Monday, December 9, 2013

City Council Preview for Monday, December 9, 2013

After an unexplained false start from the last session, Prince Rupert City Council will welcome their newest member on Monday evening, as Barry Cunningham takes his chair in the Council Chamber.

The successful candidate in the November 15th by-election will finally take his oath of office and finish out the term of office of Jennifer Rice, who left City politics upon her successful election victory in last springs Provincial election.

As he settles into his chair for what will be the last Council session for 2013, he will join his fellow councillors and Mayor Jack Mussallem in the review of this week's agenda, which offers up a fairly full workload to finish the year out with..

First up, Mr. Cunningham will get a quick introduction into what is becoming a frequent fixture of City Council that of another special session of Council, one closed to the public.  

Monday's closed session will be the 28th occasion of an in camera session since January. This one a 5 PM session set to discuss the acquisition, disposition or expropriation of land or improvements to land.

As well, discussion will be held on topics related  to negotiations and related to the provision of a municipal service, a topic that in the view of council disclosure of which could be expected to harm the interests of the municipality

Once that item has been checked off the to do list, Council will reconvene at 7 PM for a Committee of the Whole Session (Agenda here) and the final Regular public session for 2013 , the full Agenda for which can be viewed here.

Items of note from the Agenda can be found below, their corresponding page number listed in red.

The committee of the Whole session will feature four presentations to Council, from the Prince Rupert Port Authority, the Pacific Northwest LNG group, a delegation from Northwest Community College and from Conrad Nelson of the Tribal Native Tournament, all providing an update on the various aspects of their topics for Councils review and possible questioning.

A public question period is also one of the features of the Committee of the Whole process,  offering members of the public gallery the opportunity to ask questions of Council on topics of concern to them.

With the presentations and public comment period at an end, Council will then return to it's Regular agenda of items for the night.

Following the usual adoption of agenda and past minutes, Council will receive any petitions and delegations and tackle any unfinished business.

They will then receive any Petitions and Delegations to Council and address any unfinished business.

Reports and Recommendations will then be the featured part of the nightly business.

Council will consider a Report from the Executive Assistant  -- Outlining recommendations for Community Enhancement Grant Approvals  (Particulars can be found on page 17 of the Agenda Package)

The Chief Financial Officer will then provide a report on 2014 Capital Purchases and Works. The report will provide council with recommendations so that City Staff can begin to plan and organize for acquisition and construction in the 2014 Fiscal Period (Details on the report can be found on page 20 of the Agenda package)

The Chief Financial Officer will deliver the 2013 Budget Efficiencies Report and Recommendations  (Details on the report can be found on page 23 of the Agenda package)

The Corporate Administrator will provide a report on the 2014 Meeting Schedule, with a recommendation that Council approve the proposed calendar for the upcoming year.
(Details on the report can be found on page 25 of the Agenda package) (We offered up this preview of his schedule planning back on November 27th)

The Corporate Administrator will also provide a review of the Acting Mayor Schedule, seeking Council's approval of his proposed schedule.  (Details on the report can be found on page 28 of the Agenda package)

Council will also hear from the Corporate Administrator regarding a Workshop for the Northwest Community Action Plan (Details on the report can be found on page 30 of the Agenda package)

Requests for Council and any Correspondences for action will be next.

Council will be asked to write a letter of support towards the development of a Prince Rupert based school for the purpose of Marine and Coastal Studies (Details on the proposal can be found on page 31 of the Agenda package)

That item of business will be followed by any Resolutions from Closed Meetings.

Council will then consider any bylaws that may need their attention.

The City Manager, is next providing his report for the night.

The evening wraps up with Reports, Questions and Inquiries from Members of Council.

Council members can use this period of time to bring up issues of note or concern for discussion.

Following the discussion period, the meeting will then come to an adjournment.

The next public session of Council, the first of 20 public sessions for 2014 (and the only session for January if the proposed calendar is accepted) will take place on January 13th.

The Live broadcast of the City Council session can be found here, a video archive of past sessions is available here.

Our Archive of the December 9 session can be found here.

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