide some clarification on how the city handles its funds, with her comments generating another string of questions from Mr. Golden related to the theme.
With no other members of the public coming forward, Council then moved on to the Regular Council session.
( 10:30 -- 12:00 ) Regular Council Session -- The Mayor reviewed the list of minutes and agenda items to be noted by Council members, with Council then approving the Agenda while the past minutes of previous council meetings were adopted.
(12:00 -- 23:00 ) Presentation to Council -- Report from City Manager Robert Long on expropriation plans for Watson Island -- With Mr. Long not in attendance for the night, the City's Chief Financial Officer and Acting City manager delivered some of the key elements from his Report on the lands of Watson Island for Council.
The video presentation provided some snapshots related to the history of the Watson Island proposal and why expropriation is required to achieve some of the city's new goals for the industrial site.
A copy of the Report from City Manager Robert Long is available from Regular Council meeting Agenda package for July 24th, it can be found from pages 13 to 51.
We also offered up a preview of the document last week, which you can review here.
Following her presentation, no members of Council offered up any questions, concerns or observations related to the document, or the apparent new vision ahead for Watson Island.
They did however vote to approve the three resolutions in front of them related to the Watson Island expropriation efforts.
( 23:00 - 25:00 ) Report from the Community Planner, related to a request for a variance permit for a property on Sloan Avenue -- A review of the request, for a variance to allow for a hobby workshop was presented to Council.
Council then voted to approve the variance request, with the process now to move forward to public notification.
( 26:--27:00 ) Reports, Questions and Inquires from Council
Councillor Niesh offered up some comments related to his concerns over the number of derelict cars found in the community, calling for the City to investigate the cost of bringing a car crusher to the community to address the issue.
The Mayor asked the Acting City Manager as to the status of a report that staff are working on related to that and similar issues, he was advised that a report would be provided to Council in the future.
And with those final thoughts, the evening's session came to a close.
You can access the City Council Review for July 24 here, where a number of items regarding the council session, including links to local media coverage, if any, can be found.
As always, our Council Timeline is only a reflection of our observations from the Council session of the night. Be sure to consult with the official minutes from the City, when posted to their website for further review.
In addition to the city's official minutes, the City's Video archive provides a helpful record of the events from each public council session.
Official Minutes of the Regular Council Session from July 24, 2017 (not available yet)
Council continues with its more leisurely path of their Summer Schedule, with just one Regular Meeting scheduled per month through until the start of October.
The next regularly scheduled Council session, takes place on August 21st, 2017 .
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
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