With business trips complete and vacation plans fulfilled, all of the elected members for Prince Rupert Council were in the chamber on Monday night for what turned out to be another very brief moment for civic governance.
With few items on the agenda and the deferral of one that could have provided for some extended conversation, Council worked their way through the to do list in just over seventeen minutes.
Along the way, Council approved a property variance for a home on Edward Avenue as well as to receive a report on a transit fare change coming for Port Edward and what impact it may have on Prince Rupert.
They also reviewed comments from the public related to the proposed cannabis retail outlet for Five Corners, as well as to add one item to a previous motion of support for a grant funding opportunity that the city is pursuing.
One topic that should have provided for some discussion never made it to the starting line, as Councillor Cunningham requested the tabling of a Report into a proposed change for the Service level of the Prince Rupert Fire/Rescue department.
Some background on the work of Council on the evening and the various Agenda elements for the February 11th Council session can be reviewed here.
Council also met in a Closed Session with a 5 PM meeting which was closed to public viewing.
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 Monday, February 11, 2019
Mayor Lee Brain -- Present
Councillor Nick Adey -- Present
Councillor Barry Cunningham-- Present
Councillor Blair Mirau -- Present
Councillor Reid Skelton-Morven -- Present
Councillor Wade Niesh -- Present
Councillor Gurvinder Randhawa-- Present
Video Archive for February 11, 2019
Regular Council Session
( 0:00 -- 1:00 ) Regular City Council Session for February 11, 2019 -- Mayor Brain called the Regular Council Session to order, with Council adopting the agenda and past minutes of previous minutes. With Mr. Brain making note of one addition to the evenings work.
Reports and Recommendations
( 1:00 -- 5:00 ) Report from the City Planner in regard to a variance request for a property on Edward Avenue -- Mr. Zeno Krekic outlined the nature of a variance request from a property owner on Edward Avenue to allow for use of the driveway portion of the property in question. Mr. Krekic also observed that it was one of the last lots to be developed from the last subdivision that had been created in Prince Rupert.
Council voted to move forward with the variance request and send the development to public notification stage.
( 5:00 -- 9:00 ) -- Report from the City's Chief Financial Officer on plans for a fare change in Port Edward and how it may impact on Prince Rupert -- Corinne Bomben, the City's CFO noted that she was providing the report on behalf of the City's Manager of Transportation and Economic Development.
The report noted that both Prince Rupert and Port Edward have had similar fare structure and transfer abilities at no extra cost, noting that with a planned fare increase to take place in Port Edward as of May 1st , Prince Rupert has two options to consider:
1) permit transferability at no extra charge to riders coming into Prince Rupert on the Route #60 bus, or 2) require inbound riders to pay the Prince Rupert rate if transferring from Route #60 to a Prince Rupert route.
From the Agenda the background related to those options was described as follows:
Option 1), albeit low, will mean an opportunity cost to earn additional revenue for the City. Currently the City doesn't collect on inbound passengers transferring from Port Edward to a Prince Rupert route so there is no financial loss expected under Option 1). The financial opportunity cost of continuing transferability could be tracked if Council chose this option as an interim measure for 1 year. This would provide information to Council as to whether to proceed with Option 1 in the future.
Option 2) would mean the City would charge a rider from Port Edward for riding within Prince Rupert. This requires additional costs to Port Edward riders and more management of various fare products at transit outlets.
Mayor Brain summarized the two options for Council to consider.
Councillor Niesh reviewed some of the history of the service from twenty years ago and noted at that time there wasn't a lot of transferring taking place once Port Edward residents arrived in the community.
Councillors Cunningham and Randhawa both recommended that the city remain with Option One.
Councillor Mirau inquired about the ability to track the passenger usage and then noted how in the absence of a shared services agreement this was another example of an indirect subsidy that the City of Prince Rupert is offering and how he believed that it was still worth tracking the ridership levels in and out of the city.
Ms. Bomben noted that with option one there is an opportunity for BC Transit to track the usage of the service.
Council then voted to accept motion one
( 5:00 -- 14:00 ) -- Report from the City's Manager of Community Development on municipal referrals for the proposed cannabis retail store on Park Avenue -- Hans Seidemann provided a short overview of the process in place by the province when it comes to the licensing of cannabis retail locations and what role in the process that municipal governments provides for.
From that he outlined the response to the City's call for comments related to a proposed development of a retail cannabis location for Park Avenue, noting that twelve correspondences had been received with ten in favour of the location, two opposed.
The role of council for Monday was to determine whether they wished to make a recommendation to the Provincial licensing branch.
Mayor Brain observed how he was very happy to see a lot of support for the proposal from those living in the area as well as other tenants in the building and hailed the due diligence of the community engagement process.
Councillor Adey took note of some of the concerns from those who opposed the proposed development and how there was a significant amount of litter and social issues that are found in that neighbourhood.
He did observe however that he didn't believe that we could blame problems that exist now, on a store that hasn't come into existence yet. Adding that perhaps that is a separate issue that council needs to look at further considering the concerns of those in the neighbourhood.
Councillor Mirau asked for some clarification on the process from this point, Mr. Seidemann outlined how the provincial process of review does not move forward until the local government provides for its recommendation.
In a follow up question, Mr. Mirau inquired as to what the timeline for approval or rejection may be, he was advised that he did not know how long it would take.
Mayor Brain added that there was still a part of the process for the province to act on, and how he didn't believe the province could offer up a timeline either as they were still trying to figure things out as well.
Council then voted to proceed to final consideration of a final response to the referral.
( 14:00 -- 15:00 ) -- Report from the City's Manager of Communications updating a grant funding request -- Ms. Veronika Stewart asked for an amendment to a recent grant opportunity motion approved by council, asking that Council include covering a portion of the engineering costs for an emergency generator for Public Works as part of the request for funding that the City is applying for.
Council voted to add the amendment to the original motion of support.
( 15:00 -- 16:00 ) -- Report from the City's Fire Chief on changes to -- Before Council would get too far into the topic of the Fire Chief's report; that of a recommendation for a change in the expectations for service levels in the community, Councillor Cunningham called for the report to be tabled until he could get a better understanding of the implications of the report. The Councillor requested that it be moved to a later council meeting or workshop for future review.
The Mayor then called for the report to be tabled and to be reviewed in a future workshop of Council members.
Councillor Cunningham took note of a current tender for vehicles that the city has put out and asked if the city should give local businesses should be offered preferential treatment for such purchases, asking if there is a change required to the purchasing policy. He suggested that he would rather see a tendency towards people who pay taxes and employ people in this town when it comes to supplying the city with vehicles and that.
Ms. Bomben, the City's CFO noted that at the moment the purchasing policy does not enable locally owned businesses to over ride any other bids, she did outline how they could look into the language if council wished to entertain any changes.
Mr. Cunningham further observed how it would be common sense and good for the City to take the lead on a Buy Local approach.
The Mayor also welcomed all visitors to the 60th Annual All Native Basketball Tournament, noting how he and Councillor Reid Skelton-Morven had been in attendance for the Opening Ceremonies.
Mr. Brain also offered his praise regarding the address that Councillor Skelton-Morven gave at the tournament opening. observing how the Councillor is one of the youngest Indigenous councillors to be elected in Canada.
With no other comments from Council members, the Mayor then brought the Council session to close.
You can access the City Council Review for February 11th here, where a number of items regarding the council session, including links to local media coverage, can also 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.
Official Minutes of the Regular Council Session from February 11th, 2019 (not available yet)
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.
The Next session for Prince Rupert City Council is scheduled for February 25th, which will be a Committee of the Whole Night, offering up an opportunity for the public to comment on issues of concern to Council if they wish.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
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