With few items on the Agenda for the night, Prince Rupert City Council knocked off the last of their twice a month meetings until the fall on Monday, taking care of their civic business in less than 40 minutes.
Much of the discussion came as part of a question late in the session on planning, with Councillor Nick Adey noting the retirement of former City Planner Zeno Krekic and seeking some guidance on how the City plans to move forward on planning issues.
That commentary led to a wider overview of planning ambitions with an eye towards the roll out of the city's Official Community Plan review later this summer.
Some background on the work of Council on the evening and the various Regular Agenda elements for the June 22nd Council session can be explored here.
Council also hosted a Closed Session earlier in the evening (their eighth such closed session of the year), the details as to why they required the doors to be closed for the 5PM meeting can be reviewed here.
The regular monthly Committee of the Whole session and its public comment opportunity was also part of the Monday work load, the latter by way of written correspondences related to the plans by BC Housing for the Kootenay Avenue area, as well as some clarification on policy over the use of the Cow Bay Marina. (see notice 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,June 22, 2020
Mayor Lee Brain -- Present
Councillor Nick Adey -- Present
Councillor Barry Cunningham -- Present
Councillor Blair Mirau -- Absent
Councillor Reid Skelton-Morven -- Present
Councillor Wade Niesh -- Present
Councillor Gurvinder Randhawa -- Present
Video Archive for Monday, June 22, 2020
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Committee of the Whole Session
( 0:00--6:00 ) Mayor Lee Brain outlined the introduction to the Committee of the Whole session.
The Opening portion of the Session was directed towards the City's Annual Report, with the Mayor calling for Questions from the Chamber, with no one from the public in attendance, he asked if any written submissions had been received, with none noted Council moved on to an Open Question period from the public.
City Council continued a revised format for the process, with Corporate Administrator Rosa Miller reading out submissions from the public.
For Monday's meeting two questions were submitted prior to the session, both from Richard Casey.
The first was a question seeking clarification on some of the city's engagement on the proposed housing redevelopment by BC Housing in the Kootenay/McKay region, with Mr. Casey advising that to date no one he knows in the area has been contacted related to proposed work to be taken on.
He also asked that any additional information including comment or quesitons received by the City be included on the City's website.
The Mayor observed that the process is just now underway and that BC Housing has not yet started with their community engagement work, Mr. Brain also noted that there will be a Public Hearing to be held related to the development.
Mr. Casey's second question was one directed about the management of the city owned Cow Bay Marina and concerns over the nature of the use of the Floats by the Prince Rupert Outrigger Society,
The Mayor deflected that enquiry by advising he didn't know too much about the issue that had been raised, but noting that the city is set to rewrite the Official Community Plan which may address the concerns noted.
With that the Committee of the Whole session came to an end and Council moved on to its Regular Agenda.
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Regular Council Session
( 6:00 -- 7:30 ) Regular City Council Session for Monday, June 22, 2020 -- Mayor Brain called the Regular Council Session to order, with Council adopting minutes of previous meetings and the agenda and revisions for the night.
( 7:30:00 -- 14:00 ) -- Report from Chief Financial Officer providing a tutorial for residents on how to apply for the Home Owner Grant -- Ms. Corinne Bomben provided a review of the process so far as the taxation period comes to a close, noting that with the COVID situation having changed the nature of the usual engagement with city staff, some residents are not claiming the Home Owner Grant.
Ms. Bomben observed that staff is reaching out to residents who still have the home owner grant balance outstanding for this year, offering her hope that the presentation would be of help to those who have yet to make payment on their property taxes.
Her tutorial took viewers through the step by step approach to ensure that they have correctly applied for the grant, as well as to provide on line links for more background and information.
Ms. Bomben also noted that residents can confirm with staff that their claim has gone through by calling 250-627-0960.
( 14:30:00 -- 15:30 ) -- Report from Chief Financial Officer related to the 2019 Annual Report -- With no public feedback received as part of the recent reach out process, Council members had no comments to add to the nature of the Annual Report, though Councillor Adey did enquire about the fate of the Statement of Financial Information documents.
SOFI as it is more commonly known as, is the release of salaries for elected officials and staff, as well as the listings of the purchases made by the city in the last year.
As Ms. Bomben explained it, the deadline for release of that information has been extended due to the COVID pandemic, with the City not required to release the documents until the end of August this year.
Mayor Brain followed up with his observations of the importance of the Annual Report, noting how it is the catch all of the things that the city does, highlighting how it has many of the answers that the community is looking for.
He also praised the work of staff in putting the document together for this year and with that Council then voted to accept the 2019 Annual Report.
( 15:30 -- 17:00 ) Report from City Manager related to a Variance permit for a property on Cormorant Road -- Ms. Miller read out the City Manager's report, providing background and timeline on the request for the variance related to a deck for the home. She observed that there had been no inquiries received by the city and no objections raised towards the application. The recommendation for Council was to approve the variance development permit to final consideration.
Council approved the variance application and moved it towards final consideration.
( 17:00 -- 18:00 ) Report from City Manager related to a Variance permit for a property on Atlin Avenue -- Ms. Miller read out the City Manager's report, providing background and timeline on the request for the variance related to the front setback of the home. The recommendation for Council was to approve the variance development permit to proceed to public notification.
Council approved the variance application and moved it towards the public notification process.
( 18:00 -- 37:58 ) Reports from Council
Councillor Adey led off the discussion returning to the topic of planning issues for the community, first speaking to the retirement of the City Planner and the way that the City is handling planning issues at the moment as part of the Pandemic response.
In particular the City Councillor asked for some clarity on the the current situation and a sense of the logic for the public, as to how the City is approaching the replacement of Senior officials, so the public has a sense of the caution associated with those decisions.
The City Manager Robert Long handled the question, observing that as a staff the city is not setting itself towards a long term strategy that would have been true and appropriate before COVID, noting how the city is not really clear as to what kind of revenue losses and circumstances that they will find themselves in if revenues are down.
He further outlined how they are taking this moment, as a management moment to explore what the best and most effective way of moving forward may be, suggesting that they will have a better understanding of where they are and what they should do in the fall,
For the moment Mr. Long outlined that the city is re-substituting the City Manager for the City Planner, noting it may not be the best thing in the world, but that it is a case of trying to make do with what they've got, rather than replacing it as they had with the old system.
The City Manager also noted that this process is something that they will do with every part of the organization, if there is an opportunity and someone retires or whatever, the question they will ask will be "is this the right thing to do from a management point of view moving forward, or should we wait until it is clear what the revenues are."
Mr. Long further observed that in the case of planning they do have a contract planner in place towards the OCP and if required they could step in towards some current planning matters as well, with the City looking to a cautious approach towards developing a best long term strategy towards the fall.
In a follow up question, Councillor Adey took note of the Official Community Plan work ahead and relayed some feedback he had received about perceived inequities in amenities in the community from area to area of the city.
He spoke to the need for more equity between the various neighbourhoods, pointing towards playgrounds, parks and Seniors Housing, noting of a perception of a lack of housing to pursue objectives that would give residents cause to remain in the community when they retire.
The offered an opportunity for Mr. Long to look back towards some of the elements of the original plans for the community and how in recent years the city had to adjust to the fiscal realities that had arrived over the last few decades. From there he expanded on some of his thoughts on planning for the community and what elements are required to deliver on the expectations or the desire of the community.
He highlighted how the City could revisit some of the original themes and locations of the original plan of 1907 which he called a brilliant plan and how it could provide for park and playground development as the city's own financial resources improve.
The City Manager pointed towards the plan to rewrite the OCP as the opportunity to make those points and to ensure that those concerns are heard.
To finish his contribution to the conversation, Councillor Adey noted how neighbourhood evolve and how there is a need to develop some standards as to what is a healthy neighbourhood,
Mayor Brain stepped into the conversation at that point to note that much of the themes of discussion on the night had made for part of the planning process with Larry Beasley's team last year and those results are available from that Rupert 2030 Plan documentation.
Mr. Brain also highlighted how the upcoming work on the OCP Process this summer will allow for a meaningful contribution from the public, promising for much in the way of advertising and making sure that everyone has the opportunity to have their voice heard.
The Mayor further observed as to how the city plans to update almost every single bylaw that the town has through the OCP process and how the engagement with the public will ensure that go towards where the public wants it to go and deliver on what the community desires to see.
Councillor Cunningham picked up on the theme of OCP consultation and asking for some background on the path ahead.
Towards that the City Manager noted that there will be a workshop with Council for July to go over where the City is at and make sure that everyone is comfortable with what they will do with the public engagement part of the overview.
Noting how COVID has changed how the city deals with engagement, Mr. Long noted that with the changes the City will not be able to have the large public meetings that were familiar from the past.
He observed that sometimes those larger more familiar meetings of 200 or so participants can be dominated by special interest circumstances and by taking a different approach the City may be able to engage in more individual conversations that could explore some of the themes that had been raised at the evening's session.
Councillor Cunningham followed up by stressing how important it is for the City to ensure that public engagement is something to look at carefully, noting that using COVID-19 as something that will block a lot of communication is something they need to watch for, highlighting how it is important to get the process out to the public.
Mayor Brain made note of the legal obligation to hit a number of public engagement triggers, adding that he wants to personally make sure that they have meaningful conversations, reminding council of the three full days of community engagement workshops that they had planned previous to the COVID pandemic situation.
He also reviewed last years planning process with Larry Beasley and how the City had brought in over 80 stakeholders towards participation. And now they are taking on another year of bringing that plan into the OCP and going well beyond the standard tick tick tick of process approval, as they look to create a meaningful dialogue.
Mr. Brain also noted how he is looking towards further guidance from the province when it comes public engagements observing that at the moment the City can have no more than six people allowed to gather in a spot, something that he said the city has no control over, observing that perhaps those restrictions may be loosened by the province as part of phase three of their restart plan.
The Mayor adding that if so the City can take the time to get it right.
You can access our archive on the City Council session 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 June 22, 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.
Monday marked the last of the twice a month sessions for City Council, with the city's elected officials taking to a more relaxed summer schedule of once a week sessions through until October.
Council members next meet on July 20th.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
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