City Council Timeline: Monday, January 13, 2020

Back to work for 2020, City Council hosted a seven minute session Monday

Prince Rupert's City Councillors had little to say on Monday and for the most part did not appear to want to spend much time hanging around the City Hall Chambers for much in the way of public discussion.

That as the debut Council session for the 2020 calendar year lasted less than seven minutes.

Only one item was on the Agenda, that of a request for a letter of support for a Trail building project off of Omenica on the west side of the city.

While  much of the remainder of the shortest session in recent memory was spent putting forward the idea of putting a Single use Plastic ban in place for the City  and remembering back to the Prince Rupert 2030 Vision event of December at the Lester Centre.

With the mayor and City Manager carrying the remaining minutes by speaking to how they hope to roll out more details on the vision planning through the year.

Some background on the work of Council on the evening and the various Regular Agenda elements for the January 13th Council session can be explored here.

Council also hosted a Closed Session earlier in the evening, the details as to why they required the doors to be closed for the 5PM meeting can be reviewed 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 Monday, January 13, 2020

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--  Absent


Video Archive for Monday, January 13, 2019



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Regular Council Session

(0:00 -- 0:45 )   Regular City Council Session for Monday, December 9, 2019  -- Mayor Brain called the Regular Council Session to order, with Council adopting the agenda and past minutes of previous minutes. 

( 0:45 - 1:30  ) Request for a Letter of Support for the Omenica Trail restoration project -- Mayor Brain introduced the request and spoke to the project noting how some of the city staff had worked with the group towards development of some of the plan.  He also observed how it was the latest stage of the master plan for the trail network around the community, adding that he was very supportive of the project.  No other council members had comment on the request, with Council voting to approve the letter of support.

(More on the plan can be explored from our preview of Monday)


Reports from Council

( 1:30 --  6:55 ) Mayor Brain called for comments or inquiries from the Council membership, first making note of the light agenda on the evening, observing how the city council had seen "a lot of things done in the previous year" and that the next couple of agendas were going to be "action packed".

Mr. Brain observed that there would be more updates coming for the community related to some of the initiatives that were introduced at the end of the year, stating that it was going to be a very busy and big year for Prince Rupert.

Councillor Cunningham made note of a concern he has over the use of single use plastic, calling attention to the bans in place in Vancouver and Victoria over use of those items.

He observed that Prince Rupert as a Marine city with a fishing background should begin to look at the idea of a ban, he highlighted a book called Plastic Soup as one which residents should read to understand the issue better.

Mr. Cunningham then put forward the proposal that Council give consideration to putting a ban in place in Prince Rupert this year, with the Mayor observing that he thought it was a very good idea and Council should get it moving forward.

Councillor Adey offered up some guidance on the theme, echoing the spirit of the comments and agreeing with the theme; but advising that Council needs to do a good job of learning the challenges and experiences from other communities.

The Councillor noted how its an issue that is part of the larger global debate and how the City should be taking all the opportunities that they can to take on the global environmental concerns wherever they occur and wherever the city can make a difference.

Mayor Brain then turned part of the final part of the night over to the City Manager, with Mr. Long providing some notes on how the City plans to approach the Official Community Plan with a consultation survey on what residents may prioritize.

Making note of the 2030 Prince Rupert Vision presentation Mr. Long observed how that engagement to take place through January and February will lead to an all year process that carries forward in to the summer to get engagement on the future plans that the city revealed in mid December.

The Mayor followed up by noting that the Official Community plan is a legal requirement of the City, with the last one took place in 2007 and how the consultation process ahead will help to put the City's 2030 Vision into law and help be apart of the build out the vision.

He also observed that the next step will be the creation of the Vision Stewardship council, which will co-govern the next decade of development in the community and oversee the vision, with February and March set for momentum on that aspect of the redesign plans.

Mr. Brain called the work of the Vision Stewardship Council as the beginning of a decade of development which will be very exciting.

With no other concerns of note on other topics, the Mayor brought the evening to a close.

You can access the City Council Session Archive 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 January 13, 2020 (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.

Council members next meet on January 27, which will a Committee of the Whole Session, that providing opportunity for the public to comment on issues of note or concern to them.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.