City Council features a New Mandate ... that will follow much the same path of the previous four years

City Council members took their oath of office at a Special 5 PM
ceremony Monday evening at City Hall
(photo from Mayor Lee Brain's Facebook page)

They opened up the entrance way to City Hall on Monday evening, the glass doors at the top of the steps at City Hall that have been in perpetual lock down since November of 2017, swung open wide for family and friends to make their way into the City Council chamber at 5 PM for the installation of the new Council.

And while the Mayor noted later in the evening at the first Council session that the official ceremonies had been open to the public, not many probably knew of the ceremonial event, as it was not widely promoted through the city's website, or through any of the city's various social media streams.

As for the inauguration event, Council members were administered their oath of office from Judge Stewart, while a welcome to the newly elected membership was provided by Tsimshian Elder Murray Smith.

Mayor Brain and Tsimshian Elder Murray Smith at Monday
City Council inauguration ceremony at 5 PM
(photo from Mayor Lee Brain's Facebook page)

The term mandate to reflect the work ahead for the next four years certainly makes for an appropriate description of the make up for the new collective, with no female representation on Council in place following the October 20th election, the first time in close to half a century that it's been an all boys membership at City Hall.

For his opening remarks, the Mayor called on the guiding document of the last Council that of the Hays 2.0 blue print to serve as the road map for the four years ahead.

In his opening comments for council, Mayor Brain observed how he was looking forward to working collaboratively as a team, as they continue to execute many of the items that have been outlined from the Hays 2.0 blue print presentation.

He noted how those elements remain the top priority for the council particularly the infrastructure deficit that the city is tackling. He outlined how Phase One had been completed, with Phase Two now underway and the city looking to raise funds for Phase Three which is the submarine lines and the water treatment.

He flagged the water treatment plans as Council's flagship rebuild Rupert project moving forward as they look to secure the water supply, and noted that there were a variety of other infrastructure issues that the council will be addressing, as well as to create new revenue and getting Watson Island looking towards new proponents for that industrial site.

Mr. Brain observed how the Council would be sticking to the plan, with a good trajectory in place and some momentum to move forward to bring the community into the 21st century as they look to tackle some the past issues and get on top of them. The Mayor wrapped up his comments by noting that he was looking forward to tackling those challenges and continuing on with the good work that they have been doing.

The meeting also offered up the chance for the newly elected council membership to offer up a few of their own thoughts as the new term gets underway, you can explore those comments further through our Council Timeline feature.

You can review the Mayor's comments from his inaugural address, as well as the council members follow up contributions from the City's Video archive starting at the eight minute mark.





Mayor Brain also offered up some opening night thoughts through his social media stream on his Facebook page.

For more items of note related to Monday's City Council session see our archive page here.

A wider overview of Council discussion themes is available on our City Council Discussion archive page here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review