City Council prepares to roll out Civic Centre based Child Care initiative, takes applications for partner providers until October 23
The City is looking to renovate space at the Civic Centre to offer an opportunity for a licensed Child Care provider to deliver services through the civic facility
A late addition to the Monday night Council session provided a glimpse at one solution that the City of Prince Rupert is considering towards Child Care issues in the community, with Corporate Administrator Rosa Miller delivering a report that touched on some elements of the recent Child Care Study in the community.
In her presentation for Council Ms. Miller observed how the city could make use of available funding for the creation of Child Care Spaces and renovations in the Recreation Centre complex to lease that space to a Child Care operator.
"The Request before Council this evening is that Mayor and Council pass a resolution to support staff applications for grant funding, through the BC Child Care Spaces fund, to renovate and dedicate space upstairs at the Recreation Complex to lease to a child care operator. And that the City of Prince Rupert commits to funding any cost over runs above and beyond the project funding"
Towards any concerns over costs, Ms. Miller suggested that with 100 percent funding for project, any cost overages would be minimal at most.
As for Discussion to the topic on the night, Mayor Lee Brain noted how Child Care space creation is a much needed service in the community, providing some anecdotal notes on how the City has heard that people have turned down jobs in the city as they can't find adequate child care spaces.
"I think this is 100 percent needed in this community, I think one of the challenges we've been hearing, and we heard it through the OCP as well, is Child Care in this community needs to be increased. I mean we've had folks who have been trying to have new workers move here, they can't find child care, people aren't taking jobs because of child care. So for us to support this in anyway that we can I think that's definitely beneficial to us. I like the process and hopefully we can find other partners who want to work with us. But it's really time to get moving on child care in this community and we'll hold the funds and hopefully we can get an expression of interest as the resolution says and find a way to get some new child care spaces in Rupert" -- Mayor Lee Brain on child care plans for Prince Rupert
For his part, Councillor Barry Cunningham made note of some recent provincial announcements on funding for child care for communities around the region and wondered why Prince Rupert was not on those lists despite the need in the community.
He too reprised some of the Mayors comments on how people have turned down jobs and potential moves to Prince Rupert and how that will impact on attracting professional people to the city.
Mr. Brain stated that he did not know why the city was left out of the funding, and noted that the City has done its part, with the past child care assessment and the application they are exploring on the night, adding that the city is not looking to get into child care but is applying on behalf of somebody else.
He also noted that the lack of provincial funding for this community as noted by Councillor Cunningham is a conversation for Council to have with the MLA, adding that it's a provincial responsibility and observing how the city is going to partner as best it can and just get it done as they do.
Councillor Mirau also offered some observations as to the current deficit in child care spaces in the community and asked how many spaces the Civic Centre plan would open up.
Ms. Miller replied that the total would be determined depending on who applies to provide the service at the facility and what their licence would call for.
The Councillor then enquired as to how much space the Child Care space would take up at the Civic Centre, but Ms. Miller did not have that information available for review.
She did observe that she would contact the Recreation Department for more information towards the Councillors question.
Though at the moment it should be noted that the city is currently looking for a new Recreation and Community Service Director, having posted an employment wanted position recently.
Councillor Adey followed up by also speaking to the need for child care space in the community.
"I heard the same report that Councillor Cunningham is referring to and it certainly kind of stood out given our current needs, but having said that I concur, that as we stand and as we look at this proposal this is something that we need to move forward on and if it gets us closer to the destination of solving the problems that we have then I think it will be a positive thing"
As the item was a late addition to the Council Agenda, there are no published background notes included for the public review about the city's planned initiative.
Likewise, the council members that did speak on the night offered no direction for the public as to where they could review the feedback that Council has apparently received on the impact of the lack of child care and people turning down employment in the city.
During the conversation there also was no indication as to what the potential cost of the renovations to the upper area of the Civic Centre complex may be; or any kind of timeline as to how they would move forward with the planning should they prove successful in their quest for the grant.
You can review our past notes on Child Care themes, with our two items from earlier this year on the Child Care Study referenced by Ms. Miller on Monday night.
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