Thursday, January 15, 2015

Councillor Thorkelson takes issue with some of the Chamber of Commerce Airport Ferry Report findings

Last month's release of a report into the Digby Island Ferry transportation system received a short review from Councillor Joy Thorkelson, who raised the issue of the report as one of the final items of the night at Monday's regular council session.

As we outlined on the blog in December, the Chamber of Commerce released the findings of a report compiled by Vancouver based Operations Economics Incorporated.  (read the report here, it can be found on page ten of the Council Package)

From her review of the report, Councillor Thorkelson had a number of concerns over some of the findings found in the documented, particularly the anticipated volume levels that the Chamber of Commerce initiated project suggested.

Calling on her personal observations as to how other large scale developments in the region bring their workers into the work site, she offered up the thought that most use a more schedule driven approach to staffing needs and not the mass arrival that the report suggested.

One other key issue regarding the Chamber report that she was strongly concerned about was the suggestion that the city consider purchasing a second airport ferry, a recommendation that she said she was not willing to support.

Her comments on the report led to a wider review of airport issues, with Mayor Brain suggesting that Council should set up a meeting with the Prince Rupert Airport Authority Board to explore the report further, as well as to review some other issues related to airport operations.

Expanding on that proposed meeting, Councillor Thorkelson recommended that the City reach out to the Bechtel Group in Kitimat, looking to have them attend that information session to explain how their labour and transport at requirements are handled.

Council voted to adopt the motion to have the meeting set up for some time in February.

You can follow the discussion on the report from the City's Video Archive, it starts at the 2 hour three minute mark.




For more items related to Air Transportation in the Northwest see our archive page here.

More background on topics of discussion at Prince Rupert City Council can be found on our archive page here.


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