A pair of notices posted to the City of Prince Rupert Website are issuing the call for Council members to assemble two times next week, with Two Special Regular Council sessions scheduled.
The Notices which are very short, advise that Council members will gather at 5 PM on the following days:
Wednesday, August 2nd (see Notice here)
and
Friday, August 4th (See Notice here)
Neither notice offers up much in the way of background as to what the issues are that will require the Council to attend to their duties twice in the same week.
So far the City Council Agenda Pages provide some notes related to the August 2nd meeting, which seem to suggest that council will be providing required readings for the City's Five Year Financial Plan Amendment Bylaw.
You can review the full details of the Agenda package from the City's website here.
It's somewhat puzzling why the Five Year Financial Plan requirements were not included as part of the Monday July 24th Council session, that meeting was quite light on material, taking the Council members less than thirty minutes to review their business that night.
Update: In a late Friday afternoon advisory, the City outlined some further background to the meetings set for next week
The statement and additional documentation are directed towards planned changes in the financial plan to address areas related to the acquisition of Lot 4 on Watson Island, as well as for a short term loan for the design of a new RCMP Cell block.
The City's statement reads as follows:
The City is providing notice that City Council will consider a proposed amendment to the 2017 Financial Plan to be considered by City Council at a Special Meeting of Council August 2nd, 2017 at 5:00pm in Council Chambers.
The notice details changes to the Operating Fund proposed in the 2017 Amended Financial Plan Bylaw No. 3416, 2017. These changes are proposed to address expenses not anticipated when the initial Financial Plan was adopted in April.
The proposed changes will not result in any change to City servicing levels or approved operating budgets, instead drawing funds from reserves and a short-term loan through the Municipal Finance Authority.
The proposed amendment to the financial plan can be reviewed below (click to enlarge)
The notice can also be reviewed here.
Should any resident wish to submit comments they can to so by contacting Corinne Bomben via fax at 250-627-0999 or deliver their correspondence in person to City Hall.
Any comments must be submitted no later than 4:30 on Wednesday August 2nd.
Considering the tight timeline for comments and the rather late in the day notice from the City of the opportunity to provide them, it will be somewhat interesting to see how many residents may even know about the topic, let alone put any potential contribution together with but three business days to do so.
For more items related to Prince Rupert City Council see our archive page here.
It's surprising how the Mayor and Council is implementing a plan to develop a municipal shipping facility at Watson Island, rather than selling the land to recover tax arrears, with so little public disclosure let alone consultation. The issue is being carved into a series of administrative decisions while the larger plan is kept hidden from the public.
ReplyDeleteThe proposed amendment to the financial plan suggests that the City will be buying Lot 4 from Sun Wave Forest Products for between $475,000 and $750,000.
Hopefully the purchase price will be offset by the $60,000 (plus interest) that Justice Russell on 17 Feb 2006 ordered Sun Wave to pay the City; the $289,845 (plus interest) that Sun Wave was on the same date ordered to pay into a trust account held by Dentons LLP for distribution under the 2013 Settlement Agreement; and the $4,808 in costs that on 8 June 2016 Sun Wave was ordered to pay. With some further costs added on 17 May 2016, Sun Wave owed the City $351,495.75 as if that date.