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| Prince Rupert City Council was in public session Monday night |
The good news for followers of Prince Rupert City Council was the return of the video stream for the public sessions, the gremlin's of October 26th apparently solved; though the clear visuals came with another of the shorter Council sessions hosted this year by the elected officials.
Once again, the Council membership with the exception of Councillor Mirau who was absent on the night, were in and out of their Monday session in less than twenty two minutes, making for fourteen minutes of items from their official Agenda and eight minutes of comments and observations from those in attendance.
Among the themes that they made quick work of were a string of reports from the City's Chief Financial Officer Corinne Bomben, along with a request for the declaration of November as Métis Awareness Week.
Council also deferred a decision on increases to water, sewer and waste disposal rates, putting the need to set the rates for the next four years off until at least the next meeting later this month.
Some background on the work of Council on the evening and the Regular Agenda elements for the November 9th Council session can be explored here.
Council also hosted a Closed Session earlier in the evening (their fifteenth 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.
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, November 9, 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 November 9, 2020
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Regular Council Session
( 00:30 --1:00 ) Regular City Council Session for Monday, November 9, 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.
( 00:30 --1:00 ) Regular City Council Session for Monday, November 9, 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.
( 1:00 --2:00 ) Report from the City's Chief Financial Officer delivering the September Financial Variance Report -- Ms. Bomben noted that revenues and expenses are in line with the same COVID related caveats as reported in previous months. Ms. Bomben also observed that it is expected that the Water Utility budget will be in deficit by years end. That given reductions in commercial revenue experience related to the pandemic and the need for testing in August and October related to the Water Advisory Testing requirements for the city's water supply owing to heavy rainfall means that the projected deficit will be 100,00 dollars or five percent of the budget in the Water Utility. Current capital projects are all within budget as of September. Council members had no questions for the CFO.
( 2:00 -- 6:00 ) Report from the City's Chief Financial Officer on the 2021 Community Enhancement Grant Distribution -- The CFO outlined the recommendations from staff for Council's consideration for Community Enhancement Grants, noting that owing to COVID that this year there is a need for flexibility, specifically when it comes to cash awards and that a freeze in the amounts distributed is warranted.
Her report also made note of a request from the Salvation Army towards a 900,000 dollar capital project that they have in mind. With the CFO recommending that the City provide a portion of the 95,000 dollars requested, listing 15,000 from the City towards the grant for the request as well as to help provide awareness for the fundraising campaign by way of a fundraising thermometer at CityHall, with the city accepting donations and the marking the donations on a thermometer donated by Northern Savings.
Mayor Brain noted how the Salvation Army request was much the same as last years Grant for the Hospice Society, hailing the proposal of the fifteen thousand dollars and support for the fundraising goals as a good option, adding that he is personally in agreement with what the City's CFO had proposed in her Report.
Councillor Niesh paid tribute to the work of staff and noted how the City is doing its best despite the kick in the pants of COVID and the impact that it has had on the city's financial planning. He too agreed wth the distribution recommendations from the Report.
Council members then voted to approve the report.
You can review the full list of the Community Enhancement Grants from the Report here.
( 6:00 --6:30 ) Request for Declaration for Métis Awareness Week -- Mayor Brain outlined the theme of the letter which would be lend support for the Métis Associations's request to declare November 15-21st as Metis Awareness Week.
Council approved the Declaration
( 6:30 -- 14:00 ) Report from the City's Chief Financial Officer of Three Utility bylaws and proposed rate increases for 2021-2024 -- The CFO outlined the nature of the three bylaw rate requests for Water, Sewer and Waste Disposal, with recommendations for increases for the next four years as follows:
Solid waste will increase 2% per year
Water will increase 4% in 2021, and 2 percent for each year thereafter
Sanitary and Storm Sewers will hold at 0 percent for 2021 and increase to 2% for 2022 and beyond
Ms. Bomben noted that the water rate increase was required owing to the increased underground repairs that have been experienced.
Council members however did not choose to move forward for the approval of the rates on Monday evening, that after a short discussion from two members on the topic.
Councillor Adey asked if there were any alternatives towards not putting in place the required increases, with Ms. Bomben observing that the only route the city has was to go to surplus, noting that there was not a lot of money available in those surplus funds, reminding council that those funds are part of the City's user fee funding system.
Following up on her comments for Councillor Adey with a review as to how the funding process serves the city when it comes towards the operations of those elements of the civic services.
In his comments, Mr. Cunningham noted that the City had just received two million dollars in COVID start up funding from the province, asking if any of that money could be funnelled into the utility funds to ease the pressures on the public for the future.
Ms. Bomben noted that the provincial money had been received after the Financial office had completed their recommendations for the utility funds, she observed that much of that provincial money will be allocated towards the Airport Ferry, the Cow Bay Marina and the Transit services which have all seen declines in use.
Mr. Cunningham followed up that with a recommendation that Council postpone a decision to allow staff more time to determine how the provincial grant funding could be used and if a portion of it can be allocated towards the utility funding.
Council members then voted to table the issue until the next Council session.
( 14:00 -- 21:00) Reports, Comments and Inquiries from City Council Members.
Councillor Niesh led off the commentary on the night, his comments calling attention to an issue for residents of the Kootenay area in the vicinity of a pull out on Park Avenue near the campground, which the Councillor notes is being used as a truck stop by truckers, running their refers while they sleep, or making repairs to their vehicles, causing disruption for the residents in the area. Mr. Niesh asked that the city look into the issue and to determine what kind of control the city has to alleviate some of the problems.
The Mayor observed that he believes its a highways issued and the City's Corporate Administrator Rosa Miller noted that a few complaints had been delivered to City Hall and that they had been communicating with the Highways Department.
Mr. Niesh also took advantage of the night to wish his daughter a happy birthday.
Councillor Cunningham noted that there is some confusion on the recent award of a Community Garden Grant to the City of Prince Rupert, recommending that City Council invite EcoTrust to attend Council to make a presentation on the proposed project.
Mayor Brain explained that Council in a previous council meeting had passed a resolution to apply for a grant on the behalf of EcoTrust and now with the grant funding approved, he agreed that EcoTrust should come to Council to outline further information on what the project will look like and provide more details on what the grant will be put towards.
Councillor Adey provided some thoughts on the 2020 Remembrance Day plans one part a history lesson combined with how this year there had been some changes made towards how Prince Rupert will observe the day, with social distancing measures in place making for the guiding measure towards how residents will observe the day this year.
Mr. Adey's comments reflected how those wars were fought and those sacrifices were made to defend the way of life we enjoy, defend the democratic system that the Council members were a part of and how democracy is a very fragile thing.
Mayor Brain followed up with his own thoughts, noting of the social gathering limitations and his own participation as part of the Canadian Rangers in the laying of wreaths prior to the remembrance day event.
Councillor Niesh closed the night with his own tribute, this one directed to the city's Fire/Rescue department, with the Councillor observing on some of the large fire scenes that the members have had to attend in recent weeks.
You can access our archive on Monday night's 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 November 9, 2020 (not available yet)
Our 2020 Council Archive page includes an attendance checklist, listings for all of the council's scheduled meetings, as well as public hearings and other elements, explore our themes here.
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 that is broadcast.
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